Easy Plants For 10 Gallon

[hakisuma_chan]

Could somebody please name a few easy to grow plants suitable for a 10 gallon tank?

If anybody has extra...I'd be happy to pay for them...

 

[nero]

Hi there,
It all depends on how much light you have on the tank. In low light your choices are pretty limited, but I have found anubias will grow pretty much anywhere. Let us know how much light you have and maybe we can name some more for you!

Of course, algae is always a good fast grower...

Nero

 

[nicklfire]

I'd suggest maybe getting some fake plants. Unless your professional with growing plants your going to have algae take over so much (if it has not done so already). I agree with nero aswell, you'll need proper lighting which will range around 80$ i'm guessing... But... the smaller the tank you have dude the harder it is to maintain. Before jumping in read a little about planted tanks. Pinned artciles are great.. i cant emphasize that enough. Plants need proper substrate, lighting, co2, nutrients. Unless you have all of those your plants will just die (most of them anyways).

 

[Amunet]

Wow... little more help would be nice nicklfire.. not just telling some people... "If you don't have blahblahblah they're all going to just die!"
Which isn't true at all.

In our 28 gallon... whatever light came with it has been doing fine with the plants we have gotten for it. In it currently is a radican sword, marble queen radican sword, compact sword (yes I like the sword plants lol), some sort of anubias... not sure what kind it is, but it's pretty tall, and some kind of bunched plant not sure what it is.. might be hornwort might be this kind http/www.plantgeek.net/plant-159.htm *shrugs* I'll take a closer look at it.. anywho. it's been doing fine.

And in my 10gal.. I have 2 of those lightbulbs you get from the petstore section at Walmart.. whatever watts they are. In that tank there are 2 small marble queen radican swords snipped from the one that's in the 28 gallon. A bunch of cabomba, some java ferns, & a few dwarf sag.

In the hospital tank, there is also a small anubias plant in it that I took out of the 28 gallon.

No co2.... no special lighting... only thing that has been going into the water specifically for the plants is liquid fert.. and so far they've all been doing pretty well.

You can look up plants on plantgeek.net it has a very large list of plants with basic info. Make sure to pay attention to whether or not the plant is a true aquatic or not.
And if you see one that looks good, just google more info about it

 

[nero]

lol, poor nicklefire probably went through the same thing as me: and thats getting a tank, and thinking you can put all the cool plants in the pet store in it. I couldnt: they would just rot and liquify. And that can be kinda disheartening! But Amunet is right, you can grow some pretty nice plants in a standard tank. Just dont expect to be able to get whatever you want to grow. I found I needed to experiment a bit; for my tank anubias turned out to be a real winner. It grew quite happily and put out a new leaf every month or so to show it was still alive. Later I discovered the amazon swords, of which I grew a great specimen, that has now unfortunatly after 16 months has decided to bolt and refuses to grow any of its leaves underwater, they all shoot to the surface befor unfurling.

Which is why my first suggestion was anubias, I swear you could grow those things in a bag in the closet.

Nero

 

[Amunet]

Anubias are pretty plants, but mine did get some algae on their leaves. The one that's now in the hospital tank had a few leaves covered in brown algae, but after snipping those off and it being in the low light tank, all algae is gone and the plant is looking better than ever
So yeah anubias is a good plant if you don't mind the slow growth and possible algae growing on it. I'd still go with a sword myself though heh.
They grow pretty fast and are just so dern pretty!

 

[Dave Spencer]

Here is a list of plants that Llj has compiled:

Foreground

java moss
Christmas moss
Willow moss
Marsilea quadrifolia
Hemianthus micranthemoides (can grow towards the light or behave and stay a lovely little bush). Mine behave.
Hemianthus callitrichoides (same as HM)
Small cryptocorynes (parva, lutea, lucens, etc)
Anubia petite nana

Midground

Mid-sized crypts (wendtii, others, excellent plant)
Barclaya longifolia (can get big, can also behave)
Nymphaea species (must be taught to behave, otherwise a background plant)
Anubias (barterii, coffeefolia, barterii var nana, others)
Anubia gracilis (does better emersed rather than submerged)
Java fern
Bolbitis heudelotii (when small a midground)

Background plants

Most hygrophile species
rotala rotundifolia
Egeria densa
Egeria najas
Limnophila sessilifolia and indica and aquatica
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian pennywort)
Nymphaea species
Amazon swords
Bacopa species
Bolbitis heudlotii (when full grown, a very slow grower)
Alternantera reineckii (striking plant, can do low-light with CO2)
Vallisneria (americana, asiatica, spiralis)
Some Sagittaria species

You don`t have to be some kind of professional and spend money on a high tech set up to be successful with plants. Hope the list helps.

Dave.

