beginner with aquarium plants

[Indiana Gardener]

Hi all,

  I've had fish one kind or another for yrs. and never had a planted tank. I lost my Severum a while back and have decided to try some plants.

  Some plants from the lake got tangled around our peddle boat on the under side. So I decided to give them a try. I soaked them in bleach water over night to kill anything that shouldn't be on them. Killed all existing foliage, but they have new growth now. Looks like some kind of Val maybe.

  Obviously the palms, peace lilies, and mondo grass commonly sold are not true submersible plants. What are some true aquatic plants for aquariums?

  I would like to try plants of different heights and foliage types. The water ph is neutral. I have a 30 gal tank and a non-grow light for less algae. So I would need low-light plants.

  Any info on what real aquarium plants would do well would be great. Thanks.

 

[endparenthesis]

http://aquamaniacs.net/forum/cms_view_article.php?aid=38

 

[elgecko]

Plants that grew very well for me:
Ceratophyllum demersum, Cryptocoryne crispatula, Cryptocoryne wendtii, Echinodorus rubin, Pistia stratiotes, Rotala rotundifolia, Sagittaria subulata, Salvinia molesta, and Vesicularia dubyana.

My fish and plant info at:
http://www.geocities.com/elgecko1989/community.html

 

[Indiana Gardener]

I'm starting to rethink this, as I have already had it with the pet shops. Yesterday, mondo grass; today, a peace lily, and they told me that tropical cabomba was Java Fern. Do you all have this much trouble buying plants?

 

[Clint]

You can't expect much from people who work for minimum wage.

Atleast you didin't pay $150 for a "top of the line" Seaclone skimmer. I did when I was ignorant and was just setting up a reef. For those of you who don't know, Seaclones are cheap pieces of crap!

 

[endparenthesis]

Just about the only thing I've ever bought from a physical (not-online) fish store is livestock and the tank. I'd never consider them authority figures.

 

[RamPuppy]

hmm... i always bought my plants online through arizona aquatic gardens.

you can't go wrong with crypt bubls.

Anubis is tough as nails, but tends to collect algae. scrub it w/ a toothbrush if it starts showing up. (a soft one!)

 

[jimscott]

I've never had java moss, but that seems to be popular these days. I worked for a tropical fish wholesaler, in a former life. Of the truly aquatic plants, we used to bring in various species or hygrophyla, cryptocornes, ludwigia, amazon swords, vallisneria, cabomba, anacharis, hornwort, water sprite, plant bulbs, banana plant,...

My favorites were the sprouted plany bulbs and water sprite.

 

[Nflytrap]

Some suggestions for unkillable plants. These can all grow with little more than indirect window light.

Najas(guppygrass by some...I love this stuff)

java moss(if you keep an aquarium and esp. if you raise fish you'd better have some of this around)

Java fern

Anubias(but grows only a little faster than a plastic plant alot of times.

)

Others I like.

Elodea(fast grower, if you start with healthy plants they are about as hardy as the ones above)

Hornwort: Sometimes grows well, othertimes drops leaves and clogs filters. I've had a fish choke on one of the leaves and die. Freak accident, yes, but it can happen.

Vallisneria: Can be tricky to get started as it needs lots of light and ferts but once it does grows fast for a rosette plant.

Duckweed: Well, I will have to like it or I'd go insane. If you get this, you'd better not change your mind and decide you don't like it cause by then not much of a choice. Great plant to suck up nutrients because you can dispose of it 100% guilt free.

To be honest, I'm more of a critter guy than a plant guy so I keep only a few "aquascape" plants.

 

[scottychaos]

Indiana,
you are going to have some serious problems using native Indiana water plants in a tropical aquarium..
it all depends on what kind of fish you want to keep with them..

"tropical" fish are just that..tropical..they come from the tropics, not Indiana.
they need warm water 24/7/365.

your native plants are not tropical..they need MUCH cooler water, and a winter dormancy..
in short, native plants are not compatible with tropical fish.

the only plausable way you could grow native water plants is outdoors in a pond, where the plants get he same weather they get in the local lake, including winter outdoors.

If the pond is big enough, you could keep goldfish..but the pond has to be big enough that the fish can survive the winter without freezing solid.

you would be better off forgetting about the local plants, and going with more traditional aquarium plants..which are tropical.

Scot