SWilkins

Well there are plants in all of my tanks except for two. The EBJD's just will not allow it and the blood red parrots are like bulldozers. So I quit trying to plant those tanks. They just have their hiding spots, caves, and such. And hey the bulldozers even move some of the big rocks around!!

11yancazosj

cool

Master Snake

LIGHTS (lights) ACTION!

Alasse

All my tanks have live plants to varying degrees, the breeding tanks have Java fern only, the bettas have java fern and chain swords, the maingano cichlids have java fern and val, the endlers have java fern, chain sword & Ambulia, the 5ft is fully scaped and planted (a few more varieties)

Plants are not hard to care for and do not take much time at all, i only do maintenance on my 5ft fully planted every 6-8 weeks *L*

All my are running very low to low light

MissMTS

My 18 gallon, 50 gallon pond, and 75 gallon are fully planted. Planted tanks are deffinetly my favorite kind I have an 80 gallon that was also planted, but when I got my severum he tore apart the tank, so I had to remove the plants. My mbuna tank doesn't have plants either because the plants will become lunch pretty quickly

Shaina

Yeah all but my quarantine are at least partially planted...I have a few old plastic plants floating in my quarantine tank to help fish in there be less stressed, but my display tank are all rock/driftwood/live plants.

The plant I have offhand (common names where possible): Amazon Sword, Dwarf Chain Sword (E. telenus), Cabomba, Anubias (nana, coffeefolia, two unknowns), Java Moss, Java Fern, Crinum calamistratum, Bacopa, Pennywort, some sort of Riccia-type plant that isn't actually Riccia (got it at an auction and the guy next to me who's been raising aquarium plants commercially for 20 years didn't know it either lol), Water Wisteria, Saggitaria sp.

thumper

yep sure do i have them to help with my nitrates cause i already have them in my tap water so if i did not i would have a control problem i would think!

11yancazosj

ok, thats cool

Flyfrod

I also have a planted 65g tank. I don,t have a green thumb but can grow aquatic plants. I'm planting my 10g tomorrow.

11yancazosj

im not sure whether or not to get another fish tank and what size it should be. it would make a good home for my 15 tetras

benga-peacock

i cant in my main tank bceause my malawi cichlids would just rip them up.

11yancazosj

i might get some. im still unsure is i shud or not

Scout

Yes. I just started with real plants. I've got a temple plant in there now, and eventually I'll get some more plants. The other plants are all fake.

11yancazosj

awesome

11yancazosj

im asking for an opinion here. is it easy to look after live plants or is it hard

11yancazosj

well i guess that most fish keepers have real/live plants in there aquarium rather than fake. maybe i should switch

JennDFK

I think that it is pretty easy. I do a little gardening outside and have kept a few houseplants with some luck... but I am pretty bad a plant keeping for the most part. The plants I picked for my tank have been pretty easy so far. Anubias, java fern, java moss and a few others. I think the plants have been easier so far than the fish. They take care of themselves.

With the addition of natural plants to my tank, my tank looks healthier... the fish are happier... and I feel great about it.

prairielilly

I do as of yesterday...guess we'll see if I can keep them alive or not

If they do well, I'm hoping to spread them around to the rest of my tanks as well.

11yancazosj

i hope they do well...

is it true that you have to leave the tank light on a night time so they get some form of light...

cichlid_man

i personally would not want a live plant for many reasons=
1. They smell
2. They are expensive and hard to maintain
3. They need sunlight which will make algae grow which is not good
4. I dont have enough space for anymore ornaments

Nick G

Live plants don't need sunlight. They get the light they need from the aquarium lighting. I can't say I've ever seen any that smell either.

11yancazosj

i think what cichlid_man (my brother) means is that if they are dead and not removed from the tank they may smell. correct me if im wrong there

haedra

I already said (I think) that I don't keep any live plants. But that is only because I fail at growing them. I'm not sure why...it's just one of those things. I am great at taking care of animals, but when it comes to plants? They hate me.

That being said; I just wanted to throw my opinion out there on some things that were mentioned.

Plants shouldn't smell, at least bad. Now if they are rotting? Well, yes, maybe. I've yet to come across anything that was rotting that DIDN'T smell. Though I imagine with a heavily planted tank it might smell like a forest kinda (live plant keepers, chime in)? I like that kind of smell, but as in beauty, it is in the "nose" of the beholder!

I'm sure some plants might be expensive. And as well, any time you order anything online and must pay shipping cost that will add up. But in the end, at least where I'm from, live plants cost much less than artificial plants. I could get a starter java fern for approximately 1/3 the cost of a silk or plastic plant where I am from.

As Nick said, you don't need sunlight to grow plants, just an appropriate WPG for the plants you are keeping. Keeping live plants in a tank also tend to reduce algae, as the live plants will use up dissolved nutrients that the algae would utilize. There are types of algae that can bloom or even thrive at lower light levels, almost making live plants a necessity unless you feel like getting the scrubber out constantly.

Given all that, I would LOVE to keep live plants. But when I last did, and managed to kill Hornwort and even Java Moss; I figured the plant-killing gene in my DNA was too strong to keep anything green alive. Boo.

11yancazosj

i will let cichlid_man know...

thanks for your post

prairielilly

I looovvve that forest-y smell. Then again, I also think horses smell wonderful. I'd agree that if it smells 'bad' it's indicating there's something wrong. My tank (with plants) atm smells like ammonia ...but that would be bc I'm trying to cycle it. If it smells forest-y (like plants) when it's all done, awesome.

Around here, I found that ONE live plant cost about 3X what a silk plant does. Once I found out that I can buy one live plant, grow it, divide it and populate all my tanks with it, then it became cost-reasonable. I only started now bc I acquired some new tanks (*cough, MTS*) and would have had to buy more silk plants.

haedra, I think you should try again I've read that many plants will die a few weeks after being brought home and put into another tank - makes sense, I guess, they have to be uprooted and transported and go into different water chemistry, I'd guess they get shocked too just like fish. Theory is, they then grow back stronger than ever.

haedra

Well I was considering it.. at least with something that doesn't make an ungodly mess when it dies, like hornwort.

Time

Of course I have live plants in my Freshwater tank, works as a great nitrate filter and keeps algae growth at minimal for me, My guppy likes them as food sometimes.

I have low nitrate in my. plants are a fish keeper's best friend beside a digi cam.

Hello Time. I've merged your threads. Instead of double posting on the same subject, you can also use your edit key at the bottom of each post. Just trying to save some space.
Thanks!
Ken

eiginh

For the fellow planted tank owners, please post pictures if possible . Maybe it will inspire/convince non planted tank owners to switch over.

Neji

I've got live plants inside my tanks and outside in the river xD Live plants are great plants, and they do produce oxygen for my fishes to breathe easier in my tank

whisper

I have live plants in my community tank only. My tank is bare bottom so the plants are in pots. Don't want to screw around having to clean fish poo out of substrate. Bare bottom stays much cleaner. Everything gets filtered out. Plastic plant mats in the bottom of the nursery tank. Plastic plants in the breeding tanks.