please help!!! im new to planting

onefish2fish

ok, i new to the gardening scene and have a couple questions.. i have a few tanks but my more heavily planted one is sitting by a window for light because ive heard you need 2 watts per gallon and im broke right now and cant afford adiquite lighting anyway is natural sunlight my best bet or should i scrape up some cash to get the required bulbs so i can control my tanks "light hours"? i have low light plants except for the Amazon Sword plant, they are anarchis, Java Moss and something im not sure if its aquatic called a palm plant or thats how my lfs labeled it, anyhow i thought i looked cool and they had it in their plant tank..i have 2 of these and one seems to be doing fine, the other might possibly be "rotting" away, the leaves are turning brown from the tips and very slowly working its way toward the plant, sorry cant take pictures because my digital cameras broken. this might be "rotting or disinegrating" or possibly shock or insufficient light thats why i need to know if "palm plants" are actually fully submercible or tide plants ( ones that can take being under water for alittle time, then next some time out of water or have their leaves coming out of the water ) and what their light requirments are and any valuable information you can think for me.. i DO not have any fancy substrate besides "pond gravel" i bought at home depot for like $3 a bag and i rinsed it well, i know amazons are about there root systems but i cant afford $25 substrate right now is that something else i should scrape up money for and go out and bite the bullet and purchase or will they be ok with water added plant fertilizer? i also have a bunch of ghost shrimp in there with them and am getting red cherry shrimp friday and was wondering if cherries and ghost would be "ok" together and possibly cross breed..as well as if cherries will eat my plants?? any information is appreciated.. THANKS for everyones help :D

Little-Fizz

Um, if your trying to grow algae then you should keep your tank by your window.

My plants do ok and I only have like 1 watt per gallon. I think your plants will survive (mostly) until you get a better light



Google palm plant yourself and see what looks like what you've got, because I don't want to surf though all these plants.

Do you have ferts? Because ferts help a great deal when theres not enough light and no co2. I believe it's whats keeping mine going.

onefish2fish

yea i have 2 diff. ferts.. i cant think of the names and im at work until 8am so i cant check... flourish something maybe? its in a white bottle, and one in a yellow.. and ive tried googling pictures and all i get are actually palm tree pictures.. even if i put aquarium or aquatic with it, i get palm trees growing out of water.. its like impossible to find a picture.. i just figured someone would know due to its common name, "palm plant" and i dont mind the algae..KEEP IT COMING BABY!! lol i have ghost shrimp in my plant tank so they take care of that..actually you wouldnt happen to know if red cherry shrimp can go in with them would you? ive heard NOT to put the cherries and ghost together because they will crossbreed.. whats so bad about crossbreeding? are they infertile or something? thanks

Kim

Is your plant by any chance called a Neanthebella Palm? This is a non-aquatic plant that is sometimes sold in fish stores as aquatic. Maybe you could google it by that name and see if you recognize it. I printed a page off of plantgeek.net that showed most non-aquatic plants that are sold in pet stores.

As for the shrimp, I have never had them so I wouldn't know. Sorry.

Little-Fizz

First of all, ghost shrimp don't eat algae... Not unless your starving them that is lol.

I'm not sure if they will cross breed, but I imagine this would be bad because it could create gross deformed better off dead then alive shrimp?

okiemavis

Just liquid ferts should be fine for a low-med light tank. If you want, you can also use root tabs- which is fertilizer you stick in the gravel by the roots of the plant. Your fertilizer regimen should really depend on the type of plants you have, as some draw heavily from the roots whereas other depend mostly on nutrients in the water.

Ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp will not interbreed. In fact, ghost shrimp can't reproduce at all in the aquarium, as their larvae require at least brackish, if not fully marine conditions in order to survive. Cherry shrimp on the other hand, breed quite readily in the aquarium. Their young do not have a planktonic stage and are born as mini versions of the adults. Ghost shrimp don't particularly eat algae, but the cherry shrimp are great at it!