Elodea: photo, description, keeping the plant in the aquarium

The aquarium plant Elodea is one of the most affordable and popular. In the natural environment it can reach two meters. Due to the weak root system, the plant floats freely in the water column. The advantage of the species is its unpretentiousness to water parameters, its rapid growth rate - inexperienced aquarists can easily cope with its care. The plant is native to freshwater lakes in America. In spring, elodea can bloom.

Description and varieties of elodea

The long, elastic, olive-colored stems have a branched structure and are strewn with small leaf blades. The leaves of a characteristic transparent texture, depending on the variety, can be elongated, round, heart-shaped, slightly curly. The size depends on lighting conditions, on average no more than one centimeter. Some varieties have a palm-shaped leaf section.

The top is often lighter than the bottom. During the dormant period (November-January), the plant sinks to the bottom.

The following species are popular among aquarists:

Kinds

Elodea canadensis

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Photo: Canadian Elodea

Elodea canadensi has become a popular species for water gardens and cool water aquariums. By absorbing nutrients, it helps control algae and keep water clean. It grows fragile, branched, tangled shoots (stems) up to 100 centimeters long (300-400 centimeters in the wild), with short, hanging, spear-shaped, ovate dark green leaves (up to 1.5 centimeters long). Tiny, apetalous, greenish-white flowers appear from July to September. The plague produces both male and female flowers, which appear on separate plants. Male flowers are rare, so reproduction often occurs by stem fragmentation rather than sexually. When pollination occurs, the species disperses through water (pollen is transferred from male to female flowers). The algae also produces buds (turions), which sink to the bottom in the fall and overwinter as dormant buds, which produce new individuals in the spring. Colonies in the wild provide excellent shelter for fish, small crustaceans, insect larvae and snails.

Elodea covered the pond

Elodea canadensis is native to North America but is widely naturalized in Europe. The plant's synonym and original name is Anacharis canadensis. The species is sometimes sold in small clusters for large aquariums, where it produces interesting foliage and serves as both an oxygenator and water clarifier, although its close relative, Egeria densa (a Brazilian algae sold as anacharis), is more often purchased by aquarists for this purpose.

Elodea natall

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Photo: Elodea natolla

Elodea nuttallii (Nuttall's waterweed) is a perennial submersible plant native to North America. E. nuttalli is a dioecious species with floating flowers and rooting at nodes. The stems are long and slender, often freely branched. The leaves are pale green, more or less evenly distributed along the stem, usually in groups of 3 or sometimes in groups of 4, linear or narrowly lanceolate, often with curved edges; 6-13 millimeters long, 0.7-1.5 millimeters wide, sharp at the end. The lower leaves are arranged in pairs and are smaller in size, ovate-lanceolate. The stem is thin, round in cross section, often freely branched, 30-100 centimeters long. The root is white, unbranched, and not always present. The flower grows small, no more than 8 millimeters in diameter; the waxy white flowers appear at the ends of long thread-like stems and have 3 petals and 3 sepals. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants, but male flowers rarely appear. The males are located in the middle sinuses, sessile, ovoid, about 2 millimeters long, spotted in two parts, but the lobes, twisted together, appear pointed; they float to the surface of the water, where they open up.

Elodea natall photo underwater

Sepals are ovate, about 2 millimeters long, sometimes reddish; petals are absent or up to 0.5 millimeters long, ovate-lanceolate; stamens 9. Female flowers are narrowly cylindrical, slightly widened at the base and at the end, 9-25 millimeters long; extended to the surface by thread-like hypanthium up to 9 centimeters long; sepals are green, tiny ovoid, 1 mm long; petals are white, ovate, longer than the sepals; stigmas are slender. The fruits are narrow-ovoid, 5-7 millimeters long; contain several seeds. They ripen under water. The seeds are spindle-shaped, 3.5-4.6 millimeters long, with long hairs at the base.

Buying a plant

When purchasing elodea, pay attention to the condition of the leaves: they should be strong with green stems and numerous petioles at the base. Healthy plates are flat and strong.

Elodea stems typically reach 10 to 20 centimeters. In pet stores, they are often held together at the base using small, tight rubber bands. The plant may develop thin, short, white roots growing at the base or thread-like shoots extending outward from other parts of the stem. Avoid purchasing if Elodea has weak stems or leaves that are too dark green or black.

The benefits and harms of Elodea in its natural habitat

Under natural conditions, Elodea, as mentioned above, can quickly occupy the entire area of ​​a reservoir. The stems of only one plant are capable of reaching a length of two meters. And on one plant there can be quite a lot of such stems.

As a result, if you do not control the growth and number of Elodea in a reservoir, then it very quickly becomes completely unsuitable not only for navigation, but also for breeding and subsequent fishing.

