Thanks for your comments/suggestions. I only have the one piece of bogwood (its the wooden piece in the middle . . . yes it's real, just placed in there awkwardly) at the moment, but hope to get more. I added the "fake" rocks for the time being (so the fish won't feel so much empty space) until I can get more plants and wood.
I don't have any bamboo in the tank that I am aware of
(I have "lucky" bamboo in a jar in my kitchen so I know what it looks like). I purchased all of these plants from my lfs so I assumed they were aquatic. Guess I was wrong.
That's what I get for listening to them!
Which ones aren't aquatic so I can remove them and not buy anymore of them to stock my tank? Unfortunately, I only have the one lfs (and a Wal-Mart) that offer aquatic plants/aquarium products. So it is extremely difficult to get "natural" objects and live plants. I'm doing the best I can and really appreciate the help.
What is in the tank? I really wish I was sure. I have a rainbow shark, four silver dollars, a tinfoil barb (I think), three black skirt tetras, three serpae tetras, four platy, one pleco (I think that's what he is), one fish I have no idea what it is, and I think 7 swordtails (though the swordtails will soon be moved into my 29 gallon). To see pictures of some of the fish (I wasn't sure what they were at first) go here
What Are These?
Do all these fish eat plants?
All the fish except the swordtail and platy were given to me by someone who was moving and couldn't keep her fish. I didn't know what kind they were or anything.
As for researching more before I jumped into this, perhaps I should have, but we all have to start somewhere, so please don't be rude.
It's my time, money, and effort that I'm putting into this project and if I waste my time, money, and effort in the learning process, that's my business and I'll accept it.
For those of you honestly trying to be helpful, I thank you for your suggestions. A black background sounds wonderful.
I was planning on a dark green, but I may opt for black instead. I do hope to be able to aquire more bogwood and perhaps some real rocks (question about that, can I get rocks from anywhere or do they need to be specially treated for aquariums?)
Here are some close-up pictures of the plants (I tried to put each plant in the middle of the frame). Hopefully you guys/gals can tell me which ones are NOT aquatic. Thanks so much for the help.
Plant 1
Plant 2
Plant3
Plant 4
Plant 5
Plant 6
Plant 7
Plant 8
Plant 9
Plant 10
Edited to add numbers to the pictures for eaiser reference. That way you can just list the non aquatic plants by number. Also, if any of you know the names of the plants and woulnd't mind sharing that information too, I'd appreciate it.