Fish tank plants

[EdT]

Mine keep dying; dont clean the tank as much as I should, I admit.
Apart from nasty plastic plants, what are good hardy ones that might survive a while?
Last ones I tried were Common Amazon Sword Plant E.bleheri, looked nice but needed planting with top half of roots exposed so kept floating away every night - real pain.
Ed

[AndyAudi]

EdT said:

...kept floating away every night - real pain.

We used to use little strips of lead (sold in the fish shop) which you bent around the plant.

[chrisga]

Yep little lead weights hold the plants down to take root. I'll check with the other half as she has loads of different plants in her tanks and let you know later.

[Iain328]

EdT said:

Mine keep dying; dont clean the tank as much as I should, I admit.
Apart from nasty plastic plants, what are good hardy ones that might survive a while?
Last ones I tried were Common Amazon Sword Plant E.bleheri, looked nice but needed planting with top half of roots exposed so kept floating away every night - real pain.
Ed

If you have an under gravel filter my experience is that plants don't like it. I have sand in the bottom of my tanks & no UGFs & the plants are much happier.

The key is to have enough light and to replace the bulbs at least once a year. Assuming you are using fluorescents. The best bulbs I have found are Hagen Life-Glo 2. Not cheap, but they will make yer plants grow (as long as you also feed them).

You also need enough light. I have one tank which is about 15" deep & that has 2 x 40W tubes on it (and also gets a bit of natural light). The other tank is only 3 or 4" deeper but needs twice as much light. The amount of light you need goes up dramatically with only a small increase in the depth of the tank.

All of which is useless if you have fish in there that destroy & uproot plants of course - if you do then plastic is your only option

[annodomini2]

Also are the fish eating them?

[tenohfive]

UGF's are a little outdated, so ignore them.

Most likely reason they die is because the majority of plants sold by fish shops aren't actually aquatic plants - they're plants that are happy in water for awhile, then slowly die off.

Check out www.plantsalive.co.uk . I've used them, and know a few other people who have done as well - they're very good, and not a rip off either. Java Fern is a good hardy plant, as is anubias.

If you're planning on doing more than a few plants you'll want to look at upgrading the lighting, fertilisers and CO2 etc. But for a normal tank a few hardy plants should be fine.

[chrisga]

Having just consulted the oracle I've then re-read the thread and what the others have said all apply. The other half said you need good lighting, probably more than you think but ours are only on for a while, not all day.
Also, type of fish in the tank will make a difference as will what type of setup you have. Is it tropical or cold water?
Anubias as mentioned earlier is hardy as is vallis. Vallis takes a long while to become established but then grows like a weed once it has. It also depends on substrate. Anubias wont grow if you try to plant it in the substrate but if you tie it to wood with cotton leaving its roots about it should grow, but very slowly and in low light. Crypts can be grown from the substrate, easy to grow, dont need anything out of the ordinary lightwise. Elodea is a typical goldfish type weed. In a low light situation it does well but have to nip ends out of it and replant chunks as it grows straight up from the substrate.
Heaven forbid but if you buy from Pets at Home, but their tropicana range in plastic pots should have labels on that tell you what light they need and how big they get. Take the fuzzy fibreglass off, trim the roots to encourage them to grow and remove any dead or yampy looking leaves and plant them. They should grow then.

Well hope that helps, if you need any more help I'll get it for you....

[EdT]

annodomini2 said:

Also are the fish eating them?

nah the fish just watch them die too. I'm not putting any plant feed into the tank - do I need to?

[EdT]

tenohfive said:

Check out www.plantsalive.co.uk . I've used them, and know a few other people who have done as well - they're very good, and not a rip off either. Java Fern is a good hardy plant, as is anubias.

thanks for the lead, will try some Java Fern looks nice

[Iain328]

EdT said:

tenohfive said:

Check out www.plantsalive.co.uk . I've used them, and know a few other people who have done as well - they're very good, and not a rip off either. Java Fern is a good hardy plant, as is anubias.

thanks for the lead, will try some Java Fern looks nice

Another good point raised above is to have the lights on for long enough - but not too long. 10-12 hours straight usually does the trick & you can try varying that up & down by an hour or two.

If you switch the ligts off when you go to work & just have them on when you are home , plants will never grow. Put a time clock on & try 10am to 10pm as a start point.

[EdT]

Iain328 said:

EdT said:

tenohfive said:

Check out www.plantsalive.co.uk . I've used them, and know a few other people who have done as well - they're very good, and not a rip off either. Java Fern is a good hardy plant, as is anubias.

thanks for the lead, will try some Java Fern looks nice

Another good point raised above is to have the lights on for long enough - but not too long. 10-12 hours straight usually does the trick & you can try varying that up & down by an hour or two.

If you switch the ligts off when you go to work & just have them on when you are home , plants will never grow. Put a time clock on & try 10am to 10pm as a start point.

good call - timer now re-programmed

[tenohfive]

Be careful not to overdo it though - too much lighting could result in an algae bloom, which is a royal pain in the backside.

I'd keep it to 10 hours rather than 12 and see how you get on.