planted my tank, any pointers or tricks to keep the plants healthy?

Byron

Fish stores, most carry Seachem's products and some carry Kent's as well. Just make sure it is the comprehensive supplements I mentioned; there are several different products in the Flourish and Kent lines. If you have no fish stores locally, you can order online.

B.

Byron

Rooted plants like swords, crypts, aponiogeton, vallisneria, sagitarria, etc that have root systems that go in the substrate should be planted deep enough so the roots are all covered but the crown (where the stems/leaves arise from the rootstock) is not buried. Same as land plants in this respect. Make sure the substrate is deep enough; the afore-mentioned plants have fairly extensive root systems. I prefer to have about 2-3 inches of gravel at the front and then more towards the back of the aquarium where the largest plants are rooted.

Plants like Anubias and Java Fern are not planted in the substrate; their roots attach to wood and rock. Stem plants should have the lower 2-3 inches of the stem buried in the substrate sufficient to hold them down. As they grow they will need trimming; pull them up and cut the lower portions off and replant the upper when this is needed to keep them leafy and at the desired height.

Byron.

jmlampert23

Byron,

here are a couple pictures of those plants. on the tag from the store they said they were gold ribbon and white ribbon

let me know what you think

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	DSCF0266.jpg (103.0 KB, 28 views)

aunt kymmie

In my experience the "gold and white" ribbon plants they sell are a species of dracena, a common house plant. I've never been tempted to purchase them as I'm convinced they wouldn't do well in an aquarium. If I'm wrong, it won't be the first time!!

Byron

Those are non-aquatic plants. They are commonly sold as "aquarium plants" but will not survive long permanently submersed. I don't know these too well, but suspect they are species of Dracaena which will live submerged for perhaps several months before they die. In nature they occur in marshy areas or areas that may be flooded for parts of the year, sort of like bog plants, but not in areas completely under water permanently. As you alreadyhave them, enjoy them while they live, and consider replacing them at some point with true aquatic plants; if they start to deteriorate, remove them so they don't pollute the water. While none of the aquatic plants look exactly like the ones you have, there are aquatic plants that are somewhat similar.

Byron.

P.S., I see kymmie has posted too...great minds... B.

jmlampert23

sweet thanks for the info. there were wicked cheap like 4 bucks for all 6 of them. they were being sold as aquatic plants. kinds pisses me off though, cause for the 4 bucks i could have bought something else that is made to live under water.

tell me this, is the Amazon Sword and the aquatic fern ok?

jmlampert23

quick question about the seachem? do the tabs work as well as the liquid? i have tabs

Byron

The Amazon Sword is a good aquarium plant. In their native habitat, most species in the genus Echinodorus are bog plants that spend half the year emersed (when they flower) and half submersed, and all adapt very well to fully-submersed conditions. They can live for years and years. I have one E. macrophyllus that is more than 10 years old.

The "fern" I do not know; I can't find anything similar in my plant encyclopedia, so I'm suspecting it may be another land plant. I may have seen something like it in stores, but I took no notice so can't be sure. Many of these sorts of plants would do quite well in a terrarium setup where the roots can be in water but the leaves above water. Amphibian and turtle tanks for example. I had beautiful ferns (houseplant types) in my turtle aquarium years ago, the gravel on one side was banked up with rock and the fern had its roots permanently under water and grew like crazy.

Byron.

jmlampert23

i exchanged those plants at the store and got some aquatic grass that i actually like more and i also got somemore amazon swords

Byron

Not always, depends upon the plants to some extent. Aquatic plants take in nutrients through their roots, but some also through the leaves (various species do this more or less than others). Some are heavy root feeders, like swords and crypts; these plants are, as I mentioned in a previous post, mostly bog plants so they have good root systems and benefit from root fertilizers like tabs, sticks or substrate additives. But plants that float, stem plants, and non-substrate rooted plants like Anubias, Java Fern and Java Moss gain little (and more probably no) benefit from substrate nutrients.

I have always had superb plant growth using weekly liquid fertilization and substrate tabs/sticks next to the larger swords. Swords are particularly heavy feeders and while mine grew fine with just liquid, the addition of Nutrafin's Plant-Gro sticks resulted in phenominal growth after 2-3 months and it has continued. When I added the root sticks, I reduced the liquid fertilization from twice to once a week; I've now gone back to twice because some of the non-rooted plants clearly showed signs of nutrient deficiency, and they have now recovered.

So my recommendation would be a complete liquid like Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive or Kent Freshwater Supplement, and a tab or stick next to each sword.

Byron.