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Hornwort

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Hornwort Ceratophylum demersum Photo © Animal-World

   Hornwort is a good plant for aquariums with plant eating fish, since the hard leaves do not taste so good!

   A rootless plant, Hornwort can be kept floating at the top of the aquarium or buried in the gravel to suit your taste. If you bury Hornwort in the substrate, the Hornwort stems are held in the gravel by root-like organs called rhizoids. The stems will branch off to form nice thickets for fish and especially fry to retreat into. Be careful with it however, because it breaks easily and many of the pieces can become their own plants. Hornwort is an easy plant to care for since

   Hornwort can be kept in many aquarium environments, such as coldwater aquariums and tropical aquariums. It is a great aquarium plant for all levels of experienced aquarists. It is also readily available at fish stores or online.

For more Information on keeping a planted aquarium see:
About Planted Aquariums, Adding Aquatic Plants For a Healthy Aquarium

Water conditions:
   Temperature: 50-77° F (10-25° C)
   pH: 6.5 - 7.5
   dCH: 5-15°

Lighting:
   Light level: Medium

Propagation:
   Cuttings and side shoots.

Availability:
   Hornwort is readily available.

Buy Hornwort (Dozen)
From LiveAquaria.com

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Latest Comments
I got 2 platies as young ones, but they already had their colors when I got them. And while I was in school, they must have had fry because when I got home I looked in and there were dozens of them! Since my parents wont let me put the fry in a seperate tank, the best I could do was put in the fake hornwort plants and put food in to distract the adult fish. Robyn 2004-03-20
Some of the coolest comments:
This plant is magnificent. I put it in my 29g and it grew THREE INCHES overnight! I love the way it seems to change shape every day. Sometimes it grows thick collections of branches at the top that look like palm trees. Once it grows too big, you just snip it in the middle, attach a plant weight, and throw it somewhere else. Putting a bunch together makes a lovely bush effect. Shep 2008-06-01
Hornwort is a great plant very easy to care for and it reproduces by itself. A good plant for fry to hide in. But beware usually it brings friends like snails to your tank. Everytime we get some hornwort we are plagued with pond snails you'll see a few and then a week later there is about 50 snails in there. The hornwort grows fast like cabomba and still gets pecked at by the mollies especially fry mollies. I have all kinds of baby fry in my hornwort. A very good all around plant for the aquarium and it does shed its leaves but the decaying matter turns into algae for the pleco. For beginners this is the best plant for you. Bil 2006-10-07
Hornwort is a very attractive plant, which groups nicely. It grows readily, even under mildly unstable conditions (Dont use that as an excuse to abuse it). My only warning is dont place this in smaller tanks, because the spine-like leaves constantly fall off of the bottom stems, and grow on the top. The leaves float so are easily removed, but can clump up and slowly rot. Barbara 2005-03-02
Comments Dr Jungle REALLY Likes to Hear!
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