Artificial Plants from general stores?

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 don't know if it has anything that will be harmful for the fish...
Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

I'm not sure. I'd go for silk plants more than plasic (I'm 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 ;D

 

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....

 

Dumb question...whats a silk plant?

 

It's an artificial plant who's flowers and/or leaves are made of silk.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

That's 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...

 

...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.

 

Yea its for my 67gal. The other one has enough plants all but one are live...
Never saw silk plants at my lfs

 

we order our silk plants from the DFS website when they have a sale running. they turn out pretty reasonable.

 

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?

 

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.

 

yea, I definitely make sure my hands are clean...no soap left on them. my fish really aren't 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. that's going to be hard to do.

 

These plant weights work quite well.
carol

 

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.

 

Yep, you are correct!
And thanks for all the input guys I was reall curious about it....

 

I found some fake small ivy like plant at Hobby Lobby. Would like to use it to wrap around air hose to make it look better than just a black hose laying in the tank. Is this type of fake floral ok for aquarium if you let it soak a couple of days?

 

It should be. If it is a plastic, soak it in boiling water for a few seconds. Were there any marking on the box? What did the packaging say?

 

I've used silk plants from the dollar store. Make sure there isn't any metal in the stems.

 

Stems have metal but covered in plastic. No box no packaging.

 

If it has a "pretty" smell to it, it's not aquarium safe from what I've read.

-Lisa

 

I have finally stopped moving things around!! Although I may add a bubble wand.

 

Nice design!

 

Looks great!

 

nice!

 

Love how it is neat and simple!


Currently breeding: h/b purple guppies