In addition to giving the aquarium a distinct appearance and personality, plants can highlight the beauty of the creatures within. Every hobbyist can create a unique design in their aquarium by breeding and keeping plants and adjusting the size, density, color, and even growth rate of the plants.
- Vegetative propagation
- Propagation by daughter plants
- Reproduction by layering
- Propagation by cuttings
- Sexual reproduction
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Vegetative propagation
By using this technique, a vegetative organ of the parent plant is used to create a new plant.
Propagation by daughter plants
A plant that emerged from an accidental bud on one of the mother plant’s organs is known as a daughter plant.
A number of plant species, including the Thai fern, have adventitious buds that form on the leaf margins and give rise to new plants known as "daughter" plants.
Once the roots and leaves have grown, they either separate or break off and float to the water’s surface. The substrate is fixed with daughter plants.
You can split off a leaf or a portion of one from Acanthaceae plants, like Sinema or Hygrophila, and allow it to float on the water’s surface. An adventitious bud will eventually form on the leaf’s edge, and from it will emerge a daughter plant that is separated and planted in the ground once its roots and leaves have grown.
A flower stalk, topped by an inflorescence, develops on certain plants with shorter stems.
Daughter plants are created in the inflorescence area of several Echinodorus species, which typically grows underwater. They are divided and planted in the ground once they have formed roots and five to seven leaves.
To encourage the daughter plant to take root, you can press the flower stalk against the ground with a stone while it is tilted.
Aponogeton species that divide after producing a tuber and multiple leaves also produce a daughter plant in the inflorescence region.
In bulbous plants, like Crinum thailandica, the bulb’s axillary buds split into daughter plants when they separate, creating daughter bulblets. Once a few leaves appear, the plant is removed and transplanted to a different location.
Acorus, Anubias, Nuphar nigra, and several species of Echinodorus are among the rhizomatous plants that produce young daughter plants from adventitious buds on the rhizome. Once a plant develops multiple leaves and roots, it is divided using a sharp knife and a section of rhizome before being planted in the ground. You can chop off a portion of the long rhizome of an old plant before replanting it by pressing it into the ground. From the dormant buds, a daughter plant eventually develops.
The rhizome or tuber can be divided to propagate apogetons. This is accomplished by slicing the tuber or rhizome of a well-developed bush into four to six sections using a sharp razor blade, cutting through the growth point in a vertical manner, and rubbing charcoal powder into the cut’s plane. The locations of these sections are well-lit. The plant grows new plants from the buds once the disease has healed.
Reproduction by layering
A young plant that forms on a creeping shoot is called a layering.
In some plants, such as Vallisneria, a creeping shoot formed in the axil of a leaf consists of a long internode with a bud at the end and is called a whisker. At first, the internode grows in a horizontal direction, and then development moves to the bud, which forms the roots and leaves of a young plant – a layering. It in turn forms tendrils, and the formation of new layers follows one after another – a "chain" of plants is formed. The layer that has formed leaves and roots begins to feed on its own and can be separated from the mother bush, but this will slow down the formation of the next layer. If the tendrils are not cut, then you can get optimal reproduction of the plant. Each plant from the leaf axils forms tendrils, which leads to a high degree of vegetative reproduction. Over time, the tendrils connecting the plants die off.
Other plants, like Cryptocoryne, have a type of creeping shoot known as a whip that is made up of multiple internodes. In the node, adventitious roots form and a distinct basal leaf is positioned.
The whip grows underground for a while before the top splits open to reveal a compressed internode—also known as a rhizome—that emerges at the surface. As it emerges, it starts to form intense roots. Normal leaves replace the basal ones, and a young plant called a layering forms. After two to three leaves form, the layering can be separated.
Although they can also form from buds in the axils of basal leaves, new shoots typically originate from a section of the rhizome.
Numerous plant species that float on the water’s surface, like Limnobium, Pistia, and Vodokras, also reproduce by layering.
Schürmann also states that it is impossible to separate the layers too soon. Growing to a third, ideally half, the size of the mother plant is the goal for the young plant (in cryptocorynes they are almost the same size).
A floating plant’s layering breaks apart on its own; the connection does not break.
Propagation by cuttings
A cutting is an elongated stemmed portion of a plant shoot that can be propagated vegetatively.
