are plants from the river ok?

[Lizy33]

Hello. I live near a river and I know parts of the river where a lot of plants grow...different kinds...
I was wondering..what if I take some of those young plants and rinse them well and grow them somewhere with clean water and then add them to my fish tank? Would that be ok? Thanks for your help.

 

[FroFro]

In my opinion this is a very bad idea. We dont know what could be dumped in the water farther upriver including litter, human waste, and run off from farms and the like. River water is not clean and what grows and lives in it will absorb what is in the water. There are all sorts of unknown bacteria and organisms that live in rivers that you'd bring to your tank. Even if your quarantine them and then place them with your fish you'd be risking their health. I'd also assume that nearly all fish we get are bred in captivity like common pet store fish. They would lack the hardier disposition and immunities the fish from your river would have. Making our loveable pet fish easy pickins for hitchhikers on your river plants.

 

[Lizy33]

In my opinion this is a very bad idea. We dont know what could be dumped in the water farther upriver including litter, human waste, and run off from farms and the like. River water is not clean and what grows and lives in it will absorb what is in the water. There are all sorts of unknown bacteria and organisms that live in rivers that you'd bring to your tank. Even if your quarantine them and then place them with your fish you'd be risking their health. I'd also assume that nearly all fish we get are bred in captivity like common pet store fish. They would lack the hardier disposition and immunities the fish from your river would have. Making our loveable pet fish easy pickins for hitchhikers on your river plants.

Thanks, yes, makes sense...

 

[Byron]

I agree with FroFro. Fish and plants have a resistance (varying) to various pathogens that are present in their habitat water. These pathogens can often be very different in temperate regions from tropical and sub-tropical regions. Which means the fish and plants from the tropics may not be able to manage with the pathogens in temperate regions, and vice-versa. Of course, sometimes they do...and usually to the detriment of the local ecosystem. Fish and plants introduced into areas have decimated native populations. But my point here for your purposes is that the local plants may introduce pathogens the fish cannot deal with, as FroFro mentioned.

The other thing is that depending where you live, plants suited to your temperature year-round may not manage in permanent tropical temperatures. This too works in reverse. So plants from temperate areas when placed into a heated aquarium often die rather quickly, which can be a problem too.

If you were setting up a tank of native fish (local to your area) the local plants might work, though there is still the danger of transporting pathogens and microscopic critters. It is not always easy to somehow "treat" for these.

Many of these same issues can occur with wood taken from local water systems too.

Byron.

 

[Lizy33]

I agree with FroFro. Fish and plants have a resistance (varying) to various pathogens that are present in their habitat water. These pathogens can often be very different in temperate regions from tropical and sub-tropical regions. Which means the fish and plants from the tropics may not be able to manage with the pathogens in temperate regions, and vice-versa. Of course, sometimes they do...and usually to the detriment of the local ecosystem. Fish and plants introduced into areas have decimated native populations. But my point here for your purposes is that the local plants may introduce pathogens the fish cannot deal with, as FroFro mentioned.

The other thing is that depending where you live, plants suited to your temperature year-round may not manage in permanent tropical temperatures. This too works in reverse. So plants from temperate areas when placed into a heated aquarium often die rather quickly, which can be a problem too.

If you were setting up a tank of native fish (local to your area) the local plants might work, though there is still the danger of transporting pathogens and microscopic critters. It is not always easy to somehow "treat" for these.

Many of these same issues can occur with wood taken from local water systems too.

Byron.

Thanks Byron

 

[RinaLane]

just yuck lol last thing i would think is the quality of water they grew in but mostly i would think about all the parasites they could host from fish & from birds aka wildlife

 

[Lizy33]

just yuck lol last thing i would think is the quality of water they grew in but mostly i would think about all the parasites they could host from fish & from birds aka wildlife

Okay thanks

 

[hobby5]

I have a different take on this

If the plants come from an ok environment, are happy with the conditions in a tropical tank (many non tropical plants are not) and are not a protected species, I would give it a try. There might be a small risk, but it is never as high as people believe. I also collect live food in nature without problems. (knock on wood )

 

[Lizy33]

I have a different take on this

If the plants come from an ok environment, are happy with the conditions in a tropical tank (many non tropical plants are not) and are not a protected species, I would give it a try. There might be a small risk, but it is never as high as people believe. I also collect live food in nature without problems. (knock on wood )

Thank you. Well...about 23 years ago my brother and I were children in the Caribe and used to breed and sale beta fish, guppies, swordtails, uramis, and other fish that I don't even remember their names or know their name in English. We used river or tap water, and we had many, MANY plants that we picked up ourselves from the rivers. We also picked up worms from our own backyard and nasty places we knew were to find worms and feed the fishes those and also bread and other stuff you won't imagine. We didnt have filters or things to meassure ammonia and all those things. We changed the water by how it looked. We even had the fry growing in old car's batteries that we would clean very well and empty the battery liquid. The tanks didnt have heaters and were outside in the patio exposed to all change in temperature and rain. We would just covered them with mosquitoes screen nets so when it rained and the tanks overflows the fish wouldn't get out of the tank...anyway, our fish were beautiful and big, more beautiful and more colorful and bigger than any I've seen in any store here, but they were fishes used to those conditions. Some of my fishes my father and I picked up ourselves from the river, they were not born in captivity with super clean waters etc. So I guess what someone else mentioned is the key...it's all about the immune system of the fish. I doubt the fish I bought from the pet store can survive half the things my other fish in the past did. I just miss those water plants from the river. It was fun picking them up for my fish when I was a child. Maybe I'll try growing my own plants but it will take some new generations of plants growing in good water before I try it with one of my fish. We'll see.

 

[hobby5]

I can vividly imagine those things and would have loved to live (or live) in a tropical place simply for that reason.

Don't underestimate the fish from the pet store. Only very few species are truly degenrated to an extend that they cannot recover. If they get the right conditions they will develop beautifully too. I quite frequently put some fish outside in some pond or bucket during summer and they always grow larger and have better colors in autum than the fish kept inside the house.

 

[Lizy33]

I can vividly imagine those things and would have loved to live (or live) in a tropical place simply for that reason.

Don't underestimate the fish from the pet store. Only very few species are truly degenrated to an extend that they cannot recover. If they get the right conditions they will develop beautifully too. I quite frequently put some fish outside in some pond or bucket during summer and they always grow larger and have better colors in autum than the fish kept inside the house.

Mm that's an idea. Thanks