Floating Plants

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Hi I'm having a few problems with my tank, and I'm hoping for some advice....this isn't going to seem like a plant question but just bear with my rambling and read it to the end. Lol thanks

I have a 29 gallon cube tank with a few black skirt tetras, one blue dwarf gourami, two pairs of guppies and 6 japonica Amano shrimp,

As you can probably guess my female guppy became pregnant. I'm not really looking to turn guppy breeding into a full time hobby and I don't like the idea of moving a pregnant fish into a separate tank and stressing her out, so anyway I figured I could just add some plants for the fry to hide in and let nature take its course.

I had a water primrose and my shrimp devoured it in days, I didn't want any plants that I had to actually plant in my substrate and I heard that Anubis and hornwort would be good plants for fry to hide in and would be ok to just float in the tank. Now I was just wondering...

1) are those plants good to just float in the tank?
2) will my shrimp destroy these too?
3) would I be better off just buying some fake plants instead?

Thanks for your help in advance, any advice at all would help since I'm a complete newbie
Edit: I also have a marimo moss ball there.

 

[monixe]

1) hornwort only do best when its floating, anubias needs to be attached to something like rocks, drift wood etc.
 
2) no shrimp won't destroy it, i got hornwort with my amano shrimp and they do not bother. 
 
3) if you want to make sure some of your fry will survive i would suggest you to get hornwort as long as your tank lighting is good minimum 1.5watt per gallon as hornwort is fast growing weed plant and you dose weekly nutrients it should be good.But if you do not want to get live plants you can use spawning mop or silk fake tall plants. 
 
also i have heard water sprite , java moss , water lettuce and frog bit are good and easy live plants to take care off and good fry cover especially java moss

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thanks for the fast reply and great info.

I have led lights for my tank will those work for plants?
Also when you say silk plants , would regular silk plants from a craft store work or are there special plants for aquariums

 

[monixe]

From experience LED lights aren't really well for live plants but for java moss might work as java moss do not required special lighting even with out lighting in the bright /sunny room java moss can thrive from my experience. 
 
I would suggest you to get silk plants from the pets store which was specially made for aquariums. buying from craft store silk plants can contain chemicals and paints which can affect fish tank. 

 

[SO19Firearms]

I have led lights for my tank will those work for plants?

If they're up to spec, yes. If they're £2.50 hand under your cupboard types, no.


IMO

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

I have led lights for my tank will those work for plants?

If they're up to spec, yes. If they're £2.50 hand under your cupboard types, no.IMO

They are marineland led lights that came with my setup I'm not sure what exactly you mean by " up to spec". I have very little knowledge about planted tanks or lighting, I really just needed the plants for hiding spots for future fry