Purple Waffle

**Sharon** · 12-03-2008, 10:52 AM

I bought several plants for my tank, while I was out of town, and planted them last night. I then researched, and found that the Purple Waffle is not an aquatic plant, and will not survive. Grrrrrrrrrrr........

**Wild Turkey** · 12-03-2008, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Sharon

I bought several plants for my tank, while I was out of town, and planted them last night. I then researched, and found that the Purple Waffle is not an aquatic plant, and will not survive. Grrrrrrrrrrr........

Common problem with buying plants at petstores. I will impulse buy plants from private sellers, after asking a few questions first of course, but never from petshops because the employees will pretend to know if asked and ignorant, or more commonly, just have no clue whatsoever what it is they are selling.

**Dave66** · 12-03-2008, 11:02 AM

Peter Hiscock's Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants has a whole section on non-aquatic plants that are sold as aquatic by pet stores. Will help you know what you're looking at and not waste your money on terrestrial plants disguised in shops as aquatic.

Dave

**Northernguy** · 12-03-2008, 08:40 PM

I have an aluminum plant that i bought at my lfs.

Apparently they are not full aquarium plants.After looking outstanding in my tank for a little over 2 1/2 months the leaves all turned yellow and fell off. That is when I decided to research it.After kicking myself in the butt I found out that this plant is only suppose to have their roots in the water.
I removed mine and put it a vase with glass beads and such with tank water and it came right back.
I am having a tough time arguing with the lfs because hers are all still beautiful!We both use the same water and products and she doesn't add anything to the tank for the plants.

**digital3** · 12-03-2008, 09:18 PM

plantgeek.net has a good plant guide that includes non-aquatic plants, lighting requirements, etc. It's a nice plant ID resource.

**Northernguy** · 12-04-2008, 03:07 PM

I did check them out! My biggest problem with plants right now is winter.The only way I am going to get any plants that I want will involve driving 3hrs to a city and hope they have what I want.My lfs has way to much trouble ordering plants and when they get there thet are all black.The swords she has there now are balled up and very black.Probably just algae but if I am going to buy a plant I want to be able to tell what it is before I bring it home.

**geowashlaw** · 12-12-2008, 05:22 PM

Ran into this same problem recently ... still have the PW's in my tank ... looking for something in the low-medium light range that grows short (midground) and has similiar coloring that I can replace them with ... any suggestions