A water spirit is a plant sweet of water from an aquarium, usually available in pet stores and local stores’ chains. Often, Water Sprite can be sold under several different names, including Water Fern, Indian Fern, and Indian Water Fern. A Water Sprite plant is one of the most versatile aquarium plants. A combustible water plant can thrive in substrate planted or left floating in the water.
Water plant sprite: leaves, stems, and roots
When purchasing a water sprite plant, choose healthy-looking specimens with abundant foliage, strong stems, and proper root structures. Healthy water Despite the leaves similar to ferns, thin, light green, and without cracks, tears, tears, or holes.
The stem color maybe a little darker than the leaves, but the stems are still light green. When planted or in a plastic container, the stems should hold the entire plant in an upright position. The roots of the plants should be long and as numerous as possible.
Avoid plants with brown leaves.
Avoid water sprite plants when their leaves and stems are few, damaged, or wilted. Make sure your leaves don’t turn brown and curl over the leaf, tip, or edge. Finally, avoid water sprite plants with short roots, few numbers, brown and rotten.
Water Sprite Plant: Planting or floating?
A Water Sprite can be planted or kept as a floating plant. A planted water sprite works well in the center or the background and can be used as a filler plant in any area to add green to the room or to fill in holes in a waterscape. A floating water sprite can add beauty to a tank by making it a green color near the water surface. Either way, a Water Sprite can be a great addition to a community tank.
Plant a water sprite in gravel or substrate
When planting Water Sprite, make sure you have at least 2 to 3 inches of gravel or substrate for the roots. Dig a small indentation in the substrate. Carefully grasp the Water Sprite plant by the crown (where the roots meet the stems).
Place the plant in the aperture, taking care not to damage the roots and stems. Once the Water Sprite roots have set, put the substrate back into the well to hold the plant in place.
Ensure the crown of the plant is visible to the naked eye and even on the substrate’s surface. Avoid planting Water Sprite with a crown that is too high and roots exposed.
Also, avoid planting the crown too deep to bury it. Finally, while the planted water sprite can survive in substrate or gravel, it is best to keep aquarium plants alive in nutrient-rich plant substrate rather than aquarium gravel.
Positioning: bottom or half- flat?
Suppose you are planting waterfowl as a background plant; it’s probably a good idea to place the plant through the feed filter for water extraction points. Thin and delicate leaves and stems can be sucked into the inlet openings of the filter.
The leaves of the plant may be damaged, the filter inlet blocked, or both. Therefore, it may be a good idea to keep a sponge pre-filter near the water inlet.
If you are planting Water Sprite as a medium plant, leave enough space for the plant to grow. The stems of plants usually grow towards the surface of the water.
As the stems grow, the leaves of the plant take up more lateral space in the tank. It’s not a big deal, but the penalty mention just before the planning.
Some hobbyists even like to plant Water Sprite as a foreground plant, creating a low bush effect near the tank’s front. Since the leaf stems float and is also thrown by the mother plant, they can be planted one centimeter apart in the foreground. You should soon take root and form a small hedge of shiny green leaves.
Spirit of water swimming in the water of the aquarium
A floating water sprite is an interesting corner because the plant can grow on the water’s surface or just in the water column growing against other plants or decorations.
Floating an aquatic sprite is easy. Drop the stem and leaves into the aquarium water. In a few days, the plant will start to develop roots that will cling to the plant, and the plant will extract its nutrients from the water.
A Floating Water Sprite can develop wider leaves than when planted because it is closer to the light. As the root system develops, the plant grows with thin, fine taproots.
From the primary roots, the floating plant also develops thinner and finer secondary roots. These very thin floating roots can trap small pieces of edible material and provide Amano shrimp and red cherry shrimp a great place to feed for hours while swimming in the tank.
Creating shaded areas
The Floating Water Sprite also offers hobbyists the ability to create shaded areas in a tank. Because the floating leaves are very close to the light source, they prevent any light from reaching the tank’s bottom.
This means that the floating water sprayer can protect other plants that need less light. This cover is especially useful for hobbyists who keep plants with little light and slow-growing leaves like Anubias Barteri.
Since the leaves of Anubias Barteri grow slowly, algae can form if the light is direct and intense. But with the Water Sprite floating blanket, Anubias Barteri can still grow and doesn’t have much of a problem with algae formation.
