Easy Low Maintenance Plants?

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

cjheck

Mostly New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Location
US
I want to add some live plants to my tank while it is fish free cycling so that it'll help with ammonia and nitrite levels once the tank is established. Any recommendations on low maintenance plants to use?
 
Java fern, anubias and anacharis are all easy plants with low light and low maintenance specifications.  I'm not sure about adding them during a cycle tho.  When you do add I would suggest taking an approach similar to adding fish.  Add one or two and wait for a week or so before adding more.  I have been slowly converting my non-planted tank to a fully planted tank and this approach has worked well for me.  The java fernand anubias also do best tied to rocks or driftwood to keep the rhyzome in the water.  Unlike other plants they do not absorb nutrients from the their roots so burying the rhizome can kill them.  Anacharis can have part of the stem buried in the substrate to hold it down or can be allowed to free float.
 
Can these be planted with small gravel? That is what I have in my tank right now. I don't have any sand or fertilizer.
 
The substrate doesn't much matter.  Like I said 2 of the 3 need to be tied to rocks or driftwood and not be placed in the substrate.  Anacharis doesn't really need anything specifically.  Just shove a little into your gravel or let it float.  All three plants absorb most of their nutrients from the rhizome/leaves/stems as opposed to their roots, so substrate really doesn't matter. 
 
EllieJellyEllie said:
duckweed is a scary place. Make sure you skim the top frequently
Love how you say scary haha.. i love them now you know hmph! Lol
 
#Firstpondproblems (yes I went there)
 
It was bad! It kept growing back so I started to feed it to the turtles and then it took over the turtle tank!
 
And then we put some in the 300g when we turned it into a freshwater tank and it took that over.
 
Then we got rid of all the tanks, and the pond has nothing in it anymore :/ Still battling the duskweed there though
 
What do you use to tie the plants to driftwood or rocks?
 
I went to my local PetSmart. They only had a few small plants that looked healthy, so I bought two small Anubius Nana. Is there anywhere online recommended for buying plants?
 
Bamaplants.com is amazing. Have been recomended to me by members and I just ordered and loved them. Great prices, and most plants grown there.
 
I tied the plant to a rock, now do I just wait for it to root? How long does it take and how do I know when it's safe to take the string off? 
 
Yes, just wait for it to root. It is different for every plant but once the roots are all around the rock you should be good
 
I was told to leave my plants tied for still least 5 weeks. With the rocks/wood that I used I think once the plants are rooted the string will be covered anyway. I used cotton thread to tie mine down.
 

Most reactions

trending

Members online

Back
Top