Hornwort

If you bring hornwort in from a cold pond outside, will it fall apart if placed in a warm (75 F) aquarium?

If you bring hornwort in from a cold pond outside, will it fall apart if placed in a warm (75 F) aquarium?

If you change its water chemistry in general it tends to fall apart... so I would guess yes... but I have a whole bunch that Uncle Willie gave me a long time ago... it crashed and looked terrible at first... but some of it survived and came back and now I have it everywhere...

You should drip acclimate plants and invertebrates just like you do fish.

Video of how drip acclimation is done:

Even with drip acclimation, I'd expect these plants to have trouble with extreme chemical or temperature changes. There have been studies in the past (I can't remember the citations off the top of my head) that showed the metabolic responses of fish were much slower than one would expect when facing changing waters, and I'd expect plants' responses to be slower. The drip acclimation reduces the chances of an initial shock,but the internal changes don't stop when the planned acclimation time stops, they are only just beginning. These metabolic changes are normal for creatures that live in most aquatic habitats, and fish (and plants) are really amazingly resilient if you take into account all the changes they deal with in the wild. The plant's response to stress is generally to fall apart, but like a tree in a drought, this does not necessarily mean death.

Edited by rjmtx, 07 October 2011 - 04:20 PM.

Thanks

I have never had much luck with growing hornwort longterm except in my outside container pond.

I put it in my tank and see how it will do. Usually when I do this it falls apart despite being in the window.

Rest it in a net or a mesh bag in case it falls apart.

Thanks

I have never had much luck with growing hornwort longterm except in my outside container pond.

I put it in my tank and see how it will do. Usually when I do this it falls apart despite being in the window.

My Ceratophyllum demersum grew super fast. I had a lot of nitrogenous fish waste in the water, a lot of full spectrum light, and a lot of dissolved minerals (it coats itself in lime). All three combined resulted in me having to sell off the hornwort twice a month or it would overrun the tank. It loved those conditions.