BigJoe

ok so first things first... i've been looking into plants and have decited on some anubias (coffeola and another med sized one), a crypt of some type and java moss... only problem is with this is i don't know where to get them or how to plant them since i dont have any large rocks or any driftwood... i am planning on getting a fairly large peice of slate if any of these plants will attach to it... i am probably going to use a peice of plastic stuff used in cross stitching (thinking this is the stuff i'm thinking of..) to make a moss cave... also my LFS doesnt seem to have any of these not so prestigeous plants... all they carry is swords and some type of grass and a single moss ball (it didnt look like java moss to me)... where would be a good cheap place to get these... also how much trouble and how long would it take to prepare mopani wood... a kid at the lfs said it could be dropped right in...

also to help with algae i am thinking of an oto or cherry shrimp.. i think i can get either of these about 2 hours from my house but i am worried if they are going to live... i make regular trips to there if u think they will live...

next i came home to find about 30-40 eggs on a fake amazon sword decoration and on the wire for my heater and on a rock... assuming its not the cories because i've heard they are really difficult to breed, i am suspecting it is my serpaes... if it is what would i need to do to grow them and once they are big enough where can i take them... i don't think any store needs more serpaes...


i know this is a bunch of questions but i figured it would be easier here than all over the forums

Barbrella

You can order plants online, but the shipping makes them very expensive

IF you give a general idea of your location, perhaps someone here who grows a lot of plants can send you some, or you can try at the planted tank forum.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/

As for the wood, I've been buying it for many years and just give it a good rinse to get the dust off. You may need to hold it down with a rock for awhile until it gets waterlogged and won't float anymore.

These eggs - what do they look like? Are they in a jelly mass kind of thing? I'd be very surprised if they were tetra eggs, since those get eaten right away.

sirdarksol

In general order of the questions you asked:
Check out the Buy/Sell/Trade section of the forum. Look specifically for threads started by Coryd55, Dino, or Chief Waterchanger. These three often have plants available for sale for reasonable prices and shipping.

Also, check Aquabid. There's one guy who sells a lot of plants whose title lines include "(Free Shipping)". He is, in my opinion, an excellent seller, and his stuff is reasonably priced.

Mopani and slate are not the greatest to attach plants to. Both are pretty smooth, and difficult for the plant to grasp. Malaysian driftwood or some kind of more porous stone works better. This isn't to say that Mopani won't work. I have Mopani with Java moss and fern tied to it. If the threads break, the plant just floats away and I have to reattach.

Crypts need to be buried in the substrate, and need fertilizer supplement (unless you have a substrate like ecocomplete)

Cherry shrimp are easier to keep alive, in my opinion, than otos. Either would likely survive a 2 hour car ride (keep the bags in a styrofoam cooler to help maintain a stable temp), but otos are really delicate as far as water quality. Cherry shrimp are kind of delicate, but they can also create a self-sustaining colony in your tank, which is pretty neat.

Unsure about the eggs.

BigJoe

well i am in the NW TN area so if that helps... as for the eggs... they look like white balls of jelly... they are scattered all over the tank... i just found some on the glass on a patc of diatons that needed to be whiped away... i guess i will check for some of that driftwood... would the crossstitching stuff work for the other plants maybe....

as for the crypts i was told they are very low maintanence if i could get say a small pot with that kind of supstrate in it and cover that with a thin layer of the gravel i have would that work? i think i could get something like that...

thanks so much for the responses i think i am going to get the plants and supplies at the end of this week... hopefully if fry are coming they can use some of the moss...

BigJoe

btw the eggs are still there... could they be cory eggs.. i ve always heard they are almost impossible to breed in a home aquarium...

sirdarksol

Yep, crypts would do fine in a pot of substrate, as well. Be prepared for them to "melt" when you first get them. When they go through a change in water quality or light quality, the leaves die off. They'll grow back in a few days to a week, usually.

Edit: It's possible that it's cory eggs. Any time a male and a female of a species get together, it is possible that they mate, even if it isn't likely.

However, have you seen any snails in your tank? Snail eggs look like little clumps of jelly.

BigJoe

no... i dont think they are snail eggs as i havent put anything in the tank that could bring in snails and i have never had them before. also these are spread all over the tank... like little balls n a single layer in patches on leaves and cords and even a couple spread out on glass... but i also noticed the cories are very lazy here lately... maybe its cause i just moved them... i don't see how stress can incite spawning fish but i still think it s serpaes... i don't know what the differences in the eggs are supposed to look like...

BigJoe

hey i was wondering if maybe someone would have a link to somewhere that might have pictures of the eggs so maybe i will know what they look like...

sirdarksol

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Corydoras.htm
Here's some info on breeding the little guys. About halfway down are some pics of eggs.

BigJoe

omg i think thats it.... maybe thats why they're so tired here lately... ok so it says to feed them microworms... where would i get that? or newly hatched brine shrimp...

BigJoe

ok so the cories started eating their eggs so i am good for another 2-3 weeks (it happened a few weeks ago and i thought it was algae.) i bought some java moss which happened to finally be in at petco... along with an anubias... with that said i got tired of waiting so i ordered some more plants from liveaquaria... low and behold an unforseen 14 dollars shows up... apparently even though it would reach my house in 2-3 days ground it automatically ships 2 day air.... so 30 dollars for plants that should cost about 15 total... i guess i am going to buy me a rock or 3 to attack the anubias or maybe get some driftwood or fashion up like i plan for the moss on some cross-stitching plastic...