Aquarium Plants

[john5748]

Just seeking advice on what is the main differences (no obvious answers please )

What are the main benefits for the fish and are they easy to look after as I find it hard enough to mow the lawn once every couple of weeks never mind tending an aquatic garden

 

[GSD]

fake
easier to keep...you cant kill them
are cheaper
you dont have to replace them

live
look better

 

[Kittycat]

plastic can scratch or injure your fish

Real plants give fish good hiding places, and also eat up stuff in the water that is harmful for your fish.

 

[Mr Miagi]

In my opinion, your fish would much more appreciate live than plastic, mine do!.

Plastic:
-Easier to clean.
-Dont rot and die
-Dont recquire maintenance.

(sorry)

Live:
-Beautiful
-Reduce nutrients in the water
-Help water quality
- (kept in the right conditions) plants help oxygenate water, to some extent
-Expensive
-Some species are pretty easy to keep!
-and they just look Way better than plastic trash! LOL

 

[Matchu]

Yeah, plastic IMO looks terrible, though saying that real ones are hard to look after

I spent about an hour last night scraping beard algae off two of my plants, was worth it though, they look great now

 

[rdd1952]

I definitely prefer live plants. They move and sway with the current and look better in general. Both my 29 gallon and 75 gallon are heavily planted.

The one drawback to a heavily planted tank is that it is dificult to do a good gravel (sand in my case) vacuum because you can't get in among the plants without risking uprooting them (at least until they get rooted good). Without being able to vacuum good, you end up with decaying leaves that can lead to algae.

All that said, I still would not have a tank with fake plants.

 

[john5748]

I think I am going to try some live plants as I think the fish will appreciate them more than the plastic ones, and after all it's not just a case of keeping your fish alive its about giving them the best environment you can.

That said though is it possible to mix live and fake in the same tank?

Not sure what it would look like though, it may be really naff!!

 

[morgan]

I have real and fake and it looks fine. Not as good as some of the lovely tanks I have seen on this forum but the fish seem ok with it.

 

[rdd1952]

I do have live and fake (one) in the same tank. It is actually my wife's tank (Christmas present) and the plant/coral think was the first thing she picked out for it so I'm not about to take it out.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Yeah, i used to add plastic plants to the very back of my tank and fill the front with live ones and it worked well. I took em out cause they wouldnt stay under the gravel though! Thats another disadvantage!