Are there any real aquatic plants from Topfin?

Castiel

I bought some plants from Petsmart today. It turns out however that the majority of plants sold by topfin are not real aquatic plants at all and die withing weeks. I am trying to get more plants in my aquarium. So far I only have Wisteria and that's growing fine. Are there any real aquatic plants sold by them?

DKRST

I can't speak to the Topfin brand, but I know the larger pet stores often sell plants for the aquarium that are not technically true submerged plants. Only good solution is to select the plant you want, using the plant profiles posted here under the "Tropical Fish Profiles", keep an eye out for it at local stores and try and avoid purchasing stuff "spur of the minute" that looks good (it's very hard to do, sometimes!). There are many on-line vendors for quality aquatic plants and there are many TFK members with plants they'll happily sell for about the cost of shipping (wait until the weather warms some though!)

rjwwrx

I can't speak for your local petsmart, but I imagine that they have the same tubed and packaged plants that mine does. I don't have a great LFS that has any selection of live plants except Anacharis and Hornwort, so I have bought the majority of my plants from petsmart. The Topfin tubes have all their plants that are unable to be fully submersed labeled on the top with a sticker "Semi-aquatic." So you should be safe as long as you stay away from those. Other than that I would suggest you pay attention only to the scientific name listed, not the common name, to make sure you are getting what you want.

Let me know if you have any other questions about them, and I can let you know how my experience has been. I've picked up Anubias nana, Anubias afzelli, Java Fern, bacopa caroliniana, and crypt wendtii all from the tubes and packages at petsmart.

Inga

My local Petsmart has a tank with live plants in it. The ones that I would recommend are any of the sword plants as they are true aquatic, Water Sprite, annubis, Java Fern, marimo moss balls. Stay away from the Mondo grass and things like that as they will only last a few months and then die. Those are not true aquatic. My Petsmart often has very nice plants but sometimes they are picked over. You need to go on the day after their delivery as they will likely have the best selection. Also, if you see a plant that you really like but are not sure, ask to see a plant book and you can look it up to make sure it will work for you.

blondie

I have bought some Top Fin plant tubes and the others I get from the tank at petco. The Top Fin plants that I have are Anubias, swords and Java Fern.

beetlebz

smart phones can help plant shopping too. Google the scientific name before you buy, imho.

my local petco has for 4 months nothing but dying Anubias and Java Moss.. then I go in looking for filter pads or something and they have every plant imaginable, in pristine growing form.

win some, lose some ;)

Inga

My local Petco only has the half dead ones in the tubes you describe. Petsmart has decent plants sometimes but it is sort of hit or miss as to what will be there as well. I have picked up decent looking plants as I see them there.