Floaters

[sthomas048]

Hello all,

Please could one of you experienced "planters" throw some names of plants at me that would float on top of the water to provide some shade in my south american Cichlid tank ? I have no idea . Id need a plant that is pretty forgiving of a newbie. As my setup will be pretty basic to start with, im relying on buying in some driftwood with Java Fern/moss grafted on. Is there a floating plant that doesnt need to be planted in substrate, as mine will just be small grain gravel.

All help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much.

 

[Themuleous]

Floating plants could be duckweed or amazon frogbit. Both of which are rampant growers in any tank. Be aware duck weed is almost impossible to get rid of once added to a tank.

I didn't think cichlids were very good with plants, as they tend to eat them, but that could be more African, not too sure about south American cichlids.

Sam

 

[pentazona]

I have some Duckweed and Salvinia auriculata that i could send you if you wanted. All you would need to pay is postage. Can fill a small cup with Duckweed almost weekly.

Send me a PM if your interested.

George

 

[Maximumbob]

I have let my greeny/red ludwigia grow along the surface and my fish love it!

It has the added bonus of being impossible to kill

 

[sthomas048]

Thanks Sam, George and Maximum Bob. I quite like the look of the Salvinia auriculata, George could i contact you nearer the time with a request for a sample ? Ive actually just ordered my new tank and am in the planning stage of how/what to decor with. I dont plan on putting many plants in there, knowing Cichlids reputation for digging up plants. So itl be one or two Java ferns on driftwood and then some nice floating plant like S.Auriculata on top. Lots of wood and tannins in the water.

 

[darknirvana217]

Amazon frogbit and red root floaters are really cool additions to any tank and are really easy to take care of. They also aren't small and annoying like duckweed.

 

[SuperColey1]

If you have SA Cichlids then although you want some shade you also want some light.

My Rams tend to spend most of their time in the light areas and only go to the shade for some of the time.

Also if you have a basic setup I doubt wether you have the amount of light that would affect them too much.

Your best bet really would be to get some easy to care for low light plant with bigger leaves like Nymphear Rubra or similar which will diffuse the light rather than totally shade the tank (Let some leaves reach the surface and you should have a decent mix)

Then the Cichlids can choose where they want to be.

When they are in the light areas of my tank we are talking very very bright and theis seems to be their favourite are!!!

All cichlids will eat plants but Rams unlike most others wil pick on a few leaves rather than ravage the whole tank and they do sem to like the Nymphae which doesn't bother me too much because this plant shoots leaves out at a pretty rapid rate.

I would second what Sams says about floaters. Once they are in they are there forever. You can never get rid of it and are fishing vast amounts out all the time.

Andy

 

[sthomas048]

Oh rite, thanks for that Andy, thats very informative. Its quite tricky when you are new to planting in tanks. I dont want too much getting in the way of enjoying the fish and i want the fish to be happy in their environment too. This Nymphear Rubra, i did a search for it and it came back with a water lily, is that what this plant is ? Do you have any links to more info ?

Could adding a few Amazon Swords to the tank provide good opportunity for shade Andy ? Plus the fact that the Swords are the Bolivian Rams native plant.

 

[SuperColey1]

If you search there are loads of low light plants for an SA biotope.

In the amazon most of the plantlife is along the edges which are shaded by trees

The larger plants like echinodorous grow in the lighter areas.

Amazon Sword (echinodorous) would be perfectfor them and yes it does grow big.

If you look at the tank pic in my sig. - This is a 33tall - 125Ltr and the Amazon virtually filled the left half!!!

Big Tanks they look great.

This is Blairos tank for his Bolivian Rams (from cichlid forum) and Dutch Dude on the same forum also has a nicely planted tank.
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtop...&highlight=

If you search plantgeek.net you will be able to search for all plants from regions etc.

Andy

 

[sthomas048]

Andy, my tank will be 125ltr too, its a Juwel Rio125. I discovered Plantgeek last night and am just starting to explore it this morning, before work. Ive also been searching through photo sites for images taken in the general Amazon area, found quite a few nice ones of narrow murky looking rivers with lots of branches laying in/poking out of the water. Im quite keen on getting the tank authentic to the Amazon. Thanks mate, very helpful of you. Lots of ideas now !