Fake Plants

[angel.star]

I'm thinking about getting two fake plants for my tank, because there is only one spot in my tank where plants seem to stay in place for longer than two hours! I'll have one real plant in this part of the tank, but the tank does look lovely with three or four plants in it. Every plant I get becomes uprooted every two hours or so, then slowly disintegrates before I have to get a new one a week or so later! Each morning when I wake up and say hi to my fishes, I have to re-plant all the weeds except for the one at the back! So I was therefore thinking about getting two fake ones to accompany the real one, in the hope that they would be heavier and wouldn't uproot like real ones. But I don't know how safe they are - can fish scratch themselves on fake plants? Can they emit harmful chemicals in the water or anything? If they are generally unsafe then I won't dream of using them, but that being the case does anyone have any tips on keeping plants planted?!

Your help is greatly appreciated! I'm gardening more often in my fish tank than in my garden!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yeah goldfish can have an annoying habit of eating and digging up live plants in the aquarium. Fake plants have less benefets than live ones (they can't help prevent algae, or absorb nitrates etc), but they can be useful in helping create cover/hiding places for the fish and generally help create a more relaxed environment for the fish to live in.

Solid plastic plants aren't that great, a lot of fish (particularly ones with long fancy fins or delicate eyes etc) can accidentally scratch themselves on such plants.
However, a lot of lfs/local fish stores will also stock silk leaved aquarium plants, which are a great deal better as fish won't hurt themselves on them . The only drawback is that silk leaved plants tend to be more expensive than pure plastic ones, but on the plus side they tend to look a lot more realistic and natural than plastic ones .

 

[angel.star]

Thank you once again for your advice, you're invaluable! I don't mind spending a bit more money on my fishes, they're special little creatures and I want to make them as comfy as possible. Maybe I'll get one fake silk plant for decoration, but stick with real ones for the back of the tank, as they seem to stay in place better there. I didn't realise they had anti-algae effects, I certainly need that cos my hillstream loach is a lazy wotsit!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thank you once again for your advice, you're invaluable! I don't mind spending a bit more money on my fishes, they're special little creatures and I want to make them as comfy as possible. Maybe I'll get one fake silk plant for decoration, but stick with real ones for the back of the tank, as they seem to stay in place better there. I didn't realise they had anti-algae effects, I certainly need that cos my hillstream loach is a lazy wotsit!

I'm glad to help .