How many REAL aquarium plants do you have? (POLL)

First topic message reminder :

How many REAL (not fake) aquarium plants do you have?

Do you think that plants can help keep Diseases and Disasters away?
Why are plants benifitial to our aquariums?





Vote! Also, Tell us why you have that many and if you don't have any tell us why.

Yep... the only plant I have had luck with them NOT eating is Anubias. The swords manage ok because of how fast they grow lol

o/k ill try some what kind of substrate should i use

Sand is good for all fish, due the fact that they can easily go through it when food goes to the bottom, or small gravel does good too, I wouldn't put too large of substrate in, food rots easier in larger substrate.

o.k so crushed coral will be fine

Hornwort, anacharis, various vals, and java fern. They're all very tolerant of pretty much you can throw at them(or not through at them in the case of forgetting to add the Excel...oops) and they are great for nitrate control. Anacharis is the only one I've had issue with. It melted on me one day a few years ago for reasons that I never determined.

Plants don't do so well in crushed coral, Go with a sand base with some coral mixed in.

Anachris is a very messy plant... southern water nymph is a better plants, so is water sprite.

o.k ill try them out and see how i like them thank you for the advice what about lighting will i need to run my t5 lights all day or just some of the day

Run them with the sun. your tank plants need the same light cycle as outside, a few hours off is fine but they need the same duration.

o.k so about 8 to 12 hours aday

mike205 wrote:

i wanted to do some plants in my 210g but everyone tells me my africans will destroy them what do yall think

I have found that as long as you keep the Africans fed with alot of greens in their diet, they are less likely to destroy your plants. I have successfully kept plants in my African tanks.

The Africans are fond of Romaine lettuce, cucumber, zuchinni, green beans, peas, etc... Keep them fed with these as well as your regular diet for them, and you should be ok.

Fast growing plants are also best so they can keep up with the inevitable snacking that will occur.

Remember that many Africans fall into the mbuna group. These fish typically eat algae for the micro-fauna contained in it. There will always be some nibbling on the plants. The key is to give them plenty of other greens to eat.

o.k. thats cool i didnt know that but ill start them on the greens this weekend and start my planted tank in about a month thanks

When you start with the plants, don't start with too many. Your fish may not leave them alone. Success rates will always vary depending upon the fish. You also don't want to alter the water chemistry too much. Plants have a tendency to soften the water and Africans tend to like their water hard.

Keep it relatively sparse and keep them fed with greens, and you should be good to go. I lost alot of plants before I learned I could feed them fresh greens!

Good luck!

first im gonna start with a 29g and if i do good with that then ill go big and do my 210g i thank a planted tank is one of the best looking tanks if its done right can you post pics of your tank

like to change my tanks around to much they say u can have live plants and dead fish or live fish and dead plants

plants,plants,plants love a good planted tanks

discuskent wrote:

like to change my tanks around to much they say u can have live plants and dead fish or live fish and dead plants

So not true, I have plants in most of my tanks and my tanks change course often so they get rearranged every few months and all my plants and fish are quite healthy!

discuskent wrote:

like to change my tanks around to much they say u can have live plants and dead fish or live fish and dead plants

SSSSOOOOOOOOOO NOT TRUE! My 55 gal has over 100 plants in it and always being switched around and my water chemistry is the best in that tanks. Never have disease or algae outbreaks and the fish show more color in that tank. My neons were reg neons inone tank put them in this one and they grew a became NEON bright. This is the tank the angels just laid eggs in.

I have about 20+ kinds of plants in my 55g ( wisteria is great for keeping algae away) Java moss is great for Fry and shrimps, I have a two feet amazon sword in there. the fish love it i think.

I'm up to 8 truly planted tanks. I'm not counting the fry tanks with a wad of java moss or the tanks with 1-2 plants
And 3 tanks later my Madagascar lace leaf finally looks like its happy, it didn't grow in my 75g, didn't look so well in the sump and now I have it in my 90g to be discus tank its finally sending up new leaves and looks like its working on a daughter plant. My micro sword is really starting to take off now as well

i only have two for now, maybe 3 some day

I've sold you more than 2! Did you manage to kill everything off except the swords?

hey fern do u run co2 on those plated set ups? and i need the addy to your web..

No just flourish excel, I'm too lazy to play with co2
my stock list

Fern wrote:

I've sold you more than 2! Did you manage to kill everything off except the swords?

WHat do you mean??

I sold you a few other plants, the one stem plant with the round leaves should have lived through anything.

Lots of java, few pond plants of 2 species. Why I don't have alot of plants, tried it they were beautiful but having to buy more almost monthly because my cichlids who I love dearly DESTROY them got a lil' too spendy for me.