People have found a use for this plant. The green stems of Elodea are used as cattle feed and also to create fertilizer. In addition, some species of this plant have sufficiently high decorative properties to find another use for them - in aquariums.

Elodea care

Because the plant adapts easily to a wide range of water conditions, care is relatively easy. Therefore, Elodea is suitable for inexperienced breeders. Unlike many other species, the aquarist's task is not only to preserve the plant, but also to ensure that it does not grow so actively. Despite the fact that Elodea will fit well into an aquarium of any size, still take into account the volume of the tank based on the growth rate of the plant.

Water temperature

The plant can exist in different temperature conditions. Canadian Elodea and floating varieties survive long-term decreases down to 12 °C, but no flowering is observed. Other varieties grow at temperatures between 16-24°C and are also suitable for tropical aquariums.

Aquarium lighting

The plant does well in moderate light. However, with its low intensity, elodea may die. If the light is too intense or burns for too long, green plants or other algae may begin to parasitize the Elodea stems. This is especially true for older shoots and leaves that are closest to the surface.

Conditions in the aquarium

Elodea is an unpretentious plant. Feels great at various parameters of hardness and acidity. The main thing is that the water parameters do not change sharply, as this can provoke the plant to shed its leaves. As for the water temperature, it calmly grows in a wide range from 17 to 24 degrees. The lower the temperature, the slower its growth.

Lighting likes it to be bright and uniform over the entire area of ​​the container. With a lack of light, the leaves rot and fall off. In the container where elodea grows, there must be good filtration so that small particles of turbidity do not linger on the leaves. If there are a lot of fish in the aquarium, then fertilization is not required.

Reproduction in Elodea is vegetative. A cutting about 20 cm in size is cut from the plant and planted in the ground or allowed to float in the water column. In good conditions it can bloom. You can keep elodea in ponds, where it will grow and create beautiful thickets.

How to plant elodea

When planting, the first thing to do is to carefully remove the gum from the base of the stems. The tight stripe helps the plants look good in the aquarium. Planting with it damages the structure of elodea. It can die, decompose and rot at the base.

After removing the rubber band, separate the stems from each other. Inspect the shoots for cracks and carefully cut off any damaged areas.

Then place each individual petiole in aquarium gravel or growing medium about two centimeters deep and a centimeter or more apart. Planting too close together will not provide room for growth.

Planting elodea as a background plant occurs according to the following scheme: shorter plants are located in front of tall ones. An ideal option given the growth potential of Elodea: the stems will grow, creating a forest. As they get longer, they can become entangled, forming a tight arch on the top of the tank.

Over time, the planted plant grows thin and delicate roots that branch throughout the substrate. Although planting root systems can be extensive, they are not as strong as, for example, pondweed roots. Some of them grow to the ground, while others just hang out in an aquarium of water.

Floating Elodea

Planting a floating elodea is much easier. Once the rubber band is removed and the stems are trimmed as needed, simply leave them floating in the water. All other things being equal, floating varieties grow faster.

Elodea is known for its ability to extract nutrients from aquarium water. When flowering, it shoots out an arrow. The flower consists of 4 petals, separated diametrically by the core. At home, flowering is extremely difficult to achieve.

Note!

Elodea is a dioecious plant, that is, when it blooms, it produces male and female flowers. Only plants with female flowers reached the European continent, so seeds are not produced.

Elodea is indispensable when starting an aquarium. It quickly adapts to new conditions and begins to grow, absorbing nitrogen compounds, which helps to establish balance in the aquarium. In addition, by consuming nutrients from water, elodea slows down the development of algae.

Dense thickets of Elodea look colorful in an aquarium. If livebearers live in it, then the fry will be able to hide from adult fish among the green leaves.

Growth rates and pruning

The growth rate of Elodea under the right conditions is rapid: intense light for a long time (14 hours), adding plant fertilizers or CO2 supplements.

New stems take a long time to form, and can also shoot off arrows on the sides. Dense vegetation often provides excellent cover for aquarium shrimp and fish that require a safe place. If Elodea begins to clog your aquarium and interfere with the life of the inhabitants, carefully cut off some of the long stems.

Elodea can be a source of live plant food for aquarium inhabitants. Some cichlids, goldfish and apple snails consume the leaf blades of the plant.

Excessive plant growth is a sign of too much nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) in the water. Growth control is best achieved by reducing nutrient sources. It could be:

• reducing fertilizer application;
• maintaining septic systems;
• changing the composition of the water.

How do plant species differ from each other?

1. 
   Elodea serrata is not characterized by density and fluffiness. It looks stricter and, when growing, does not block the light of the underlying layers of water. The purpose of its breeding is rather to fill the free water space than to improve the microclimate parameters.

