Aquarium plants

[Ieesha99]

What websites do everyone use for there aqua plants (Uk please)

 

[connorlindeman]

I think some people over there use Ebay. You can get plants for pretty decent prices.

 

[Essjay]

Aqua Essentials, ProShrimp, k2aqua on eBay, Horizon Aquatics.

I have shrimps and snails so I need plants which have not been treated with insecticide or snail killers. In other words, plants grown in the UK or the EU, and all these shops guarantee shrimp safe plants.


Edit to add - of all these, I leave not too far from Horizon Aquatics and they now seem to be specialising in in vitro (tissue culture) plants.

 

[MattW]

Aqua Essentials, ProShrimp, k2aqua on eBay, Horizon Aquatics.

I have shrimps and snails so I need plants which have not been treated with insecticide or snail killers. In other words, plants grown in the UK or the EU, and all these shops guarantee shrimp safe plants.


Edit to add - of all these, I leave not too far from Horizon Aquatics and they now seem to be specialising in in vitro (tissue culture) plants.

I can second both Proshrimp and Horizon. Have spent a hefty amount on both sites. Proshrimp is definitely the cheaper of the two though. They also have a clearance section with plants that are quite cheap. Just had a look and there's some Buce for £3.99 which I'm probably going to buy now

 

[Essjay]

It's a few months since I've been in Horizon (August 2023). Originally that had those wide shallow tanks full of plants, and a small rank of shelves containing in vitro pots. They also had fish tanks along two walls. Last time I was there, one wall of fish tanks had gone and had been replaced with a wall of shelves with in vitro pots. The low tanks with plants had also gone and instead there were glass fronted cabinets full of plants out of water and the cabinets were full of 'mist' keeping the plants damp. I've only ever seen this type of cabinet in florist shops before.

Looking at their website, in the 'about us' section they show the new in vitro shelves and the cabinets, but the latter photo still shows a low plant tank which was not there last August. The fish tanks photo still show 2 walls, but last August the one on the left in the photo is where the in vitro plants were.

 

[Ieesha99]

Thank you everyone also what about aquascaping express as I was thinking about ordering a few plants from there when I get my tank.

 

[Essjay]

I'd not come across that site before, looking now they sell only in vitro plants, so if you ever plan to have shrimps or snails in the tank they'd be fine - no chemicals to kill them.

Keep an eye on the weather forecast before buying and avoid any very cold overnight temperatures.

 

[Ieesha99]

I'd not come across that site before, looking now they sell only in vitro plants, so if you ever plan to have shrimps or snails in the tank they'd be fine - no chemicals to kill them.

Keep an eye on the weather forecast before buying and avoid any very cold overnight

What does vitro plants mean ? Sorry I’m new to all this lol

 

[MattW]

What does vitro plants mean ? Sorry I’m new to all this lol

from Google - The in-vitro cultivation of plants means, that individual cells or plant parts are cultivated on nutrient media under sterile, laboratory conditions. By adding certain growth regulators such as phytohormones, new and intact plants can be generated from small pieces and even cells.

Basically, a small plant cutting is taken and grown in pristine conditions. With a pretty much 0% chance of anything bad for fish or aquariums being present in or on the plant.

Some examples. I've used Tropica 1-2 Grow many times and never had any problems.

 

[Ieesha99]

Thank you

 

[Essjay]

Plants are grown in several countries. Those grown in the UK or EU do not have chemicals on them to kill snails, so they could have pest snails or their eggs on them. Plants grown in the far east will most likely have snail killing chemicals on them. This is because around 10 years ago one species of apple snail was found in a Spanish river so the EU banned all species of apple snail, and any plant imported from a place where apple snails can be found have to be treated with chemicals to kill them. We may have left the EU but we probably still get chemically treated plants from the far east.
So that's the choice - plants with snails/eggs or plants treated with chemicals.

In vitro plants are grown in sterile conditions, so no chance of snails/eggs. And no chemicals needed as there's no chance of pest snails or apple snails for those in vitro plants grown in the far east.