Another interesting feature of Floating Water Sprite is its epiphytic properties. A water spirit roots can find stability by wrapping around other plants with a solid trunk, as of Anacharis floating or planted. Another thing the roots of Water Sprite floating plants can do is adhere to porous surfaces like lava rock.
Plant Care Water Spray: Easy to Moderate
The good news is that Water Sprite is generally easy to maintain. Due to its growth rate issues, some hobbyists may suggest that Water Sprite maintenance is “easier to moderate.” Water Sprite is easy to maintain as the plant can be adapted to various water and lighting conditions.
Caring for Water Sprite can be difficult as the plant can grow like weeds in decent conditions and quickly take over a tank. Therefore, the growth of Water Sprite should be controlled by regular pruning.
When pruning Water Sprite plants, be careful not to pull the plant. Carefully cut off excess growth or dead stems without breaking the plant. I prefer to cut the stem as close to the plant’s base as possible, as sometimes the remaining part of the stem turns brown and dies after cutting.
Water sprite leaves can also be removed from the main plant. Hobbyists may observe tiny leaves floating above a tank and stuck to sponge pre-filters or filter inlets, creating an uncomfortable mess.
Plant size and bulk aside, Water Sprite is so adaptable and versatile that it’s a good plant for beginners. Hobbyists should almost always keep healthy Water Sprite plants in an established tank with acceptable settings.
However, there may be times when a hobbyist cannot grow and survive a particular Water Sprite plant, with the replacement plants growing well in the same location and under the same light and water conditions.
Fortunately, water sprites are generally inexpensive, so losing a plant now and then isn’t a big deal. But the subject deserves mention.
Water reservoir parameters and size of the aquarium
Planted or Floating Water Sprite can work well on both standard settings for freshwater tanks in the community and conditions with a larger area. The aquarium’s pH can range from 7.0 to 7.5, although some hobbyists suggest that a wider, more acidic pH range is not only acceptable but even preferable.
The water temperature can range from 68 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Since sprites can multiply quickly, it “is a good idea to keep the plant in a tank large enough to make room for the growth—the bigger the tank, the better.
Growth rate: lighting, root system, and leaves
Under the right conditions, a planted water spirit can grow large and bushy. A floating water sprite can become a floating green network of stems, leaves, and roots in the water column.
Common lighting for community tanks is acceptable. However, the growth rate is influenced by the intensity of lighting and the exposure time. When everything is the same, Water Sprite plants grow slower in low light and faster in moderate or high light.
In this sense, more hours of light promote faster growth than fewer hours of light. And the growth rate of Water Sprite floating in the aquarium water is faster than the growth rate of the root plant in the substrate.
A floating plant receives much more intense light than plants that are near the bottom of the tank. The root system of a Water Sprite that swims in aquarium water also appears to grow more strongly than it does when planted.
Floating root systems become thin and look like cobwebs and look like fibers in a tissue. Planted root systems develop more like other types of plant roots with longer primary and secondary roots. Finally, doses of vegetable fertilizer in low-tech tanks can accelerate the growth rate of Water Sprite.
The sheets of Water Sprite are tender, numerous, thin, and shaped like a latticework. The leaves grow outward from the plants’ stems and in web-like patterns that resemble a fern plant. Planted Water Sprite Sheets are thinner while Floating Water Sprite Sheets appear a bit sturdier, wider, and flatter.
Plant sprites and tank mates
A water sprite is a good plant for freshwater community fish and freshwater shrimp. The fern-shaped leaves provide good cover and interesting places for residents to explore and hide.
They also provide a blanket for babies. The thin trays also hold chunks of food, giving Amano shrimp and red cherry shrimp a place to be, a festival. Some snails can pose a threat to Water Sprite.
So remember it well. If snails are kept on Watersprite, make sure they are well fed. Water sprite plants may not last long in tanks with cichlids and goldfish, as these fish can eat the entire plant.
If you have any questions about Water Sprite plants and their compatibility, check with your seller before purchasing.
Plant reproduction
Water sprite plants reproduce quickly by producing random seedlings that are rejected by the parent. These plants develop root systems and, when ready, break away from the mother plant and survive on their own. Another way for these plants to reproduce is to take a cut stem with a fair amount of leaves and put it back in the water. Within days, the cut stems should start to develop roots and survive as a new floating plant.
