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JLawson90

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is there such a thing? I wasn't planning on adding tanks, purely because I dont want to make the extra work and add to the list of things that could go wrong .. but if there are some plants that dont require any co2 or fertiliser, and can be planted straight into a gravel only substrate, I may reconsider?
 
Ha, wouldn't it be great if there was such a thing ☺ there are a few easy plants, vallisneria is good but may need some ferts as it's a fast growing plant. Plants like java fern that you attach to rocks and wood ect are also OK.
 
Anubias and Amazon sword are incredibly easy and even goldfish won’t eat them.
 
I have marimo moss balls that are very easy and you don't plant them. Some fish like to push them around and shrimp like them. I also have several ferns like Java, African Water and Crested Java ferns which are very easy. Hornwort is one you can even float. I am new to live plants but so far these have been easy to have. I am now working with Java moss.
 
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I haven't had any not be easy to grow - there is a bottle of Flourish you can buy to add to the water. They also make little pills that you place under the gravel and just slowly dissolve but I was always trying to suck them up on the gravel cleaner. Mainly plant them, get them decent lighting and put a little flourish in every few months and ignore them. There is a science to it I'm sure but unless you get into rare plant species or real expensive ones they don't care about the type of water - most places know you are more interested in the fish than the plants so you don't run into as many plant snobs as fish snobs. (I'm less picky about water parameters being perfectly for every species - just do the best you can - not if you're going with saltwater or reef then it's a whole different ballgame).

If you are planting in gravel - which most of us are the easiest way to do it is to have deep substrate of gravel - not only does it look nice it will give you a lot of depth to place them in the ground.

Hornwort is very beneficial but messy so if you let it float as most people do - try and keep in out of the way of your tank filter because it will clog up your intake hose. If it grows too much just pull some of it out and toss it. Java ferns are popular, I've heard java moss makes a mess.

I love the plants that grow like Swords or spears (they come in small medium and large - they really give depth to your background.

Anubus is probably my favorite plant because it's so pretty. I dislike watersprite because it's a huge mess- all these little spike things constantly clogging up everything.

Ludwigia - adds a little pinkish/reddish color to your green. Sometimes hard to grow but usually not.
 
I liked hornwort, it only made a mess once. In the end it threatened to take over so I reluctantly decided it had to go.

The one time it made a mess was when I got a new rock from Maidenhead Aquatics, a UK fish only chain store. The rock made the water go very cloudy in less than 24 hours, and all the leaves fell off the hornwort. It took several water changes to get all the leaves. But other than that, it wasn't a problem except for the fast growth.
I put the rock in a bucket of water and it never stopped making the water cloudy so I used it for air plants.
 
Interesting, when I drop algea pellets into the shrimp aquarium for it's food the snails finish it off and they seem to be able to find it in the middle of the aquarium. I think I will do as time lapse of that too.
 
Interesting, when I drop algea pellets into the shrimp aquarium for it's food the snails finish it off and they seem to be able to find it in the middle of the aquarium. I think I will do as time lapse of that too.
Oh yeah. They’re all over a wafer in no time. :)
 
Interesting, when I drop algea pellets into the shrimp aquarium for it's food the snails finish it off and they seem to be able to find it in the middle of the aquarium. I think I will do as time lapse of that too.
Same here, I have two snails and they went after it, not sure it my catfish even looked at it
 
It depends on the type of catfish. For example, cories are omnivores not herbivores; they need a meat/fish based food. But plecs should eat algae wafers.
 
Anubias and Bucephalandra species dont even need to be planted! You can attached these to aquarium decor to keep the rhizomes from being buried, and they will thrive in low tech tanks. In fact a lot of Anubias species prefer to be slightly shaded as direct light can cause algae issues as they are so slow growing!

A lot of Cryptocoryne species will also do well in low light / shaded light, but they are root heavy feeders and so may struggle to properly flourish in a heavy gravel.
 

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