Newbie Bill wrote:
I'm so confused. On two different occasions I have been given 'Anacharis'.
The plants are similar but different. I shouldnt confuse the issue since I
know there is another plant with this name but one I would say looks like a
coons tail - leaves growing fairly densely together and curled upward. The
other the leaves are not as close together and seem to grow more straight
out. I have tried to research it myself but even various sites seem to
almost interchange pictures with elodea and egeria. Partially its just
another one of those pond things I want to know. But also the less dense
variety my goldfish went crazy over. I was given quite a lot and in a
fairly short time there is none I can find to take a picture of. They do
nibble at the other variety but not near as voraciously.

The reason you see Anacharis also listed as Elodea and Egeria is these are
all really synonyms. Biologists love to reclassify things. There are two
forms that I have seen from the same plant, so it's possible yours are
just exihibitting this. There's the light green form that's usually pretty
stringy. Then there's the dark green form that tends to be very dense.
According to tropica.com, the light colored, stringy growth often occurs
in lower light and nutrition situations. This would dovetail with what
I've experienced since my new growth tends to be stringy and light green
particularly in low light indoor tanks.