 

[aconnoll]

I dont know why alot of people insist on saying "oh you MUST need co2, proper subtrate, ferts", etc.. I have a 9 gallon and two 12 gallon semi-heavily planted tanks currently. One with twin 15 watt floresent 6500K tubes and the other two with twin 5000K floresent bulbs (I cant rem their wattage) from the hardware store, no CO2 and very rarely fertilise, 10 hours a day 5-2-5-2 configuration.. I have minimal hair type algae and have fabulously fast growing ambulia and vallis amongst other soft stemed plants with no CO2, etc.. Diatoms were my worst enemy when the tanks were maturing but once you got past that stage it settled down. I have minimal hair algae that some Chinese Algae Eaters sort out for me (again another subject that ppl are controversial about), best thing you can do is make sure you have floresent lighting that is atleast 5000K and plants that generally arent hard stemed and having quite a few plants in the tank to begin with cause its beneficial against the fight of plant vs algae at first (once the plants get the upper hand). Experiment a little and see what works for you but by no means think you MUST have to have CO2, etc..

 

[thegnu]

hi,
here is some info of my low tec tank. its a juwel rio 400L
Dimensions 152 x 51 x 61cm/60" x 20" x 24
Surface area 0.78 sqm/8.4 sq ft/ inches sq in
Volume 472 l./104 gal. (124.69 US gal.)
Probable volume 425 l./94 gal. (112 US gal.)

i have the same internal filter, lights (one 36W 48" T8 day light, one 36W 48" T8 warm light) that came with the tank.
substrate is aqua grit (so nothing very special there)
the only piece of equipment i have added is a eheim 2224 external.
WPG i reckon is about 0.8WPG someone please correct me if that is wrong.
no added co2 only whats naturally in their

plants;

Salvinia natans
Pistia stratiotes
Nymphaea lotus or African tiger lotus
Anubias barteri
Anubias barteri v. nana
Cabomba caroliniana
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Echinodorus bleheri (paniculatus)
Echinodorus subalatus
Echinodorus amazonicus (amazon sword)
Giant Vallisneria
Java fern
Java moss
Micranthemum umbrosum

fish;

4 discus, assorted apistogramma's, pair of blue rams, assorted tetra's

no ferts added before this picture was taken

 

[hakisuma_chan]

Thank you guys VERY much!!! That was really helpful.

All I have right now is little wisps of java moss and hornwort. I'm looking into anubia D) and sword leaf plants, maybe camboba. I'll go through the lists more thouroughly after I've typed this. XD Thank you!!1

I'm planning on getting snails....I've heard Red Ramshorns dont' eat plants? Is this true?

So, if I do get plants and grow them successfully, do you recommend getting algae eaters? And if so, what kind do you recommend?

Right now I have a fluorescent light in a lamp (designed as a heat lamp) but I think that's okay... I'll see if my hornwort perks up again before deciding to buy a bunch of new plants.

Anybody have any to spare?

 

[K.J.]

Get some crypts. I have C. Lutea and they are craazaaayy. I also have Water Wisteria, which does wonderful. Java fern also, I tried Val, but it was a bad crop and now I only have a few leaves. It's not dead, yet..

 

[aconnoll]

Well regarding algae eaters you will have everyone swear black and blue that Chinese Algae Eaters are THE worst fish to get for a communal tank but if you get them as small as you can they will be very hard working until they grow in size.. ive always had good luck with them but most ppl think they are evil. Ive found as long as you give them hiding spots, have a nice piece of bogwood, a decently planted tank (for other algae eaters and other fish to hide if they get intimidated/chased) and fast moving fish.. its all good.

Otos are another one that ppl talk about but ive no experience with them as yet partly because I get the impression you should get atleast 3 and also where I am in the world they are fairly expensive compared to other alternatives.

 

[Dave Spencer]

All I have right now is little wisps of java moss and hornwort. I'm looking into anubia D) and sword leaf plants, maybe camboba. I'll go through the lists more thouroughly after I've typed this. XD Thank you!!1

You should have no problems with growingHygrophilia Polysperma which should be readily available. You may struggle with Amazon Swords a little because they need a fertile substrate, but why not give them a try?

I'm planning on getting snails....I've heard Red Ramshorns dont' eat plants? Is this true?

I was horrified when the first pest snails turned up in my tank but now, due to not overfeeding my fish, I rarely see any. They are algae eaters and the ones I inherited do not touch my plants. If there is no fish food laying around, you shouldn`t get a population explosion.

So, if I do get plants and grow them successfully, do you recommend getting algae eaters? And if so, what kind do you recommend?

Otos are great for this. They stay small and are very peaceful. You might want to consider Amano Shrimp as well, but these are quite delicate and you may lose some.

Right now I have a fluorescent light in a lamp (designed as a heat lamp) but I think that's okay... I'll see if my hornwort perks up again before deciding to buy a bunch of new plants.

I would look in to getting more aquarium specific lighting if I were you. I have no real idea as to the spectrum of heat lamp, but try to get the lighting right as it is the greatest single trigger for plant growth.

Dave.