2. 
   The opposite is Elodea foliage. It is more massive and richer. Its branches can create dense thickets, especially with dense, frequent planting.

3. 
   It is recommended to plant Elodea densa in bunches of 10-15 branches. This gives the aquarium area brightness, originality and creates nice thickets for fish that love privacy. The experiment shows that in this case the algae looks beautiful in the foreground or can be used to create a “hedge” around the perimeter.

4. 
   There are no clear differences between Elodea foliage and Egeria nayas. They are similar not only externally, but also botanically. Both are equally unpretentious, characterized by intensive growth and capable of creating an atmosphere of romance and gentleness.

If the goal is to make the underwater world transparent, it is better to use branches located singly. Sometimes they can branch on their own. Experience shows that this occurs with prolonged and intense illumination of an artificial reservoir.

“Aerobatics” is the creation of a competent combination of underwater plants. For example, alternating lacrimosa plants with Elodea varieties or other pinnately-leaved species.

Reproduction

The only care problem is related to reproduction. Elodea does not have a crown, rhizomes or tubers like other types of aquarium plants. It occurs by simply cutting the stems and moving part of the cut:

1. Choose a suitable specimen - a strong plant with many shoots.
2. Cut off the top about 30% of the entire stem.
3. Place the cutting into the substrate at a right angle.

Despite the fact that a wide range of water hardness is acceptable for elodea, it is worth taking this indicator into account when replanting the plant. Be sure to find out from the pet store or breeder what conditions it was kept in. When transplanted from a softer environment to a hard one, the stems die; they literally dissolve in water.

When transplanted into a soft environment, the plant does not get sick. Elodea does not tolerate salt water and instantly dies in it.

Elodea can be used to create volume in an aquarium composition. Effectively complements thickets of bladderwrack, water hyacinth, pondweed or water lilies. Experienced breeders have noticed that in places where the plant is broken, dregs from the aquarium collect.

Features of cultivation

Elodea prefers stagnant or slow-flowing aquatic environments with an average temperature of about 20 °C, although it easily tolerates cold weather. The hardness and acidity of water are not significant, although when transferring it from one body of water to another, the contrast in these indicators should be minimized. It can live at different depths - from 20 cm even to 3 m, so it is suitable for both coastal areas and deep water.

It is not picky about lighting, although it will prefer a sunny location. The plant will not require special care, although it may take a lot of time to clear the pond with a scoop or fan rake from excessively dense thickets.

In a pond, elodea reproduces on its own without any problems. If you need to transfer it to a new reservoir, you just need to break off a small young twig and place it in the water, lightly securing it in the bottom soil.

Application

The main property of elodea, which turned out to be invaluable for an artificial pond, is the ability to actively perform photosynthesis, enriching the water, and therefore providing its inhabitants with oxygen.

In addition, by filling the reservoir and releasing bactericidal substances, it quickly cleans it, preventing the development of unwanted single-celled organisms and water blooming. This culture is often used in water where, for various reasons, other plants for the pond do not take root. Well, excess growth can be used for good, because elodea is an excellent fertilizer and quite good food for rabbits or pigs.

Structure under a microscope

Studying this plant is a common practice in school biology lessons. To do this, you need to cut one leaf from the stem, place it on a glass slide and drop a little water there. The top must be covered with a cover glass.

The structure of elodea cells under a microscope consists of two layers. The cells of the upper layer are more transparent and more elongated at the edges. When magnified, the cell membrane, cytoplasm, which has a granular structure, chloroplasts and the cell nucleus are clearly visible. Often the nucleus can be covered by chloroplasts. Basically the entire cell is filled with clear cell sap.

There are a number of nuances in the color of cells

A detailed examination reveals that chloroplasts are distributed only throughout the cytoplasm. On the side they have a flattened shape, on top - rounded, from which we can conclude that they have the shape of a lentil. Chloroplasts move at different speeds, which is affected by temperature and other influences.

If you place a source of bright light above the leaf, the process of photosynthesis will begin, promoting the formation of starch grains in the chloroplast body, which look like small luminous grains.

When iodine is added, these grains will acquire a characteristic blue color. The cytoplasm will become yellowish and stop moving, since iodine has a detrimental effect on it. The cell nucleus will also turn yellow.

A living plant cell has the properties of semi-permeability, which is characterized as follows: the edges of the cytoplasm are completely permeable to water, but at the same time completely impenetrable to solutions with large molecules. Since the cell sap contains a high concentration of salts, sugars and other substances, and the external environment contains a lower concentration, water entering the vacuole will equalize the concentration of the cell sap and the external solution.

By artificial means it is possible to create conditions where the concentration of the external environment will be higher. To do this, the plant leaf must be placed in a hypertonic solution. Such solutions include:

• potassium nitrate solution (15%);
• sugar solution (30%);
• sodium chloride solution (0%), etc.

