Aquatic Plants

[AngelOfDeath]

Hello.

I want to plant my aquarium =)

Its a 16 Gallon guppy and ADF tank

I have gravel as a substrate

What plants would be best? reccomendations would be good

and how long would i need to leave my lights on?

 

[Colin_T]

have the lights on for about 10-12 hours per day. If you don't get algae everywhere you can increase it to 16 hours per day.

Ambulia, Hygrophilla sp, Elodia, Swordplants and Vallis are good starter plants.

 

[Thomas 2507]

Elodea Densa, Egeria Densa and Cabomba are great starting plants. Really easy to care for and get hold of.

 

[Esfa]

if you have any wood/rocks, you can attatch java fern, mosses and anubias to it.

 

[AngelOfDeath]

I bought some plants and just buried the roots in the gravel, not sure what they all are as they did'nt have names, but one is java fern, which i've just dug into the soil, is this right?

 

[Colin_T]

Java Fern is one of the plants that does not get planted in the gravel. It should be tied to a rock or driftwood. You can use cotton, dental floss (plain and not flavoured or with mouthwash on it) or fishing line for this purpose.
Most other plants can have the bottom inch or so planted in the gravel. Make a hole in the gravel and put the plant in. then cover over. If you just push the plant into the gravel you can damage the stem and cause it to rot.

 

[AngelOfDeath]

will the java die if its planted?

 

[Colin_T]

not usually but sometimes it will rot at the base. It depends on how deep it is under the gravel. A couple of mm under the gravel shouldn't be a problem. If the plant is an inch under the gravel then it will probably die.