Plants

[timmystood]

Are real live plants essential to the aquarium??? I only have articial ones and I use chemicals to control the ammonia etc.
The artifical plant and my stone hole thing provide another safe cover?
Should I get a real plant??? Or are they too much hassle?

 

[timmystood]

Any ideas or help you could give?

 

[!Gina]

I use real plants and i think they are relatively easy to keep, they're pretty cheap too.
I buy from javaplants.com they give you a huge selection all fully labeled (so you know where in the aquarium to put them) and they look really good.

I've not had any problems with mine, they just need trimming every once in a while to keep them looking neat.
Real plants arent necessary, the fish just seem to enjoy them alot more.

 

[timmystood]

Thanks very much - so they don't help the water quality a great deal?

 

[Bloo]

It just depends. Some fish will devour plants and make a huge mess with them. Some plants require specific conditions and they are not met, will get covered in algae and fall apart and die.

I do not believe plants are essential to community tanks. As long as the fish are fed a varied diet, all should be fine.

The only thing I would say though - do not use chemicals in your tank other than dechlorinator ! If you have ammonia (because you have a new tank that's busy cycling) reduce that by doing water changes little and often.

 

[emma12321]

Plants can actually help your tank to cycle faster, if you only have basic lighting you might have problem growing some plants but thing like java fern, java moss and anubis nana all grow well in these conditions, they should be tied to rocks or wood with cotton or fishing line as they don't like to be buried in the substrate.

Emma

 

[Dubby]

Thanks very much - so they don't help the water quality a great deal?

They definitely help reduce nitrates as they use these as food. So a tank with healthy plants will have lower nitrates.

In fact in heavily planted tanks we need to supply nitrates through external sources to continue to encourage plant growth