# Illegal Plants in California



## eleventytwelve (Oct 7, 2013)

I've expressed this on a couple other posts, but I'm looking into adding a floater into my tank. I'm a total beginner when it comes to planting, so I've been doing a lot of research and just realized that a few floaters I was interested in getting were illegal to be shipped here - the more you know.

So for you Californians ... recommend any floaters I can purchase? I know of java moss (which I may end up going with) but wanted to look into other options.


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## eleventytwelve (Oct 7, 2013)

BTW, I currently have a java fern and amazon sword in there. They're both thriving pretty well. It's also a Fluval Spec 3.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Find a seller that is in California and it isn't against the law to ship to you. Only when it goes over state lines.


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## rickey (Jul 7, 2013)

Invasive aquatic plants can be a huge problem in some states. I assume you understand the intent of the law. In Florida these plants are how listed as invasive are illegal to process or transport.
Hydrilla 
Waterhyacinth 
Waterlettuce 
Eurasian watermilfoil 
West Indian marsh grass 
Wetland nightshade 
Crested floating heart 
Phragmites 

R


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## JennNP (Jul 2, 2013)

Fellow Californian here. I just bought some brazilian pennywort. Local fish stores around my area also sell duckweed and wisteria. These are all floaters as well (wisteria and pennywort can be planted as well). I'm assuming they are all legal here since they are sold in stores. Hope this helps!


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## eleventytwelve (Oct 7, 2013)

Yeah, I get the whole deal with invasive plants. I'm just new to planting and wasn't exactly sure where to start. I wasn't aware though that it was only illegal if we bought over state lines. I'll look around, my LFS doesn't have anything I was looking for... I'm sure there's a fish store around here that I can peruse though. 

Thanks!


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

I live in Sacramento, Ca. I have water hycinth i think they are legal because my local aquarium sells it lol


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## JennNP (Jul 2, 2013)

Here we go, I knew a found a list a little while ago. According to this site (not sure if this 100% accurate) there is only one aquarium plant restricted in CA:
http://www.plantedaquariumscentral.com/State_restricted_Plants.html


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## Glory (Aug 5, 2013)

Setsuna said:


> I live in Sacramento, Ca. I have water hycinth i think they are legal because my local aquarium sells it lol


totally un related but i live in roseville by you :quiet::shock2:mg:


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## eleventytwelve (Oct 7, 2013)

JennNP said:


> Here we go, I knew a found a list a little while ago. According to this site (not sure if this 100% accurate) there is only one aquarium plant restricted in CA:
> http://www.plantedaquariumscentral.com/State_restricted_Plants.html


Ah that could be useful - but looking through various websites I noticed that there are some plants that cannot be shipped to California, for example, water sprite -

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=768+822&pcatid=822

I was just confused as to why such plants can't be shipped if they're not illegal to own. This is just me being curious, now.


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

Glory said:


> totally un related but i live in roseville by you :quiet::shock2:mg:


thats great ^^


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## gorillakev (Feb 21, 2013)

Most lfs just buy the plants from the wholesaler not even knowing its illegal to have in California. I remember one of my lfs got raided for having an illegal shark in their display tank, and the thing is they got it from the wholesaler. It was a big deal too and even aired on wild justice. You don't want to go by if my lfs sells it than it's legal right, because sometimes the lfs doesn't even know it's legal or illegal also.

I had and kept hygrophilia corymbosa and sunset in my tanks even though it's listed as a noxious weed. I think it's legal to have in possession but it's illegal to ship out of state, and illegal to introduce it into a body of water. 

If you go to some parts of the delta you can see what the effect of a invasive plant species can do to the delta system.


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

eleventytwelve said:


> I was just confused as to why such plants can't be shipped if they're not illegal to own. This is just me being curious, now.


I think it's probably because these are considered invasive plants in the area. If you get it from your own area, for example going to a local pond/lake and collecting some of these species, or go to a lfs where _they_ just go to the local water sources to collect these invasive species, you're taking from the overabundance (or at least not adding to it), but when you bring in those invasive species from other states, there's the potential for adding to the already overabundance of certain plants that are taking over some bodies of water.


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## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

I saw this thread and y'all scared me. I just ordered plants from Texas, so yeah....


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