How to Grow Vallisneria

Live plants in an aquarium serve as decoration, a place for fish to spawn and lay their eggs and food for the fish. Among aquarium plants, vallisneria is a simple plant to propagate and grow. It requires little in the way of maintenance or startup effort. Some varieties even flower in your tank and they provide cover for your fish to hide from more dominant or predatory fish or to lay their eggs.

Things You'll Need

  • Sandy substrate
  • Water testing kit
  • UV lights
  • Scissors
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Instructions

    • 1

      Prepare your tank with a sandy substrate instead of gravel. Vallisneria needs sand to support its root systems.

    • 2

      Test your tank water for pH and hardness. The water for vallisneria needs to be slightly alkaline -- definitely not acidic, as this would kill the plants -- and have a dGH value between 10 and 20.

    • 3

      Plant your vallisneria by poking a hole in the sand with your finger. Place the root and runner system into the hole and cover them up to a point just below where the leaves extend from it. You should be able to see the top of the root system when it is fully planted.

    • 4

      Top your tank with a UV light or set it on a stand in front of a window that provides full sunlight. Vallisneria needs strong sunlight to thrive.

    • 5

      Maintain your vallisneria by thinning out the patch occasionally. Vallisneria propagates through runners that extend under the sand and shoot leaves out at intervals. Keep your vallisneria patch contained by gently cutting the runners and removing any plants that are growing outside the area you want your plants to stay in.