Best Type Of Plant

[Dark Wolf]

So, all i have is a variety of plastic plants, but they all seem to be a little sharp.

So i was just wondering what is the best type of live plant to get for the betta. All i really need is the names, or a general description, so that i can look at a picture, and know what to look for in the shop.

Thanks in advance

 

[dmarie04]

My bettas love their java moss and java ferns. They are very low maintenance and can grow in just about any conditions.

 

[jess6905]

mine love the java moss and ferns i gave them. they also like wisteria and mellon sword.

 

[dmarie04]

I forgot to mention I also have some sunset hygrophila (hygrophila polysperma) in one of my betta tanks. It's a pretty new plant but it's taking off pretty well, and I'm not doing anything special for it. I have some valisnera also that grows good in all my tanks. If you have a large tank then amazon swords are easy plants to take care of, but they get pretty big.

 

[Dark Wolf]

It's a 5 gallon tank.

I know for a fact that the store has some wisteria, as i have bought some from there before, not long ago.

 

[jess6905]

another plant mine tend to like is 4 leaf clover (yes its a real aquatic plant) and red lewgeda(??? spelling) it is a bit more touchy, but a very nice plant if you can keep it going. the clover isnt as touchy, but can be a pain to find.

 

[stang1]

I have Anubias in with my boys which they love. As the leaves are quite sturdy and get quite big, it's an ideal resting place for them!

 

[joycould]

In addition to the rest of the plants others have mentioned I have hornwort , water lettuce, duck weed, frogb, redrooted floater and salviniatwhich floats and really soaks up the ammonia. The anubia and java ferns are great for things that need 100% water changes because you tie them to a rock or driftwood. Marimo balls are really neat also.

 

[Phaedra]

I have Anubias in with my boys which they love. As the leaves are quite sturdy and get quite big, it's an ideal resting place for them!

I'm dying to get some Petit Anubias for Darby. Where did you find yours?

I just bit the bullet a couple of days ago and invested in some cheap "betta bulbs" which apparently sprout into aponogeton which I can only hope will be pretty and comfortable for Darby. I also got a onion bulb (is this an aquatic plant? I'm a little leery of it) and water hyacinth (in the same package), which I imagine is going to get way too big, but I thought I'd give it a chance to sprout anyway.

 

[joycould]

I have Anubias in with my boys which they love. As the leaves are quite sturdy and get quite big, it's an ideal resting place for them!

I'm dying to get some Petit Anubias for Darby. Where did you find yours?

I just bit the bullet a couple of days ago and invested in some cheap "betta bulbs" which apparently sprout into aponogeton which I can only hope will be pretty and comfortable for Darby. I also got a onion bulb (is this an aquatic plant? I'm a little leery of it) and water hyacinth (in the same package), which I imagine is going to get way too big, but I thought I'd give it a chance to sprout anyway.

The bulb you have is probably the same one I have in my 29 gallon it will get tall but they are a beautiful plant. The water onion is aquatic. The water hyacinth will grow like a weed!! There is a good forum that has a lot of people selling plants, that is where I got my anubia for the cost of shipping with a few other plants including crypt another low light plant.

 

[lljdma06]

I have Anubias in with my boys which they love. As the leaves are quite sturdy and get quite big, it's an ideal resting place for them!

I'm dying to get some Petit Anubias for Darby. Where did you find yours?

I just bit the bullet a couple of days ago and invested in some cheap "betta bulbs" which apparently sprout into aponogeton which I can only hope will be pretty and comfortable for Darby. I also got a onion bulb (is this an aquatic plant? I'm a little leery of it) and water hyacinth (in the same package), which I imagine is going to get way too big, but I thought I'd give it a chance to sprout anyway.

Anubia barteri var petite nana is hard to come buy at your LFS. You're better off going to an online vendor. Petite is a bit small for a betta to rest on. Anubia barteri var nana may have the leaf shape you're looking for if you want a resting place for Darby. Regular Anubia barteri var barteri's leaves get very large and will crowd a small tank. That being said, anubias are great plants.

The onion plant is known as Crinum thaianum and can get quite large, but it is an aquatic plant. There is also Crinum natans which has a narrow leaf form. There are several species of Aponogetons ranging from very easy to very difficult to keep. All will probably get too large for your little tank, but it's still nice to watch them sprout.

 

[Phaedra]

Joy- Thanks for the link to the forum! I've hunted down all of my local LFS's and they have a horrible selection of plants. Looks like if I really want some nice ones, I'll have to go the online route.
Good to know about the onion. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put that fleshy bulb into the tank after considering that it might rot away and gunk up the tank. I actually put the plants I expected to grow larger (the onion and the hyacinth) into my 10g, and the aponogeton into Darby's tank. The onion is sending out roots already, and it's only been three days!

Lljdma- Thanks for the advice and info! After doing a search for the latin name, I can see what you mean about the onion getting big- WOW! Even in my 10g it looks like it's going to grow over the water level.
I realize that the Petit Anubias is too small for a resting plant, but I was thinking it would be a really nice plant to have at gravel-level.

Since you two seem to know your stuff, I wonder if you'd mind taking a look at a thread I made a couple of months back on the topic and give me some feedback since you know bettas and small planted tanks? I thought the OP might find it informative too.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=200125&hl=

 

[joycould]

Joy- Thanks for the link to the forum! I've hunted down all of my local LFS's and they have a horrible selection of plants. Looks like if I really want some nice ones, I'll have to go the online route.
Good to know about the onion. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put that fleshy bulb into the tank after considering that it might rot away and gunk up the tank. I actually put the plants I expected to grow larger (the onion and the hyacinth) into my 10g, and the aponogeton into Darby's tank. The onion is sending out roots already, and it's only been three days!

Lljdma- Thanks for the advice and info! After doing a search for the latin name, I can see what you mean about the onion getting big- WOW! Even in my 10g it looks like it's going to grow over the water level.
I realize that the Petit Anubias is too small for a resting plant, but I was thinking it would be a really nice plant to have at gravel-level.

Since you two seem to know your stuff, I wonder if you'd mind taking a look at a thread I made a couple of months back on the topic and give me some feedback since you know bettas and small planted tanks? I thought the OP might find it informative too.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=200125&hl=

I would probably tie on some sort of moss on the cave you have for Darby. Java moss is very easy to come by and very easy to grow. Then get some type of floater like frogbit or duckweed both do well in lower light. If you decide to keep the gravel and do 100% water changes stay away from anything that needs to be planted. If you want the look of something planted go with a java fern or anubia of some type, they aren't planted in the gravel just tied to something. This list is easy to grow and lower light. If you want to a plant to plant that doesn't need a lot of light go with a crypt some get pretty big but they tend to melt when moved around a lot. Remember the more light the more trimming you will have to do on the plants! An easy fix to the CO2 is excel, but it does melt certain plants like Elodea which I kill since it is a cooler water plant.

 

[Phaedra]

That's great advice Joy! Thank you! You've answered a lot of my questions.