hornwort?

[nicklt]

ive heard this is a good plant i was wondering what does it look like if anyone has pics that would be great

[MCHRKiller]

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f137/Needle_Slave/100_0261.jpg

Thats my huge wad of it, it is a good plant to use as a nitrate sucker as it grows rapidly. I have to remove over a 1.5ft*1ft section of this stuff from my 55G tank every week.

[rich311k]

Looks nice and healthy. Anacharis will do the same thing and it will root.

[MCHRKiller]

One thing to add with Hornwort is that if its in an area of high flow or its not allowed to float it will loose its needles.

Dwarf Water lettuce is another excellent floating type plant that really does a nice job at nitrate control.

[DrNic]

Great looking plant I'll have to see if I can pick some up.

[Sarkazmo]

About two months ago I got a single strand of Hornwort, about 16" or so, for my girlfriend's tank. A couple days ago I took about 3ft out and she had about that much left. Betta and shrimp love the stuff as do African Dwarf Frogs 'cause they can hang on it close to the surface so they don't have so far to go to get a gulp of air. Same with the Betta. They'll wiggle through it and lay on it like a couch.

It will grow fast and could start depriving your other rooted plants of light so keep an eye on it's growth.

Sark

[fibertech]

I bought some a few months ago and it is the fastest growing plant I have ever seen. Last week I pulled almost all of it out because it takes over the tank.

[Northernguy]

LOL I feed it to my apple snails! If I add 4ft to a ten its gone in about a week! lol
I throw out several feet a week too!

[Faith_at_Large]

If apple snails are kept in the same tank as hornwort, does this mean that they would eat it all?

I want some hornwort to provide protection for fry and possibly reduce algae in a ten gallon tank. If it grows as fast as it seems to, could I add a mystery snail to help keep it in check, or will the whole plant become dinner and require replacement on a regular basis?

[toddnbecka]

IME Najas grows faster than hornwort, though if you really want a nitrate sponge duckweed grows faster than anything.
One thing about hornwort, if you get some from someone else's tank it tends to do much better than from the lfs. I tried it a couple times, and it always disintegrated within a couple weeks until I got a few small pieces with some dwarf crayfish last year. Needless to say, the few small pieces have grown considerably since then, have been thinned out several times, and currently fill about 1/4 of my 38 gallon tank.
I have to do a major thinning-out of the Najas about every 3 weeks, or after 4-5 weeks it will completely fill my 75. Duckweed covers the surface about every 2-3 weeks as well, after being scooped out down to a couple handfuls.

[Faith_at_Large]

If apple snails are kept in the same tank as hornwort, does this mean that they would eat it all?

I want some hornwort to provide protection for fry and possibly reduce algae in a ten gallon tank. If it grows as fast as it seems to, could I add a mystery snail to help keep it in check, or will the whole plant become dinner and require replacement on a regular basis?

I thought about it for a moment and realized that if a put a snail in my tank to keep the hornwort in check, it may also eat my fry, so I won't be doing that. I may keep a snail in another tank and just feed excess hortwort to it as the need arises, or put it in the tank when the fry are grown.

[Mith]

I thought about it for a moment and realized that if a put a snail in my tank to keep the hornwort in check, it may also eat my fry, so I won't be doing that. I may keep a snail in another tank and just feed excess hortwort to it as the need arises, or put it in the tank when the fry are grown.

Can a snail catch a fish?

[Sarkazmo]

I don't know of any fresh water snails that're capable of catching fry... or anything for that matter. There are assassin snails but they feed on snails. I wouldn't hesitate to put in an Apple Snail.

Sark

[Northernguy]

Snails do not catch fish.I have never seen one eat a fish.
I find that gol apple snails will not eat plants but the darker ones chow down on it.I try to keep some in my tens with the dark snails and it disappears in a weeks time!lol They seem to prefer it over veggies.

[Faith_at_Large]

A coworker had a snail eat his frog. He did not think that was possible. So I am not sure. If snails have been kept with fry without causing harm, I might just give that a shot.

My hornwort is growing nicely now. And seems to be slowly filling up my tank.

Will one snail eat the whole thing? Or can the Hornwort grow fast enough to get ahead of the snail?

I may just go with a mystery snail and see what happens.

[toddnbecka]

Once hornwort is established it should grow faster than just about anything is likely to eat it. One snail won't make a visible dent.

[Faith_at_Large]

I like Mystery Snails and have kept them before. I would like very much to add one to my home tank and possibly my work tank. I was looking to put a Betta in my work tank, but the existing decorations may be too rough for one, but if my Platys keep having fry, I may bring some of them for my work tank - my lone Danio is going stir crazy by herself.

[Scrup]

Once hornwort is established it should grow faster than just about anything is likely to eat it. One snail won't make a visible dent.


Wish that were true ofr two snails. My two apple snails ate 80% of my water lettuce and hornwort in about 2 weeks. they eat a whole piece of regular lettuce in a day easily. Voracious little buggers...

[TC713]

On a side note about Hornwort......

Is it safe to leave the weighted band around the bottom to keep it "grounded" or should I take it off and let wander about my tank??

[toddnbecka]

It does best floating freely IME.

[AdrienDeLaChicago]

Hornwort is such an ugly plant. I couldn't stand to look at that in my tank. :scry: