About to give up on the dream of a planted tank

I've just about had it! I have spent a ton of time and money to try to get my 55 Gallon to be a well planted tank and I about to give up on it. I just got a bunch of plants via mail last week and they looked pretty good when I planted them, but little by little, day by day, they have melted away, the stalks keep coming uprooted, and eventually waste away to nothing. I use Flourish root tabs. I dose with Dustin's Growth Juice (recommended by my LFS), I do 50% WC weekly, I've been dosing with Flourish Excel to combat the BBA (it has done well).

Nothing seems to get these plants to establish.

Don't get me wrong, I have a few things that have done well: Java Fern and Moss Balls
A couple of Anubius and an Amazon Sword that have done ok
A different type of sword that was 15" when I got it, is still alive and still brings new leaves from time to time, but has shrunk back to about 4" and the leaves are constantly curled
There is one stalk plant that has done ok. Every once in a while the stalk will grow up to the top of my 55 and I will trim it halfway and plant it right next to the original. The original will then die and the stalk will become the grower. I can't get both to work!

Everything else has died. Mexican Oak Leave? Dead. Wisteria? Dead, dead, dead. Other leafy, stalk plants? Dead.

All the money and time that I have poured into this for the last 8 months could have allowed me to buy an entire new large tank set up. I love fish, but I'm to the point where I hate plants! Buy plants for your tank they say. It will reduce nitrates, make a more natural environment for your fish, it will be fun they say.

Ok rant over. What the heck am I doing wrong?? Is it even worth trying anymore? If I get some realistic silk plants, will it really make a big difference to my fish? As it is all the dying and decaying plants that I basically clean every day, can't really be doing much positive for the tank, can it?

 

Darling, i feel your pain!!!

I may not be of great help to be honest, but I CAN NOT do plants either!!! Moss balls is as good as it gets for me. It sucks cause i find planted tanks so beautiful!

And yes they always say its fun and all that and nitrates go down or whatever... But, ive had decos and fake plants in my tanks forever. And my fish always have lasted a long time cause i know with fake decors, it requires a bit more cleaning and vigilance but im willing to put that in! In my eyes it beats spending hundreds of dollars to fail anyways!

Sorry if it comes across as negative, but id go fake plants with what you have established already! Much easier on the mind and wallet. And very much long term! Lol

 

I think I would much rather spend all this money and energy on the actual fish. That's the part of the hobby that I really enjoy!! Just looking at them swimming in the tank is so awesome. But then when I see that stupid floating stalk in the back...

 

Oh i couldnt live with that! I would get so mad i would unplant it all. Lol i honnestly dont have it in me with the green stuff!!

And yes, the fish are what is making this hobby so much fun! Thats also where i invest my money. They are SO worth cating for and putting your money in!

Other than nitrate and oxygen conversion, yes ok plants are pretty, but they are a nuisance in my opinion. Lol and the constant cleaning every time one dies.. And readjusting everything as well.. UGH...

No *Tanks* lol

 

Did you order emersed grown plants?

 

I'm not your "Go To Guy" for aquagardening, but have had very good luck with low light plants in past set ups. My downfall with plants was always
sub par lighting. I currently keep African Cichlids, definitely not plant friendly fish. No plants anymore, just hundreds of lbs. of rocks. Much easier to maintain & looks pretty good.

 

Did you order emersed grown plants?

I have bought immersed plants from LFS as well as online.

 

What is your lighting?
kH? gH? pH?
Substrate?

Flourish tabs contain almost 0 nutrients, please do not continue to waste money on them.

Dustin's ferts are hard to measure because there isn't any information on what your getting, my best guess is not a lot...

I would look into the Thrive line-up instead.

 

Could be the lighting. The ones doing ok, Java Fern, Anubias, even Swords do ok in low light. Your details say two T8 tubes, that right? Should be ok for low light plants if the reflectors are good. Oh & the tubes need to be fresh.

 

If I were to be totally honest, and I try to be in all things, I too am getting to the end of my rope with live plants. Once I started adding Equilibrium along with thrive liquid and root tabs I started having better luck with some plants. Like you my BBA is thriving It may finally be the straw that broke the camels back and may end up causing me to replace all live plants with the silk and plastic I had for many years. Before live plants I didn't have a speck of any kind of algae in any of my tanks.

I see tanks with big beautiful Amazon Swords. Mine would be fine if I had a much shorter tank since they refuse to grow any taller than about 8 inches tall. They should be up to the top of my 55 gallon tank by now. Ferns and crypts are doing well but all stem plants get tall and eventually leafless. Like you I cut the tops off and replant but the original plant never recovers. Even the water wisteria folks can't kill even when trying end up with curled leaves and then they drop off. New plants grow from the base of a lot of the leaves that fall off so that helps but it takes them a while to grow big enough to actually see them.

Floating plants such as frogbit and water lettuce do so well I have to keep removing some so the plants underneath can get enough light but the long roots they should have never grow long.

Ok, enough complaining for now. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. These planted tanks can be very frustrating.

 

Ive had a bunch of different plants too. I have a few that grow like mad and some that the leaves constantly fall off until its a stick and I get mad and throw it away....lol Until I got Kallilillys plants I only had Vals Crypts and swords, and my swords once a leaf gets big it gets holes in the top part. I upped the ferts and its still doing it. I have said it before and I'll say it again SWORDS are not, not not beginner plants...there...

 

I've just about had it! I have spent a ton of time and money to try to get my 55 Gallon to be a well planted tank and I about to give up on it. I just got a bunch of plants via mail last week and they looked pretty good when I planted them, but little by little, day by day, they have melted away, the stalks keep coming uprooted, and eventually waste away to nothing. I use Flourish root tabs. I dose with Dustin's Growth Juice (recommended by my LFS), I do 50% WC weekly, I've been dosing with Flourish Excel to combat the BBA (it has done well).

Nothing seems to get these plants to establish.

Don't get me wrong, I have a few things that have done well: Java Fern and Moss Balls
A couple of Anubius and an Amazon Sword that have done ok
A different type of sword that was 15" when I got it, is still alive and still brings new leaves from time to time, but has shrunk back to about 4" and the leaves are constantly curled
There is one stalk plant that has done ok. Every once in a while the stalk will grow up to the top of my 55 and I will trim it halfway and plant it right next to the original. The original will then die and the stalk will become the grower. I can't get both to work!

Everything else has died. Mexican Oak Leave? Dead. Wisteria? Dead, dead, dead. Other leafy, stalk plants? Dead.

All the money and time that I have poured into this for the last 8 months could have allowed me to buy an entire new large tank set up. I love fish, but I'm to the point where I hate plants! Buy plants for your tank they say. It will reduce nitrates, make a more natural environment for your fish, it will be fun they say.

Ok rant over. What the heck am I doing wrong?? Is it even worth trying anymore? If I get some realistic silk plants, will it really make a big difference to my fish? As it is all the dying and decaying plants that I basically clean every day, can't really be doing much positive for the tank, can it?

Have you ever experienced an algae bloom in this tank? So many do there best to remove it, but in your case I would try to to induce it. Algae is a GOOD thing. It is indicator of two things, nutrients and lighting. It is only bad when there is too much of it causing your others plants to starve. Personally, I love to see some algae form because all I would have to do is scale back the lighting and nutrients, the amounts by which are tank specific of course.

 

When I first started my first aquarium, I got into live plants immediately. I never wanted artificial plants in my tank. I remember I had Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Hornwort, Moneywort, Water Wisteria, can't remember everything. Some plants did very well, but I couldn't for the life of me keep my Java Fern or Hornwort alive! My moneywort kept shedding leaves until I had just the stems left. I've spent more time (and money) maintaining the plants than anything else. Eventually I shut the tank(s) down and one of the reasons I've done so is because of the plants I couldn't keep alive. I didn't want to keep fish with fake plants.
When I restarted, I decided to delve in the world of Cichlids. Never had to worry about plants again. Also because I wanted to keep bigger fish.

So in a way, I'm glad that I'M not alone either. I thought it was just me that couldn't keep live plants.

 

Im just sticking with my seaweed Val jungle theme...lol

 

Have you ever experienced an algae bloom in this tank? So many do there best to remove it, but in your case I would try to to induce it. Algae is a GOOD thing. It is indicator of two things, nutrients and lighting. It is only bad when there is too much of it causing your others plants to starve. Personally, I love to see some algae form because all I would have to do is scale back the lighting and nutrients, the amounts by which are tank specific of course.

I had BBA in there until I started with the Flourish Excel. Someone on here told me to up the ferts and that would help. The BBA has gone away mostly, but it has not seemed to help the others go well. I do get a bit of brown algae on the filter intakes. Usually will clean that off once or twice a month.

 

When I restarted, I decided to delve in the world of Cichlids. Never had to worry about plants again. Also because I wanted to keep bigger fish.

As I'm coming up on 1 year back in the hobby after a 20 year hiatus, I've cycled through the Tetras, Gouramis, Mollies, etc. I'm finding that these days, the Cichlids are what really get me excited and pumped. Maybe that's the key to all of this. Though, I do like both the South/Central Americans as well as the Africans. And it seems that the SCAs like the planted tank that mimics the Amazon.

 

If I were to be totally honest, and I try to be in all things, I too am getting to the end of my rope with live plants. Once I started adding Equilibrium along with thrive liquid and root tabs I started having better luck with some plants. Like you my BBA is thriving It may finally be the straw that broke the camels back and may end up causing me to replace all live plants with the silk and plastic I had for many years. Before live plants I didn't have a speck of any kind of algae in any of my tanks.

You know, it's kind of funny...my big tank that I've been trying to get moving with plants has all sorts of algae, BBA,, Brown, Spots, etc. My 29 that is all fake and has been going for a couple of months, is pristine. Looks as good as the day that I started it. Except it has fish in it now too!

 

My issue with fake plants is all of my tanks in the past have had Cyano issues. The planted tanks have not.

 

You know, it's kind of funny...my big tank that I've been trying to get moving with plants has all sorts of algae, BBA,, Brown, Spots, etc. My 29 that is all fake and has been going for a couple of months, is pristine. Looks as good as the day that I started it. Except it has fish in it now too!

The only kind of algae I got when I had plastic and silk plants was some type of brown stuff that grew on the plants closest to the light. It was so easy to just bleach dip them to remove it every now and then. I am beginning to think real plants are too much for me and at some point I may remove them from my 55 and will just have real ones in my shrimp bowl and my 5.5 gallon tank.

My issue with fake plants is all of my tanks in the past have had Cyano issues. The planted tanks have not.

Strange how it is so different for different tanks. It must have something to do with the chemistry of our water.

 

As I'm coming up on 1 year back in the hobby after a 20 year hiatus, I've cycled through the Tetras, Gouramis, Mollies, etc. I'm finding that these days, the Cichlids are what really get me excited and pumped. Maybe that's the key to all of this. Though, I do like both the South/Central Americans as well as the Africans. And it seems that the SCAs like the planted tank that mimics the Amazon.

Cichlids are a lot of fun. I got most of my Cichlids for dirt cheap from people who's Cichlids bred. Some of my larger fish I got for free! I love when people come over and ask me about my fish, specifically how much I've paid for them. That's my true bragging rights.

When I "adopt" Cichlids rather than shop for them at the store, besides saving a TON of money I've met a lot of people in my area who keep fish and I get a chance to see their tanks too. One guy I met who gave me his 8" Jaguar Cichlid for free had a 200 something gallon tank with Pikes, Basses, and a small alligator gar! And the guy I got some of my African Cichlids from? His 55 gallon show tank is filled with a variety of Peacock Cichlids show males! It's just so cool when you get into Cichlids you open a whole new door.

There are a lot of members here who keep African Cichlids and American Cichlids and predatory fish on the forums. They'll give you tons of experience.

 

What is your lighting?
kH? gH? pH?
Substrate?

 

What is your lighting?
kH? gH? pH?
Substrate?

Which one of us? lol

 

As I'm coming up on 1 year back in the hobby after a 20 year hiatus, I've cycled through the Tetras, Gouramis, Mollies, etc. I'm finding that these days, the Cichlids are what really get me excited and pumped. Maybe that's the key to all of this. Though, I do like both the South/Central Americans as well as the Africans. And it seems that the SCAs like the planted tank that mimics the Amazon.

As much as I love my planted tanks, someday I hope to have the time to set up my empty 75g as an African cichlid tank; no plants and cool rock scapes. And yes, the fish are gorgeous!!
I do ok with my planted tanks but they are a lot of work to balance everything. And I think I have it balanced than something gets out of wack and it’s back to experimenting again. I also have the worst luck with stem plants.

 

Bruh I feel your pain. I was killing easy plants with a full spectrum light, co2 and aqua soil and fertz.

Here are some things I've learned along the way.

Sometimes they look dead, but they're not dead..even if you just have the root stump it can come back to life. Plants hate change, even easy plants and they have to adjust to your water parameters. Don't be afraid to chop your plants bald and let them grow all brand new leaves. My bolbitis I chopped down to the rhizome and now it's lush and better looking then when I first bought it. I've even done that with anubias that had ugly algae stuck to it. With stem plants try and get weights. I have kuhlis and rabbit snails who wreak havoc on my plants. They're always uprooting everything, and that kills plants faster than anything. Each time a stem has to be replanting...even if it's in the exact same spot it popped out from that plant has to readjust itself. Make sure when you plant it, it's not going anywhere and your not moving it around. Set it and forget it. Make sure that its deep enough in the substrate too. Plants like to be in deep. Putting a stem half an inch in is not good. Needs to be 2 inches into the soil at least. Also dose ferts like its no one's business and donf worry about algae. I had every kind of algae in my tank after I allowed sun in my aquarium trying to develop algae for my otos. What a mistake that was! Algae only started going away when I went buck on that fert.
Everyone on this site is always recommending thrive, so I tried it and it's awesome. I'm also using it with the last of my seachem line though and my plants are going buck. I have to trim every week. It's a jungle.

Anyways don't give up. Fake plants are ugly haha

 

I have 4 planted tanks. I don't know everything but I'll see if I can help
What kind of substrate are you using?
Are you using root tabs?
What lighting do you have? And how many hours a day?

If you don't have a decent planted aquarium substrate, look into one like fluval stratum, eco complete or whatever one you can find. There's lots of them. You'll want a 2-3" substrate bed. It'll go a long way for especially big plants like Amazon swords, they like to spread their roots all over the place.

For fertilizer I suggest looking into easy green, iron and carbon. Mainly the easy green. I use it. And find it to work well. It has a lot of nutrients in it that your plants need. In my experience flourish is kinda useless. I'd ditch it.
I'd also use root tabs. or seachem flourish tabs are my favorites. Your Amazon swords specifically will greatly appreciate root tabs, they are root feeders. As well as iron dosing. Be sure if you use iron, follow directions. Too much will cause algea issues.

For lighting if you have a decent LED light for your tank, also look for a timer. You can get one for $10-15 at a hardware store. And then put your light on for 8-10 hours each day, exactly the same times. Plants love consistency. However no matter what, many plants you buy are grown above water before you buy them so they will melt. What you need to do us just be sure they are planted in good substrate, and a scheduled lighting time every day. And eventually they will come back. Crypts of all types, swords, valliseneria, rotala, Ludwigia etc etc. Are notorious for that. However if you don't have a decent light, if you don't wanna break the bank, my favorite lights are finnex planted + 247 lights. Can set a lighting schedule with a remote. perfect for most low or medium light plants.

If you don't have a wavemaker or powerhead, I'd suggest getting one. The hydor ones are inexpensive good start. I use the current USA wavepump kit on my 90g. Gives me easy control of it. Your plants do need flow, you have a 55g correct? Being a 4ft tank, flow is important. It will also help stir up waste and junk off the plants continuously.

If you need some easy ideas for easy plants, look on liveaquaria.com, Buce plant, imperial tropicals or any good plant site. Planted aquarium central is my favorite.
Here's some inexpensive easy picks if you need ideas.
hygrophila angustifolia
Hygrophila corymbosa- both of these are undemanding. May melt at first but will return quickly.
rotala indica
ludwigia repens- both of these I can't get them to stop growing. very very easy plants. Will appreciate a good fertilizer. like I said earlier, easy green is a good start.
cryptocoryne wendtii
cryptocoryne spiralis- may melt back but will come back. Provide root tabs and a good fertilizer.
Anubias nana- incredibly easy. Be sure it's only attached to rocks or wood. Rhizome needs to be above substrate.
Tiger lotus
Dwarf aquarium lilly- both easy as it gets, comes in bulb form with roots. Only plant 1/2 of bulb. Both will grow very quick and send tubers out. Also appreciate root tabs.
Banana plant- very easy, just poke "bananas" in substrate and it will send out new leaves. Appreciates root tabs. And fertilizer.

Hopefully this is some help

 

Chanyi
My stats...
Ph 8.0-8.2
Gh Tap 10 tank 16
Kh tap 8 tank 8
Regular aquarium grave substrate. The kh and gh were older tests. I need to do some new ones.

Edit oh yeah Fluval Aquasky 2.0? Its the bluetooth one.

 

Have you ever experienced an algae bloom in this tank? So many do there best to remove it, but in your case I would try to to induce it. Algae is a GOOD thing. It is indicator of two things, nutrients and lighting. It is only bad when there is too much of it causing your others plants to starve. Personally, I love to see some algae form because all I would have to do is scale back the lighting and nutrients, the amounts by which are tank specific of course.

I've just about had it! I have spent a ton of time and money to try to get my 55 Gallon to be a well planted tank and I about to give up on it. I just got a bunch of plants via mail last week and they looked pretty good when I planted them, but little by little, day by day, they have melted away, the stalks keep coming uprooted, and eventually waste away to nothing. I use Flourish root tabs. I dose with Dustin's Growth Juice (recommended by my LFS), I do 50% WC weekly, I've been dosing with Flourish Excel to combat the BBA (it has done well).

Nothing seems to get these plants to establish.

Don't get me wrong, I have a few things that have done well: Java Fern and Moss Balls
A couple of Anubius and an Amazon Sword that have done ok
A different type of sword that was 15" when I got it, is still alive and still brings new leaves from time to time, but has shrunk back to about 4" and the leaves are constantly curled
There is one stalk plant that has done ok. Every once in a while the stalk will grow up to the top of my 55 and I will trim it halfway and plant it right next to the original. The original will then die and the stalk will become the grower. I can't get both to work!

Everything else has died. Mexican Oak Leave? Dead. Wisteria? Dead, dead, dead. Other leafy, stalk plants? Dead.

All the money and time that I have poured into this for the last 8 months could have allowed me to buy an entire new large tank set up. I love fish, but I'm to the point where I hate plants! Buy plants for your tank they say. It will reduce nitrates, make a more natural environment for your fish, it will be fun they say.

Ok rant over. What the heck am I doing wrong?? Is it even worth trying anymore? If I get some realistic silk plants, will it really make a big difference to my fish? As it is all the dying and decaying plants that I basically clean every day, can't really be doing much positive for the tank, can it?

Try osmocote root tabs! I have them on my page to sell. They last 3-4 months and plants that are root feeders explode. Also, my plants sometimes have holes which I found out was low magnesium...added some epsom salt after a water change and they were healthier than ever. I use GLA dry fertilizers I mix with water and liquid iron as well. I'm not all knowing, but my plants do grow and look nice so they these things before giving up. Lastly, a bright light will do wonders. Those dinky lid lights will screw you. I know because I've tried and they only grow java moss for me.

 

@OP answering Chanyi's questions above would be a great help!

Plants melt because their tissues aren't adapted to the new conditions. Leaves grown emersed or in CO2 injected tanks cannot function in low tech tanks, so they die and the plant puts out new ones. This is why melting is so common when planting in low tech.
To minimize this, increase your flow, ensure they have proper lighting and nutrients, and water change often to remove decaying organics.

 

So much to respond to here...thank you all so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and thoughts. One of the things that I truly appreciate about this forum is how people who are essentially strangers are willing to give of their time to help someone along with things they are struggling with!

I'm going to respond to this with more details and some pictures, but my kids are pulling me away for the minute, so I cannot. Since you all took the time to share with me, I wanted to at least say that so as not to appear ungrateful and let you know how much it means to me that you are willing to share.

Stay tuned...

 

Hard to say what the problem is. Still need info from you. What type of substrate are you using and what type of lighting. Your getting great info and as you read through it you’ll notice everybody had a different way to success. That’s your goal. Find your way. As stated plants like things the same they dont do well with change. Your using excell. It is more of an algeacide than fert for plants. Stop using it. I don’t know the Dustin stuff but f it’s lot telling you what’s in it it’s probably no good. Many here use thrive c. This seems to be a good all in one from what I here. I don’t use it I use the flourish brands.
Thing is once you find what works stay with it. Seems to me your lighting is your problem. The fluorescent lights are not the best. Lamps only last about 8months than need tobe replaced. Yes there still on but not enough light coming out of them. LED is much better. A 24/7 light will help a lot.
Your large sword that is now only 4” was grown large by being emersed. Roots in water plant above. These plants grow great in sunlight but when you submerge them all those big leaves die off and the under water version comes out and it’s smaller .
All stem plants can also be a problem for beginners. They need more light. They need light to reach the whole plant. If the light is only at the top they grow to it and the bottom dies. So they should be planted each stem about 2” apart and not the whole bunch together. I would wait for stem plants till you get other growing. Start with crypts and swords. Feed them the osmacoat root tabs. But don’t go crazy put a tab under each plant but try to only add about 5 at a time. Wait 2 weeks than add to the plants that didn’t get them the first time. Than watch how they grow. Retab when the growth slows down. Remove dying leaves.
Plants take time and need attention. Keep up your 50% weekly water changes. New water also add nutrients. Oh and some pics will help me .

 

Ok, here are my particulars:
Ph 8.0-8.2
Gh 4
Kh 13
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20 PPM
Substrate is black sand
2 Sponge Filters and 2 Penguin 350s
Aquarium is about 10 months running
First plants were added in September, 2 of them are still alive. One is the 4" Sword, the other is another type of sword. It's grown in height a bit, but has gotten thinned out. Roots ALL over the place on that one:




Then, I've got some other sad members, including the aforementioned stalk plants and what I affectionately call my plant graveyard. This is plants that started out big, but got trimmed or uprooted and I replanted here to try to grow back. Slowly but surely, they keep getting uprooted and smaller and smaller. I grit my teeth when I think of these:





Then I've got a MicroSword (I think) that was in a pot when I bought it. I planted it and it immediately started sending out shoots. There were probably 6 other clusters off of the original at one point. It has died to this:



My hope is here...I have had the Anubias for a few months and it's doing ok. I added the other 3 this past week and at least at this point, they have not deteriorated like the others that I bought. I also added some Frogbit this week that seems to be doing ok.






I have several Java Ferns that are doing pretty well, as well as a few Moss Balls that are pretty much indestructible it seems.

I guess it's not an all out loss. I'm just put SO much into this and to see several bunches of plants that came in this week waste to nothing quickly other than the few listed above that are doing ok...it just gets pretty frustrating.

There's been several suggestions made. One such is lighting. I try to typically get low light plants because I know that my lighting is not stellar. It seems that LEDs would probably make a big difference, but for this size of a tank, it's just cost prohibitive at this point.

I keep hearing about Thrive...and I'll have to give that a shot. It's just hard to spend money anymore because of how much I've already poured into trying to make this work. I've probably spent $150 just on plants alone (that's not including root tabs, ferts, etc). What shows in my tank right now is probably 1/10th of what I have tried to grow.

I'll give the tabs a go too. I like them and their videos. Doesn't seem like there's a person around that has anything negative to say about Cory or their products.

 

It's not all bad. While trying to get some pictures of my plants, one of my Electric Blue Acaras kept photo-bombing and seeing how beautiful that fish is definitely reminds me ultimately why I go through all this!!

 

I've just about had it! I have spent a ton of time and money to try to get my 55 Gallon to be a well planted tank and I about to give up on it. I just got a bunch of plants via mail last week and they looked pretty good when I planted them, but little by little, day by day, they have melted away, the stalks keep coming uprooted, and eventually waste away to nothing. I use Flourish root tabs. I dose with Dustin's Growth Juice (recommended by my LFS), I do 50% WC weekly, I've been dosing with Flourish Excel to combat the BBA (it has done well).

Where did you buy your plants??? A bad source can really make a huge difference. Sometimes there's no hope for the plant from the start- you really need to examine the leaves and roots and put it back if there is ANYTHING visibly wrong with it (tears, discoloration, limp leaves, etc).

I'm also a beginner and sometimes they need to be rooted differently. That's where I went wrong at first. For example, most Anubias need to have the bulb part of their root on top of the gravel, not buried beneath. I killed two Anubias plants until I did some research.

Sometimes a simple fix like that will make a huge difference! Now my tank is fully planted with live plants and it looks great Don't give up!

 

Where did you buy your plants???

I'm also a beginner and sometimes they need to be rooted differently. That's where I went wrong at first. For example, most Anubias need to have the bulb part of their root on top of the gravel, not buried beneath. I killed two Anubias plants until I did some research.

Sometimes a simple fix like that will make a huge difference! Now my tank is fully planted with live plants and it looks great Don't give up!

I've gotten them from a mixture of a few different LFS and online at AquariumPlants.com. The ones at the different LFSs were all immersed completely.

I do have 2 Anubias that are semi-planted. The are not fully in the sand, but the bottom of their bulb is in the sand. I didn't know that they did not get planted when I first got them so tried to plant them. Couldn't get them in all the way and so let the top of the bulb be exposed and it must have been accidentally just right because they are just fine in the tank. Once I found out that you shouldn't plant them, I saw that they were doing alright and didn't want to upset anything so I left them. They've been in the sand that way for almost 3 months now.

 

I've gotten them from a mixture of a few different LFS and online at AquariumPlants.com. The ones at the different LFSs were all immersed completely.

I do have 2 Anubias that are semi-planted. The are not fully in the sand, but the bottom of their bulb is in the sand. I didn't know that they did not get planted when I first got them so tried to plant them. Couldn't get them in all the way and so let the top of the bulb be exposed and it must have been accidentally just right because they are just fine in the tank. Once I found out that you shouldn't plant them, I saw that they were doing alright and didn't want to upset anything so I left them. They've been in the sand that way for almost 3 months now.

That's great!!! What a happy accident. I never shop for fish at PetSmart, but I will say that they have some good plants. They package them so you can see the roots and pretty much the whole plant. Obviously there's some that are dying/not in great condition, but if you look though them you will most likely find some good ones.

If you've tried PetSmart and didn't find good plants, it might be worth it to visit one a town over. Sometimes it just depends on the store. The plants I get from PetSmart usually do well in my tank.

 

Though I've gotten quite a few fish at Petsmart/co/land, I've actually never bought any plants from there. Mine that I've bought locally have been at actual bona fide local businesses. They aren't terribly close, but they are reliable and have good selections.

 

Try planted aquarium central. I had great experiences with several times

 

Hey it just takes time. Of the 3 new plants the first one the stem plants. They need to be separated and each stem planted about 2” apart. When planted like that everything in the middle will die. The other 2 are swords. First one is an amazon sword. Second is a Mellon sword. Both will need root tabs. Look into the osmacoat. They are very cheap. Sold on eBay and I believe someone else in your thread mentioned selling them. $5 gets you a years worth . For lighting on eBay you can get a 48” vivagrow 24/7 led light delivered for about $60. It’s a great beginner light. I’ve got them on most of my tanks.

 

I just wanna know why my swords are getting holes in the ends...I upped ferts and have 4 root tabs surrounding them.

 

As mentioned earlier they probably need magnesium. It was recomended to add some Epsom salt. Maybe the poster will give them an idea how much is needed .