2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The aquatic kabomba is widespread in South American reservoirs, and the stagnant and slow-flowing reservoirs of Brazil and Guiana are considered to be its homeland. Occasionally, this aquatic beauty can be found in Louisiana and Florida. The amazingly beautiful appearance of this plant makes it a desirable inhabitant of aquariums. Particularly original are the fan-shaped underwater leaves of the aquatic kabomba, which can become a truly magnificent decor
Getting to know the plant
The aquatic kabomba is endowed with creeping creeping rhizomes that sprout stems from their nodules. The stems, initially rising upward, fall off under their own weight, branching in a fork-like manner.
The length of the shoots of the aquatic kabomba often reaches one and a half meters. The leaves of this beauty are characterized by an opposite arrangement, and the five-lobed leaf plates at the bases have a kidney-shaped or rounded contour. Their length often reaches eight and a half centimeters, and their width - up to nine and a half. Each of the five lobes located at the bases of the leaves is divided into small branches, which can be double or triple. As a rule, there are several such branches and they often converge into narrow numerous tips. A similar feature of the aquatic kabomba leads to the fact that its each leaf blade consists of almost five hundred segments. And the leaves can be painted in a wide variety of shades: from neutral green to wine red.
This beauty also has surface leaves, but they can be seen extremely rarely in aquarium specimens. They are usually small in size, have a slightly leathery appearance and are rather coarsely indented.
The peduncles of the aquatic kabomba are surrounded by many floating leaves equipped with long petioles. And this plant can have 3 - 4 or 6 stamens.
The single axillary flowers of this graceful aquatic inhabitant are very small. They can be yellowish or silvery-white with yellowish centers. All flowers contain three sepals and three petals and emerge one at a time from the leaf axils. They sit firmly on long legs and bloom about five centimeters above the water. When the fancy flowers have faded, the sepals with petals are bent outward, towards the pedicels. You can admire the flowering of the aquatic kabomba in early spring - either in April or in May. And in aquariums, it can bloom from April to June, but this happens quite rarely.
How to grow
The aquatic kabomba is characterized by the presence of a huge number of very different forms. All of them are quite decorative, but it is very difficult to keep them. And some forms are generally not possible to grow in aquariums, since they have extremely high environmental requirements.
The aquatic environment for the full development of the aquatic kabomba is preferable to be soft and freshened, with a slightly acidic reaction. Its optimum temperature will be 23 - 25 degrees. Water circulation must be at a high level. And the water kabomba tolerates the lime content in water very poorly. It is also sensitive to the appearance of blue-green algae in the vessel.
The key to good growth and development of the aquatic kabomba will be lighting with a high intensity (at least 1 W / l). In the shade, this gorgeous beauty can easily turn yellow. Under favorable conditions, it grows by about ten centimeters in a month.
Reproduction of aquatic kabomba is carried out quite simply: by rhizomes or fragments of stems. Each rhizome is usually equipped with a whole bunch of roots. The separated segments, placed in pots filled with a mixture of sand and turf, are placed on the bottom of the aquarium.
It often happens that with the onset of winter, the rotten stalks of the water kabomba, equipped with leaves, float to the water surface. It is not recommended to remove them from the aquarium - young roots form in the leaf sinuses of plants left to float until spring. If you cut off each knee and put them all on the bottom, you can get beautiful new plants.
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