Anacharis Availability

        The past 6 years or so America’s favorite pond submerged oxygenating plant has been less able to obtain. From droughts and low rivers to a number of other excuses last year I found out the reason for the availability decrease.

       Talking with Brandon of Florida Aquatics last year at the IWGS symposium he filled me in on the big problem. Florida Aquatics supplies much of North America with Aquarium plants, just check the tag in about any aquarium store and you will see their tag in each net pot. Anacharis is harvested in Florida in shallow rivers by boats that are quite amazing. They skim the waters surface and cut the tops of the plants with new growth and some even band the plants making it quite simple and cheap to harvest.

      Anacharis has been added to these rivers across the state in order to harvest, for a couple years the anacharis explodes with growth however like a farm crop it must pull certain nutrients from the water ways as production declines each year. These boat harvesters solution is to add some anacharis to another river and walla another bumper crop. This has been going on for decades and Florida is just about out of new rivers and waterways where anacharis has not been introduced so harvesting may be coming to a halt.

      Aquarium hobbyists and pond stores buy anacharis in the hundreds or thousands of bunches per purchase. In the past it has been inexpensive but sometimes the only way to get enough in stock is to import anacharis from other countries now including some cousin varieties of what we normally see here in America. The additional shipping costs increase the market price of the imports leading to a decline in sales.

     The great hope is to ween Americans off of Anacharis. It is unlikely to continue to be readily available at the previous low cost however is in no danger of disappearing everywhere. It will be a supply and demand product. Other submerged plants are much more easy to maintain availability. Semi-submerged plants like Red Star Ludwigia, Bacopa, Rotala, and hundreds of aquarium plants can be grown and harvested outside of rivers in southern nurseries and numbers can be available in mass at any time. Not all are as hardy as anacharis but they come in many colors, foliage types, and can be used quite easily in the trade.

      We will sell anacharis from both in country and out to fill clients orders for pond megastore both wholesale and retail to home buyers no matter the cost as long as the plants are in good condition. Start looking toward other plants though I would stay away from cabomba as it is always a fish favorite and has a tendency to fall apart if unhappy with its surroundings.

-Zac