To observe the plasmolysis process, follow the instructions below.

Maintenance and care

Recommended water parameters for an aquarium:

1. Naiad: t – 15–25 Co, dH – 7–15, pH – 6–9;
2. Lagorosiphon curly: t – 18–23 Co, dH – 2–11, pH – 6.5–7;
3. Egeria foliage: t – 15–26 Co, dH – 8–21, pH – 6–8;
4. Canadian Egeria: t – 16–23 Co, dH – not important, pH – not important.

Keeping an aquarium comes down to a few simple rules:

• Algae care is carried out by daily changing water by 30% of the aquarium volume;
• The main conditions for keeping Elodea in an aquarium are good lighting and fresh water. When there is insufficient light, it is recommended to use fluorescent lamps;
• Regular thinning will also ensure the normal functioning of the entire algae organism. The main thing is not to forget that the juice secreted by a cut of egeria is destructive for the inhabitants of the aquarium, so they must be removed from there for a while.

How to draw algae with a pencil step by step

You can find many interesting things at the bottom of the sea and ocean. There are sunken ships there, SpongeBob lives there, mermaids swim there and algae grows there. On the sea floor you can still find corals, treasure chests and unknown life forms. In reality, the seabed is dark and nothing can be seen there. In the drawing, everything looks simplified, two-dimensional and childish, but cute and light. In order to draw algae, you also need to draw a sandy bottom, stones, fish, crab and bubbles. This will create a realistic picture. And then it will be clear to everyone that these curly lines are actually algae, not hair. After creating a sketch, you can take colored pencils and color. The seabed comes in all colors, so use your imagination and don’t be shy.

How to draw algae with a pencil step by step

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

Step 5.

Step 6.

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

I also give these lessons:

1. Sea Horse;
2. Aquarium;
3. Crab;

dayfun.ru

Poisonous properties of Elodea

Overgrown algae thickets in an aquarium look unsightly, so as they grow, you have to remove the excess. It will not be possible to trim them immediately inside the aquarium, because Elodea juice acts as a poison for small fish and prevents the rapid growth of delicate plants. Therefore, before pruning with a net, you should remove the plant from the aquarium and transfer it to another container.

The poison is harmless to fish larger than 5 cm and has no effect on humans.

In this lesson I will show you in detail how to draw algae step by step with a simple pencil. Perhaps if you read one of my previous drawing lessons where I show how to draw a Mermaid, then you wanted to draw seaweed. The lesson is simple, so you can do it easily. Let's get started.

We will draw four different algae at once. There are only three stages. The first stage is to draw vertical lines, they will represent the basis of our algae. These lines can be either straight or curved, it's up to you to decide.

The lines are drawn, now we need to draw the rest of the details. On the first algae we draw bunches of thin leaves that look like hairs. On the second and last algae you need to draw large leaves, and on the third - small ones.

On the first, blue algae, all that remains is to add small dots at the ends of each leaf (or twig). On the second and last algae on the leaves we draw longitudinal stripes. These two algae differ only in color. The last algae does not need any modification, it is good on its own. Also, these algae can be colored to suit your taste - everything is limited only by your imagination and a set of colors.

Algae - coloring pages with additional drawings

When we painted the snail, the children immediately became interested in what we would feed it.

I vaguely but firmly promised to provide seaweed. It doesn’t seem to be difficult, I remembered something like this from university - kelp, fucus, sargassum algae. In general, no problem - I’ll grow it just right. For inspiration, I looked in Yandex.

Here I will say this, these algae grow deep and most of us have only seen them in salads.

That’s why everyone loves to draw the seabed; even if you get fancy, no one will be able to point out the implausibility.

At the same time, the topic turned out to be very diverse and appetizing (I could eat it myself). There are a SEA of educational coloring books with additional drawing.

So what have I managed to cultivate? Today there is work for five to six year olds.

Here is a simple coloring-shading-remix on the theme “kelp”:

Complete the shading according to the sample, color it, cut it out. Feed it to the snail...

The snail quickly finished with the simple shading and asks for more!

Luckily, I still had the “snow-covered bushes” coloring pages.

Krible-krible-boom! And now the snail has already received wonderful green thickets. True, they need to be colored, for example, with spiral shading - let’s practice fine motor skills. And then cut along a complex but useful contour.

And - look! - eats and praises.

However, this is not the limit. Let's compose a coloring book on the theme of this algae:

Let's paint it pink (it has been noticed that not only girls like this glamor, boys are also great at it).

Prototype

The interest, of course, is in the correct direction of shading. We cut out the finished algae (the snail refuses to eat “from the leaf”).

And seaweed coloring pages for older children will be in the next article.

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