Salvinia I.D.

So, I have been looking online just now to try and find out what species of salvinia I have here, but I'm still a little confused. I was told it was "cupped salvinia" when I got it, but searching for that doesn't turn up any results that are associated with a species, really. I also searched for all of the different species of salvinia, but a lot of the photos for 1 species also show up for another species (the same photo).

I'm thinking mine looks like S. cucullata because this picture is the closest to mine:
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But this is from someone's Flickr page, and I know how species can grow differently under different conditions (e.g. this looks like it's outside, while mine is grown inside)

Here's a picture of the one I am trying to I.D. There is some common salvinia next to it, which has a more yellowish or lime tint, where the "cupped" stuff is more mint green due to tiny white hair things on the leaves that keep the water beaded and let it run off easily.
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Can anyone tell me what species this is? It doesn't look like any salvinia is on the WA invasive plants list (just salvia, which is for a completely different hobby...), but I would like to know if there are any restrictions for interstate distribution.

Salvinia minima

Pretty plants...

I use this plant to regulate lighting in a small tank.

fishNAbowl wrote:I use this plant to regulate lighting in a small tank.

It's definitely good at that.

I keep s. natans and s. cucullata, but I've never kept minima. It's a beautiful plant

Salvinia Molesta appears to be a federally banned noxious weed, but it doesn't look much like what you have. That plant also seems to be banned by various states.

I'm not sure it's minima, but I will look into it. Cory might want to chime in, that's who I got it from- any idea Cory?

The pictures of S minima I have been looking at have leaves more like this:
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But again I could be wrong, like I said earlier different conditions, different growth... None of the S. minima pictures I have seen have the same "cupped" shape as mine, each leaf is actually very rounded near the back and not flat like above, but it could be due to the LED I have directly overhead
Mine looks like this, and many others listed as S. cucullata look the same:
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notice the very rounded shape to the curve of the leaves, unlike other which "fold" upward when crowded. These are not crowded at all, they just grow that way

This is what mine looks like. Some of the leaves lay flat, sort of. But the majority that's got a tight clump curve up. I think we both have S. cucullata . I too have been doing research since you started this post

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Yes I think you're right, and that's what I was thinking. Yours looks happy, mine doesn't get dense like that because I have a lot of surface agitation that tends to break it up into smaller pieces. Probably not the most efficient way to grow it, but I really like how it looks.

Thanks for the help in this matter! I'm going to try and find a way to grow this stuff quickly after I have to move, so that I can trade/give it away to people, I think it should be more widely distributed because it's awesome!

Put some in a tub with an air stone in it and a light over it and put some flourish comp in there from time to time and they'll grow like mad. Keep the airstone-agitation fairly low - the less agitation the better. You just want enough to avoid mold or something like that.

pbmax wrote:Put some in a tub with an air stone in it and a light over it and put some flourish comp in there from time to time and they'll grow like mad. :cheers:Keep the airstone-agitation fairly low - the less agitation the better.  You just want enough to avoid mold or something like that.

 

This plant likes to suck up lots of nutrients too. What's neat in my tank I have it growing on my spray bar (roots are hooked on) so its invisible:)
The FENNEX RAY is like 3 inches from the plant so it gets beemed on by light. I to am using Flourish Comp in this tank, along with compressed CO2. This plant quickly covers the whole surface of this small tank. What you see is after I pulled 80% of this plant out. If you want more let me know & we can figure something out