The leaves on my live aquarium plants are drooping?

im not sure what kind of plant they are. The look like an elephant ear plant....the 2 i have have white leaves...some are red. These are about 4" tall.





They have been in the tank for about 2 weeks. I also have 2 other plants (crinum) they are tall with long grass looking leaves. These seem to be doing good...one of them i can already tell has grown....its touching the top of the tank already.





Why would the other plants "sag" ??


What could cause this?

The leaves on my live aquarium plants are drooping?
It sounds like the pet store sold you a "bog plant" and labeled it an aquarium plant. Bog plants only have their roots under water, the leaves must be up in the atmosphere. It is probably an "arrowhead bog plant." Very few aquatic plants have red leaves and the ones that do are small teardrop shaped leaves.





The reason they are sagging is that they are probably dying because they are totally submerged. I would remove them before they start decaying and fouling your tank. Put them in a pot and water them good. See if they don't perk up with the leaves out of the water.





The crinum is definitely an aquatic plant and will do well submerged, the arrowhead will die eventually.





The pet stores sell the bog plants because they look nice even though they know the plants will die off in an aquarium. When they die, the customer comes back and buys more plants and plant food and special lights..... It's all about the money!
Reply:It may be the natural way the plant grows. Aquatic plants are very "flimsy" - in fact, one of the giveaways if you have a non-aquatic plant (petstore often sell non-aquatic plants as aquatic plants) is if it has a stiff stem.


That said, your plant could be havng a number of problems.


Plants need a few specific elements to survive:





Light


Fertilizer (nutrients)


Carbon (CO2)





Some plants will survive with very little of each, such as java moss and naja grass. Other plants, however, need special treatment to thrive.





The light is an easy one. Most basic plants are fine with .75-1.25 watts of fluorescent light per gallon. Some plants need higher light, 2-3 watts per gallon. You may want to look into upgrading your light fixture (I love the Coralife Compact Fluorescent fixtures).





Fertilizers are tough to get right. Not enough, and your plants suffer. Too much, and you get algae. I suggest you pick up some seachem flourish. Start with 1/4 the suggest dose every time you do a water change (which should be about once a week). Next water change, use 1/3 the suggested dose, then 1/2, then 2/3 etc - until you notice a very slight algae formation. Then it's time to cut back a little.





CO2 is the hardest one, but many plants need it to thrive. If your tank is under 50 gallons, a DIY CO2 reactor will be just fine. Get a 2 litre coke or juice bottle, well rinsed. Drill or melt a hole into the lid that is slightly smaller than the width of some airline. Cut the airline at an angle so it creates a point - stick the point into the hole and pull it through with your fingers or pliars - this way, it's perfectly sealed.


In the bottle, put 2 cups of salt, and fill the bottle with warm wateruntil an inch or so below where the bottle starts to curve in towards the top. Let the sugar disolve, then add one teaspoon of bakers yeast, and close the bottle. The sugar, water and yeast will produce enough CO2 to last about a month.


If you stick the end of the airline into the tank, you will eventually see bubbles coming out. You want to get the bubbles to disolve into the water before they burst at the surface, wasting the CO2. You can either get a glass or plastic diffuser off ebay, which will make tiny bubbles that disolve quickly, or make the bubble travel through a zig-zag type maze so it can have time to disolve.
Reply:Ok, well there is soooo much more we need to know about your tank. What size is it? What sort of lighting and how much do you have over your tank? What photoperiod do you have them set on? What kind of filters are you using? What kind of substrate do you have? Are you dosing with CO2 or fertilizers at all? Do you have an air stone? Do you have fish in your tank? What are they? Planted tanks are a bit more work than a fish only tank and we need more info.
Reply:try researching.........i've heard of this one website called Google........
Reply:Without knowing the type of plant it is hard to say, it may be that they do not have the right light, or there is not enough oxygen in the tank. Are the fish eating it? cause that may do it as well.