Delightful Elodea

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Elodea, popularly referred to as the water plague, is often an integral element in the landscaping of aquariums, as well as reservoirs (both natural and artificial), largely contributing to their self-purification. The choice for elodea often falls due to the fact that its cells produce oxygen that saturates the water, and it looks very presentable. In addition, she is a long-liver and is very unpretentious in care, which cannot but rejoice

Acquaintance with elodea

Elodeya belongs to the genus of perennial aquatic grasses and is a representative of the Vodokrasovye family. She feels great not only being fortified in the ground, but also being in free swimming on the water surface. Elodea buds migrate from one water body to another, sticking to various water birds.

The stems of this beautiful plant are rather long and rather strongly branched. They grow at an incredible speed, sometimes reaching more than two meters in length. Lanceolate translucent small leaves of a bright green hue are collected in whorls (on long thin stems - 3 - 4 pieces each). The flowers of an aquatic inhabitant can be both female and male, that is, bisexual. Elodea is capable of multiplying at a tremendous rate.

Most often you can meet such types of elodea as toothed elodea (leafy) and canadian elodea.

How Elodea can be useful

For elodea aquariums - a real find. She is a wonderful filter that collects all suspended matter circulating in the water. It also serves as a barrier to the development of unwanted algae, from which it is sometimes so difficult to clean the walls of the aquarium - this is due to the fact that it absorbs nutrients from the water in very substantial quantities, and they practically do not get to other algae. Moreover, by releasing various bactericidal substances, elodea creates an obstacle for the development of all kinds of undesirable unicellular organisms. Another advantage is that it perfectly enriches the water with vital oxygen.

The overgrown stems of the plant are a pretty good fertilizer, they can be used for compost. In addition, they can still be fed to rabbits or pigs. Poultry, especially ducks, will not refuse such food.

Growing elodea

Elodeya is extremely unpretentious. In addition to the fact that it grows at a considerable speed, it also perfectly reproduces by cuttings - it is enough, just breaking off a small piece of the stalk, to install it in the bottom soil. Elodea does not require rooting - it will put down roots already being in the water.

If you plan to grow elodea in an aquarium, then it is important to provide excellent lighting for the entire aquarium, otherwise the leaves of the plant will rot and fall off. Due to the fact that this plant is an excellent food for goldfish, it is highly recommended to grow it in aquariums with these fish. It is also important to know that Elodea is a freshwater plant, absolutely not suitable for aquariums with sea water.

The optimum temperature for growing elodea is 16 - 24 degrees, however, it can easily endure a decrease in temperatures. But the acidity and hardness of water for its development have absolutely no meaning. Thus, it makes sense to focus on the above indicators only when moving Elodea to another aquarium (especially from soft water to water with increased hardness) - in this case, initially, the difference in water indicators should not be excessively large, otherwise, at best, Elodea will experience stress, and at worst, inevitable death. As for the reverse transfer, there will definitely not be much harm from it.

Elodea is perfect for small ponds, in which other aquatic plants take root with difficulty. However, reservoirs in this case must be chosen with stagnant water or with a weak current. The most suitable depth is from 20 to 300 m. From time to time, overgrown thickets of elodea should be removed with a rake or a large net. As for preventive treatments, this plant does not need them at all, since it is not susceptible to diseases.