Cutting propagation of long-stemmed plants: a) cutting the stem into pieces; b) planting the pieces; and c) monitoring the cuttings after two to three weeks.
Using a sharp knife or your fingernails, cut off the top of the stem, leaving at least three nodes. After removing the leaves from the bottom two nodes, plant the head cutting in the ground so that it covers the leafless nodes, which will provide roots. The cutting is split exactly above the node from which the lateral shoot emerges if the plant has produced a lateral shoot.
Furthermore, if the lateral shoot has developed at least three nodes, it can be divided as a cutting. If the plant is large enough, then after removing the leaves from the lower two nodes, the next section of the stem—a shoot cutting with at least four nodes—can be separated from it and planted in the ground in addition to the head cutting.
The head cutting grows the fastest at first. A developed root system on the mother plant that is still in the ground soon triggers the production of lateral shoots at the nodes. The last to start growing is the shoot cutting.
Cuttings are another method used to propagate plants like Elodea that float in the water column.
In this instance, the mother plant’s final, decaying stem segment is discarded.
Sexual reproduction
Fertilization and the creation of a new plant happen during sexual reproduction. In plants that bloom, fertilization takes place within the bloom, leading to the formation of seeds. Sexual reproduction is called seed for this reason.
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred from the stamens’ anthers to the stigmas of the flower’s pistils.
The progeny of self-pollination are genetically identical to the parent plant because the stigmas are pollinated by the pollen from their own flower. Pollen from different plants attaches itself to the stigma during cross-pollination, making the progeny more viable and varied in their genetic makeup.
Hybridization is the process by which stigmas are pollinated not only by pollen from their own plant species but also by pollen from closely related species.
The traits of two species combine to form hybrids. Since Aponogetons frequently produce hybrids, true, pure species are rather uncommon.
Both self-pollination and cross-pollination are possible in many species. Conversely, the flowers of certain plant species—like Barclaya longifolia—don’t open; instead, they develop seeds.
Aquaristics uses seed propagation primarily for Aponogetons (which form inflorescences) and very infrequently for certain species of Barclay, Nuphar nigra, Nymphalidae, and Echinodorus.
In most cases, artificial pollination is used instead of natural methods, which involve running a clean finger over the stamens and pistils of self-pollinating plants or using a soft brush to transfer pollen from the stamens to the stigmas.
It is best to remove the first stalk and allow the plant to grow stronger because young plants that develop a flower stalk and inflorescence after pollination are severely depleted and grow poorly.
Color in Echinodorus indicates the level of seed ripening. Green seeds turn brown when they are ripe. The seeds that are easily separated are taken out and allowed to dry for a week or two. After that, some aquarists place the seeds in a vessel with sand and low water at 28 °C and leave them there for 1.5–2 hours to improve germination. Raising the water level gradually occurs as germination progresses.
Pollination for Aponogetons starts when the first flowers open and should be done in the afternoon or evening for a period of 10 to 14 days. Falling from the tree, ripe fruits float on the water’s surface. It is recommended to wrap the ear in fine gauze or take other precautions to ensure that the seeds released during the fruit pulp’s breakdown are not lost.
The seeds can be kept for a while in water at 15–16 °C if you do not need to sow them right now.
The seeds are germinated in a soilless vessel with a 10–15 cm water level. The seeds are planted in soil (deepening by 2–5 mm depending on the size of the seeds), poured in a layer of 2-3 cm, and consisting of a mixture of sand, clay, and boiled peat crumbs in a ratio of 3:1:1:1, with a water level of 20–25 cm. This is done after the seeds form thin roots and 2-3 leaves. The water layer gets thicker as the plants get bigger. As the plants grow, you can lower a vessel that is hung in the aquarium and filled with seeds. 26–28°C is the water’s temperature.
Seeds can be planted right away in a soil-filled vessel without needing to germinate first. To accomplish this, create tiny indentations in it, place the seeds inside, and then gradually add water until it reaches a height of roughly 1 centimeter. When the seeds sprout, the water level is progressively raised.
The plant Barclaya self-pollinates.
Flowers can bear fruit in both situations—when they emerge from the water, open, and when they stay closed underwater. It is preferable to let the fruit’s fallen seeds float in water until a thin root and the first leaf, which should be three to five millimeters long, form. The young plant is then inserted into the ground.
- Post category: Aquarium from A to Z / Breeding fish and plants
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