# Confused about Pothos



## swampdiamonds

I've seen conflicting posts about Pothos plants in tanks and wonder if anyone could clear this up for me. Some people say they're not aquatic enough and they'll rot in the water, while others say they're great for soaking up nitrates. 

(If I put one in my 3 gallon tank, obviously only the roots would be in the water, not the leaves. Don't worry, I know all the stuff about bettas needing betta food--the pothos would only be for nitrates! My tank is heated and filtered.) 

Thoughts?


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## Greenapp1es

I have a (planted, non-aquatic) pothos plant. Sometime last year, one of it's long arms broke off. I put the end that broke in a jar of water - only water - and it began to grow roots. It stayed like that for months continuing to grow and to root until I ended up giving it to friend. I've had a similar plant that also "broke" from it's main plant growing roots for over a year now, it's still doing OK (though one of these days I do intend to plant it).

Based on my experience, the roots of the pothos plant *can* survive in water, but the leaves still need to have adequate sunlight to grow and thrive.


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## Taxandria

My dentist had a pothos growing in a vase and the receptionist gave me a cutting from it. She told me just stick it in water, so that's what I did. It eventually grew tons of roots and the plant itself grew to about 5 or 6 feet long. I kept it on my mantle and refreshed the water frequently. It did amazingly well in only water. I didn't feed it any miracle gro or anything.


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## jeaninel

Pothos are excellent nitrate feeders from what i've read. Only submerge the roots either into your filter if you have room or use a small basket to float the roots while keeping the leaves out of the water. On another forum i belong to many people use pothos and there's a very large thread of pics and posts of people who've done this very successfully. I plan to try it myself.


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## JHatchett

I use pothos in most of my tanks, it does a great job at taking up nitrates. Just keep the leaves out of the water.


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## swampdiamonds

Thanks, guys!


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## DustinRichie

Use cuttings, or wash ALL THE DIRT off of the roots of the entire plant. You can just drop the whole thing into your tank -- the fish LOVE the leaves, especially. The plants' roots will eventually turn green-ish. And the plants will grow more leaves (that kind of separate off of the "trunks") and a different kind of water roots. You can put the roots in the substrate, tie them together, or just let them float. The leaves can be underwater, or you can train it like a vine out of the tank. The plants will grow faster with the leaves out of the water, but my 29 gal is doing great, and it's just full of Pothos. They're cheap, my Sorority Girls love them, and my water chemistry is right on.


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