What Is It?

[Baccus]

Mostly people get some bog wood from their local pet shop of LFS (we tend to have Pet shops here rather than dedicated fish shops), but I often just get interesting pieces of euclyptus/ Bottle brush or other none toxic timber that I put in my tanks and the Bristle noses are happy to munch on it once its got some age about it.

With some timber you can tie some Anubis, Java Fern or even moss onto it. The Bristle nose should not like the taste of Java Fern ( but my rams horn snails adore eating it ), You could also grow Amazon swords which I have found hardy in my low tech systems but they will need to have a deepish substrate as their roots get very vigerous. Another plant that is very forgiving is Elodea, but Bristle noses do like eating this if they aren't getting enough of other greens. With plants I would go for a bulk planting so that one or two plants can get obliterated by over excited bristle noses. If you get some moss, the shrimp will love spending hours in the fronds/ leaves finding food and keeping the plants clean.
You said that your first planting failed, was it because of lack of light? Or did the LFS sell non-equatic plants to you? They are very prone to doing this so with fish keeping and having live plants in with them you need to become a bit of a horticulturalist to know which plants are which.
The planted section should have plenty of pictures for you to see which plants are fully aquatic and which ones will never survuive long term in water.

 

[Memoi]

Thanks,

Thats a lot of info to take in so im glad its all written down.
I dont really know where i failed with my first plants, one of them prolifered so much that it was dirtying my tank so much i had to clean it twice a day (it was a too big plant for a small tank i'm afraid), the others just end up creating lots of mold or dying. i lost a few fish during this period as well so i just gave up.

I would rather go natural plants but i don't want to lose my fish so i just dont do it. But i will try the wood cos i need to know that my fish are happy. i know... i'm too touchy feely with them

 

[the_lock_man]

I didnt even see the Pleco, it blended in so well, I thought that they ment the neon tetra, sorry. And it does look common pleco

FF2, it's a cardinal tetra, not a neon. With a neon, the red part only goes halfway up the body.

 

[Baccus]

Caring for the well being of your fish is great, and the bristle noses will love some timber, it actually helps with some of their digestion. You can get myponi (sorry not sure on spelling at the moment) but it is a very hard timber. Goldvine would be good for adding height with plants such as moss, java fern and anubis tied to it. Driftwood could have a fair amount of salt in it depending on where it was collected from and how it was cleaned.

By the sounds of it most of your first plants where non-aquatic and that is why they ended up rotting and fouling the water. Plants should not cause fish deaths, as long as the plants are healthy and true water plants. If you do get some more live plants I would double check with the supplier that not only is it aquatic but also if they have used any snail kill products on the plant, the copper in the snail kill will kill shrimp, so to be on the safe side always rinse new plants really well in non tank water, this rinsing will also decrease the risk of hitch hikers which are not always fish friendly.
If you like I can do up a list and pictures of suitable tank plants that are easy care.

 

[Louiseness]

With some timber you can tie some Anubis, Java Fern or even moss onto it. The Bristle nose should not like the taste of Java Fern ( but my rams horn snails adore eating it ), You could also grow Amazon swords which I have found hardy in my low tech systems but they will need to have a deepish substrate as their roots get very vigerous. Another plant that is very forgiving is Elodea, but Bristle noses do like eating this if they aren't getting enough of other greens.

Just chipping in to say that my bristlenose DESTROYS amazon swords, literally as soon as the leaf is big enough for her to suck onto she'll be latched on and chomping away. I've seen her suckered onto the java fern a couple of times but she doesn't leave any holes, and doesn't touch my elodea or anubias.

 

[Baccus]

With some timber you can tie some Anubis, Java Fern or even moss onto it. The Bristle nose should not like the taste of Java Fern ( but my rams horn snails adore eating it ), You could also grow Amazon swords which I have found hardy in my low tech systems but they will need to have a deepish substrate as their roots get very vigerous. Another plant that is very forgiving is Elodea, but Bristle noses do like eating this if they aren't getting enough of other greens.

Just chipping in to say that my bristlenose DESTROYS amazon swords, literally as soon as the leaf is big enough for her to suck onto she'll be latched on and chomping away. I've seen her suckered onto the java fern a couple of times but she doesn't leave any holes, and doesn't touch my elodea or anubias.

It would be a bit of trial and error for finding which plants the particular bristle noses wont eat, but that is why I also suggested getting a heap of plants and doing a large planting in one hit rather than gradually putting in one plant at a time. Also with the Bristle noses being on the young side they shouldn't do as much damage straight away and by growing up with the plants be less inclined to scoff them. I find that I can't grow Banana Lilies with my Bristle noses because they just love the taste, they even made a huge dent in my standard lily when they where outside in my pond. I guess like people fish just have different tastes.

 

[Memoi]

I didnt even see the Pleco, it blended in so well, I thought that they ment the neon tetra, sorry. And it does look common pleco

FF2, it's a cardinal tetra, not a neon. With a neon, the red part only goes halfway up the body.

I would sincerly love some picture etc... that would reassure me a lot in what i'm doing.

If you want you can send them to my e-mail address if its easier.

I didnt even see the Pleco, it blended in so well, I thought that they ment the neon tetra, sorry. And it does look common pleco

FF2, it's a cardinal tetra, not a neon. With a neon, the red part only goes halfway up the body.

I would sincerly love some picture etc... that would reassure me a lot in what i'm doing.

If you want you can send them to my e-mail address if its easier.

Oh dear, i messed up again. this message was meant for baccus originally. Sorry

 

[Baccus]

I wont have time tonight but I will try to sort out some pics and names (with scientific names where possible) for you tomorrow. I will either post it here or PM you, if needs be I can email, is your email visable from your profile page?

 

[Memoi]

I wont have time tonight but I will try to sort out some pics and names (with scientific names where possible) for you tomorrow. I will either post it here or PM you, if needs be I can email, is your email visable from your profile page?

Thats fine don't worry i relly didnt expect you to be so prompt to respond, i really appreciate it
you should be able to see my email address but since im quite useless at all this computorisation stuff!!! let me know if you cant find it.

have a nice day/night

Thanks