How to Grow Hornwort

Submerge the hornwort into your aquarium. Leave the hornwort floating at the top of your tank. Alternatively, you can bury the bottom of the hornwort underneath the gravel in your aquarium's substrate to secure it in a non-floating position. If you choose to bury the hornwort, it will gradually develop root-like appendages called "rhizoids," which will attach to the gravel to hold the plant in place.

Provide your hornwort with the proper nutrients. The plants take in fish wastes as well as carbon dioxide, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates and ammonia. Hornwort also consumes other nutrients in the water rather quickly, and can deplete those nutrients within eight weeks. Prevent nutrient starvation by adding an aquarium plant fertilizer supplement to the aquarium following package instructions.

Remove dead hornwort leaves by skimming the aquarium with a net. Hornwort growing in nature sheds the tips of its leaves in autumn, but leaf loss occurring in aquariums may also be the result of nutrient starvation or high levels of copper in the water. Dead leaves left to rot can make the tank environment toxic to fish, so act quickly to remove plant debris.

Prune lush hornwort with scissors. Cut some of the stems off beside the base of the main plant stem, then release the cuttings into the water or bury their bottom ends beneath the tank gravel to grow new plants in the same tank. Alternatively, remove the cuttings to prevent overgrowth.