NotKelly Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 This is going to be a little long, journal style, post. I'll go into as much detail as I can. Feel free to share your experience with these as well! So about a month ago I set up a new shrimp tank and used these $1 seeds from ebay just to see how they would work. They seem like an amazing find.. for only $1 its advertised to get a completely carpeted aquarium, I wanted to test it myself. So the instructions said to use it on new substrate with a tank that isn't completely full of water yet.. so I did followed the instructions and waited to see what miracles would happen. The first couple days the seeds didn't really look like they were doing anything and I thought they were molding because they were creating these jello like substances that would hold the pieces of substrate together. When I moved the substrate around with my hand a whole clump would follow because of this gelatinous substance... I thought I made a big mistake and just wasted a $30 bag of substrate. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and let it keep growing... And after 3 days, they sprouted! The first two weeks they grew tremendously and carpeted so quickly I was so surprised. After this I finally decided to do some research on them and what other people were saying was that they were a terrestrial plant that the sellers like to advertise as an aquarium plant just for marketing, and that it will have a crazy growth burst and then disintegrate after a couple weeks since it isn't fully aquatic. This made me angry because I wanted it to stay so bad! The results were beautiful. (I also learned its illegal to import undocumented seeds from China into the USA, oops) They continued to grow and carpet and even start to add levels of depth within themselves. Some taller plants, some real short plants. I noticed their leaf shape started to change. The old leafs kept their circular leaf shape but the newer leaves that were growing in had a long, linear appearance. After I posted this picture onto a shrimp facebook group a member told me that they had too used the ebay seeds and after the first couple weeks the plants showed that they were dwarf hygro and they kept them in their aquarium for a year before removing them only because of appearance. It has now been a little over a month and while they haven't disintegrated into the water, they do seem to be changing leaf pattern. They do appear to be dwarf hygro. I did prefer the round leaf shape they had at first, but I do also like the long narrow leaves. There are still some seeds that are behind their buddies and are just now sprouting. The seeds don't float, so I'm not sure if starting them off with an aquarium that isn't completely full has any benefit or necessity.. and this makes me wonder if you could use them in an already established aquarium. They look beautiful and the shrimps love to hide within them. They sometimes knock them out of the substrate and they float to the top. I have two floating chunks of the plants at the surface and the shrimps love to eat the underside of the plants and sometimes go plant surfing when the floating plants can't hold up the shrimps weight and they start to sink. It is very entertaining! I assume they would be good for baby shrimps to hide in, as well as providing ample surface area for biofilm, although I have not had shrimp breed in this tank to know for sure! I have no idea what these seeds are and I have no idea if what seeds you actually get differ based on the package, but the batch I got seem to be working well! I'll keep this thread updated if any major changes happen... Some of the seeds that are behind their buddies have found their way onto the drift wood. The shrimps love to graze on the floating plants that they knock up. cosmicuzi, Mike16T and ohmiko 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohmiko Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 Yay good to hear ! I also bought these seeds after a friend carpeted his 12G long and my seeds got stuck in custom! Still waiting for them after a full month :/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotKelly Posted June 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 15 minutes ago, ohmiko said: Yay good to hear ! I also bought these seeds after a friend carpeted his 12G long and my seeds got stuck in custom! Still waiting for them after a full month :/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Oh no! Yeah mine took about a month to get to me too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dluxeshrimps Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 Hello, I brought these some time ago and they they grew longer in length than expected. I have a couple video of this experiment. from dry start to about a good months submerged. I still have a jar full of these seeds. Someone told me they were actually Hygrophila Polysperma. but you all can decide that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted June 28, 2017 Report Share Posted June 28, 2017 I bought some "unknown" seeds from china and they look exactly like yours. Started out with round leaves then changed to longer oblong leaves. I planted mine in October 2016 and they are still doing well to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotKelly Posted July 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2017 On 6/28/2017 at 10:28 AM, chappy6107 said: I bought some "unknown" seeds from china and they look exactly like yours. Started out with round leaves then changed to longer oblong leaves. I planted mine in October 2016 and they are still doing well to this day. that's good, i wasn't looking forward to having to rip them out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcxliono Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 I decided to try it out also. I've bought random seeds on ebay and we'll see how it goes lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted October 27, 2017 Report Share Posted October 27, 2017 Mine are still doing well. So they have been going strong for a year now. That being said I am now setting up a rack with smaller tanks so will be taking this tank down soon. If anyone is interested in going this route...go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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