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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Mentor
| Artificial Plants
Hi,
I just wanted to know if any of you guys buy artificial plants from general stores for your tanks?
Buying artificial plants from petstores is expensive and i wonderd if i could buy from the general stores but dont know if it has anything that will be harmful for the fish...
Any ideas?
Thanks! | 
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Re: Artificial Plants
I'm not sure. I'd go for silk plants more than plasic (im guessing maybe you were thinking plasic - sorry if u weren't.  ) Personaly I'd rather pay more and be safer than sorry. Just my opinion tho.
Gwenz  | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Re: Artificial Plants
Often the artificial plants you'd get in a store like Target, etc. have wire in them that can corrode. As long as it comes from their pet dept. and is an actual aquarium plant it should be fine.... | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Mentor
| Re: Artificial Plants
Dumb question...whats a silk plant? | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Re: Artificial Plants
It's an artificial plant who's flowers and/or leaves are made of silk. | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Addict
| Re: Artificial Plants
Well, silk plants are the ones with fabric leaves. Usually polyester leaves, nowadays. I would worry that the fabric of the leaves might bleed dye (as they are not made to be kept underwater for long periods of time) or might fray/mold/fall apart. With totally plastic plants you wouldn't have that problem. I would think that fake plants that are totally plastic and don't have wire in them would be ok in an aquarium if washed thoroughly.
--R | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Addict
| Re: Artificial Plants
I bought, from a pet store, a log for my craytank. It has fabric flowers as part of the design. The fish in the tank like to play in them, while the cray hides in the log. But, they don't have any wire in them. I would stay away from anything with wire, since that will leach stuff into the tank.  | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Addict
| Re: Artificial Plants
Right, the fabric leaves on those plants are meant to be kept underwater, tough. There might be a difference between those leaves and the leaves of a fake plant that is sold in the craft section, for example. It has to do with the kinds of dyes used to get the color, the type of fabric, and the process used to get the fabric into the shape of the plant. A craft section fake plant might have had the color sprayed on, or have the leaves pressed into shape and chemically treated to be moth proof, or any variety of other things.
--R, professional seamstress and daughter of a weaver. | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Mentor
| Re: Artificial Plants
Thats what i'm worried about, the dye.
so if its plastic there shoudnt be anything wrong but i must lookout for wire and fabric with dye... | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Helper
| Re: Artificial Plants
...and I took someone's advice (rose maybe?) and avoided plastic plants for the betta to avoid fin snag.
I found the silk plants to be very reasonable in my LFS, with a nice variety in size and shape and color, but you may be filling a much larger tank than I did. | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Fish Mentor
| Re: Artificial Plants
Yea its for my 67gal. The other one has enough plants all but one are live...
Never saw silk plants at my lfs | |
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June 29th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| Re: Artificial Plants
we order our silk plants from the DFS website when they have a sale running. they turn out pretty reasonable. | |
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June 30th, 2007
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Re: Artificial Plants
My fish always knock my bigger plants down. They end up floating at the top of the water. Because they eat the alge on the plants so aggressivly the plant becomes unburied! I'm always afraid that because I'm putting my hands in there so much I'm going to get them sick, but I wash my hands before so nothing should happen right? and what can I do about the plants? | |
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June 30th, 2007
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| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| Re: Artificial Plants
Be sure no soap residue is on your hands when you put them in.. and if you want there are aquarium-keeper gloves available.
i'm not sure about the plants, we've not had fish that big - other than stronger anchoring maybe. | |
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June 30th, 2007
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Re: Artificial Plants
yea, i definatly make sure my hands are clean...no soap left on them. my fish really arent that big. my largest is that pleco. hes 5 inches and hes not the culperate. my sharks are. i guess ill have to bury them all the way to the bottom or something. thats going to be hard to do. | |
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June 30th, 2007
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| | Moderator
| Re: Artificial Plants
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July 3rd, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Re: Artificial Plants
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Radcliffe Right, the fabric leaves on those plants are meant to be kept underwater, tough. There might be a difference between those leaves and the leaves of a fake plant that is sold in the craft section, for example. It has to do with the kinds of dyes used to get the color, the type of fabric, and the process used to get the fabric into the shape of the plant. A craft section fake plant might have had the color sprayed on, or have the leaves pressed into shape and chemically treated to be moth proof, or any variety of other things.
--R, professional seamstress and daughter of a weaver. | The biggest difference is that craft flowers have wire stems which are coated by plastic. There are sometimes injectionholes that leave wire exposed....This as we all know can rust and contaminate our water. | |
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July 4th, 2007
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| | Fish Mentor
| Re: Artificial Plants
Yep, you are correct!
And thanks for all the input guys i was reall curious about it.... | |
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