Growing Dayflower in Aquarium

Growing Dayflower in Aquarium

Many gardeners consider this plant, commonly known as Asiatic Dayflower as unwanted weed in their garden.

I've been growing Dayflower with roots in water in my aquariums since 2016.

It blooms with small pretty blue flowers.

Fish enjoy nibbling on roots of Dayflower plants.

Please check my previous video for more details about growing Dayflower in aquariums.

There is much more to say about this plant.

Dayflower is the only plant that blooms growing in water among all terrestrial plants I've tried so far.

October 8th, 2022.

I pulled out a bunch of Dayflower cuttings with and without roots from a local garden and washed them clean.

This time I want to try growing Dayflower in the high humidity of an enclosed paludarium.

Let's insert Dayflower cuttings in the land platform hanging above the water.

Keep all leaves above the water.

The land platform is made of a milk crate box and covered with terrestrial mosses.

I have some other land plants growing here with roots in water.

More about them in future videos ;)

All set and ready on October 8th, 2022

Only roots of the plants go in the water under the platform.

Let's cover the aquarium to keep the water from evaporating.

The land part of this paludarium is populated with Springtails and Isopods you can see here.

One months later on November 7th, 2022.

Dayflower plants keep blooming.

Condensation on the walls and cover of the tank is most noticeable during morning hours.

It makes it harder making observations as Dayflower blooms only in morning hours.

Here you can see an isopod climb on the flower.

There are good chances Dayflowers may produce seeds while growing in this paludarium.

Isopods and springtails are a very efficient cleaning crew of the land part.

A couple weeks later on November 30th.

Some Dayflowers indeed have produced seeds.

Most of the Dayflower cuttings bloomed.

January 7th.

January 18th.

It's been 4 months since I put Dayflowers in this paludarium.

Many Dayflower cuttings wilted completely after blooming.

And some cuttings wilted only the bottom part - like this one.

Let's stick the good healthy part of the stem back into moss.

I leave the wilted parts of all plants for isopods to chew on.

Dayflower plants planted closer to the window seem to do better.

My aquariums get only indirect sunlight coming from the window for that matter.

And I open the cover only for feeding my pets during feeding every other day.

I can feel with my arm that it's warmer and humid inside of this tank.

January 30th.

Another Dayflowers bloomed :)

March 4th.

Seeing little blue blooms popping up here and there through the winter makes me feel very pleasant.

I collected some seeds from Dayflowers growing in this tank for future experiments.

Though, first I would have to make a different version of land platform.

April 25th, 2023.

I enjoyed Dayflower blooms one flower at a time through about 6 months in high humidity of this paludarium. 

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)