do fish prefer real plants?

[seantheprawn]

do fish actually prefer real plants?

or would they just be as happy with a bunch of realistic looking silk ones?

because the impression ive gotten off people is that they prefer real.

but is that true? or would they just be happy with good old fake ones.

cheers
sean

 

[kenneth_kpe]

IMHO fishes will benefit from real plants real plants offer additional filtration and A better source of oxygen among some of the benefits (better hiding places.... ummm umm ). If the fish actually prefer real plants.... i dunno ... somebody has got to ask their fish to find out

buut a degrading and dying planted tank is actually more harmfull i think then plastic plants

 

[annka5]

I don't think fish know or care, to be honest!
The advantage of taking in nitrate etc IMO is not really that significant, as they don't use that much - would be more efficeint to do more frequent water changes instead.
The only thing that does make a difference is if you prefer plants you'll spend longer looking at & looking after the tank, therefore water quality etc likely to be better. Not directly down to the plants, though.
Fish in the wild will make use of non-natural things as shelter/ spawning medium (e.g. plastic crisp bags & other litter) so long as they are dense enough etc, which look a lot less like plants than plastic or silk ones do.

 

[Jen]

I know mine do. When I had plastic, I never saw them swimming in the plants. They would always stay out in the open. Now, they are playing in them, and taking advantage of the cover. I never used to get as many fry surviving as I do now, even though I had lots of hiding spaces.

 

[annka5]

Oh, wierd!! I used plastic plants only for a goldfish, and use real now, so I guess I've never compared it that accurately.

 

[jimbooo]

The advantage of taking in nitrate etc IMO is not really that significant, as they don't use that much - would be more efficeint to do more frequent water changes instead.

not true depending on your setup they make a MASSIVE difference.

my nitrate is 2 in my 40G and it is rather heavily stocked at that.

tap water is 12, goes into tank (50% water change) water test the next day = 2 nitrate.

most planted tank keepers ADD nitrAte to the water to raise the levels. 0 is not uncommon.

this will never occur in a fake plant tank

 

[kenneth_kpe]

hmm i agree with the planted tank requiring more care and thus resulting in a tank with better water quality but i would also have to gamble the idea in my head that a decently planted tank would survive better without water changes for a longer time as compared to a tank without plants..... this is just my idea (somebody correct me if this idea is wrong... plus real plants look 1,000,000,000 times better then plastic plants

 

[Angry_Platy]

most planted tank keepers ADD nitrAte to the water to raise the levels. 0 is not uncommon.

I have to add nitrates to my tank....if I don't add nitrates, in my tank I would have <5ppm nitrate. Not enough for serious plany growing thats for sure.

As for fish sleeping in chip packets and other bags, I don't really like the idea of my fish growing up in a bag of twisties or a discarded cornflakes wrapper

I see the benefti my fish get from the plants. I have gone to totally unplanted to a fully planted tank and it is obvious how much happier the fish are. I have not changed anything else, I change water once a week and still feed the same. The only difference is the plants.

 

[illusion54]

I dont know if my fish like real plants better but i sure do!

 

[annka5]

..but they only take in significant amounts of nitrate if they are growing pretty rapidly, which requires stronger lighting /co2 etc, etc etc.
IMO not all planted tanks are the same or follow the same approach- a heavily planted (including more difficult species) high tech much-fussing, (but fantastic) tank with relatively fewer fish, as compared with one which has a decent number of simple-to-grow plants which do "well enough" to look nice but are not there to grow as fast or as big as possible.
In the former, yep, nitrates will be used up, but is that a tank regime that you would compare with one which has plastic plants in it? To me, the latter is far more likely to be what someone would have if the dilemma was between plastic and real plants, and nitrates will not be used up to a significant extent.

 

[annka5]

... re: g=fish using litter/ rubbish, it is grim and horrible idea, but it does to me seem to indicate that if something is the right size/shape/structure fish will use it regardless of if its plastic, silk, or real.

 

[jimbooo]

..but they only take in significant amounts of nitrate if they are growing pretty rapidly, which requires stronger lighting /co2 etc, etc etc.
IMO not all planted tanks are the same or follow the same approach- a heavily planted (including more difficult species) high tech much-fussing, (but fantastic) tank with relatively fewer fish, as compared with one which has a decent number of simple-to-grow plants which do "well enough" to look nice but are not there to grow as fast or as big as possible.
In the former, yep, nitrates will be used up, but is that a tank regime that you would compare with one which has plastic plants in it? To me, the latter is far more likely to be what someone would have if the dilemma was between plastic and real plants, and nitrates will not be used up to a significant extent.

[snapback]912312[/snapback]​

yeah, okay you got me there. they will still make a difference but not to the extent as in a fully planted, co2, high light tank.

the only other benefit is your fish wont starve. if they get hungry they can eat the plants. i only feed once a day and miss a day a week, i often see my fish picking away at the plants so IMO the answer is still that they prefer real to fake.

sorry if my first reply was a bit abrupt, i was in a rush.

 

[seantheprawn]

well thanx for the replys lads n lasses,


looks like reals are better for all then.

 

[George Farmer]

A healthy planted tank will perform excellent levels of biological and chemical filtration. Plants not only use up nitrogen-based compounds i.e. ammonia, nitrite and nitrate but they uptake all sorts of heavy metals and other nasties too.

Fish are far healthier in a well-planted tank than in a conventionally filtered tank with no live plants. Healthy plants = healthy fish, simple as that.