Page 1 of 1

Cascading Land Plants into Aquarium?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2024 10:26 pm
by Acro
I have a "window box" type planter behind my turtle aquarium. I want to grow a couple land plants that drape over the water, something the turtle could occasionally snack on when the plant grows low enough. I was thinking something like Lysimachia nummularia, Hydrocotyle tripartita, Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, or Marsilea crenata.

Do you have any suggestions?

Re: Cascading Land Plants into Aquarium?

PostPosted: Sat Aug 24, 2024 12:12 am
by steve
I don't think anyone has tried it before, this could be a fun experiment. I'd review some of the plants here: https://www.anapsid.org/resources/edible.html

Re: Cascading Land Plants into Aquarium?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2026 4:45 pm
by Terbon
That’s a great resource, thanks for sharing it-plenty to go through there. It definitely makes it easier to narrow things down to species that are actually safe rather than just guessing.

I might try a couple of faster-growing trailing plants first and see how well they handle the occasional nibbling, then adjust from there depending on how destructive the turtle decides to be. There is also a wonderful tool that will instantly tell you what kind of plant and identify plants by photo you're looking at and whether it's suitable for your turtle's aquarium- Botan app.

Out of curiosity, has anyone here found certain “safe” plants that turtles consistently ignore versus ones they tend to demolish straight away?

Re: Cascading Land Plants into Aquarium?

PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2026 9:13 am
by steve
Ultimately it depends on their personality. It can vary drastically between each RES, so you will have to experiment.