For Those Who Can’t Grow Plants

[Ch4rlie]

I like Salvinia

I do as well, lovely floating plant with longish roots that shrimps love to munch microfood off from.

Of course they’re good for providing shade and shelter to help those skittish fish as well.

Lots of benefits for floating plants but silvinia natans and water lettuce are my two go to plants for floating plant recommendations.

 

[AilyNC]

I do as well, lovely floating plant with longish roots that shrimps love to munch microfood off from.

Of course they’re good for providing shade and shelter to help those skittish fish as well.

Lots of benefits for floating plants but silvinia natans and water lettuce are my two go to plants for floating plant recommendations.

Cool, I'll have a look for those with the new set up. Actually Salvinia was the only floating plants I could find but I'm come across more Irish stores that deliver.

 

[squidneh]

A little tip to share with others that have a black thumb. I needed something to subdue the lighting in my Tetra/Cory tank. I actually killed water sprite! I ordered this Marineland Plastic Bamboo to float on top and it looks good. Not fake. Not good for bettas being that it’s plastic but works great for my guys. Just thought I’d share with others.

I killed my duckweed too somehow (and in turn it killed a few of my otos by getting sucked into my filter between cleanings ). Now I just got some water sprite - I hope I'm not on the same path as you! Especially since I'm trying to provide my bettas with floating plants lol. It's survived about 10 hours so far...time will tell.

Thanks for sharing this though! It looks really good. I wouldn't have guessed it was fake.

 

[Essjay]

I too killed duckweed years ago It grew well for a while, then just vanished.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I do as well, lovely floating plant with longish roots that shrimps love to munch microfood off from.

Of course they’re good for providing shade and shelter to help those skittish fish as well.

Lots of benefits for floating plants but silvinia natans and water lettuce are my two go to plants for floating plant recommendations.

Oh yes, cherry shrimp love the stuff. Sadly pond/bladder snails were somehow introduced to my tank, and the snails are slowly eating my Anacharis and they have already eaten all the roots to my Salvinia - they aren’t long and beautiful like they used to be.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Oh yes, cherry shrimp love the stuff. Sadly pond/bladder snails were somehow introduced to my tank, and the snails are slowly eating my Anacharis and they have already eaten all the roots to my Salvinia - they aren’t long and beautiful like they used to be.

Hmm, never had my snails munch on plants or roots tbh, must be a different variety of pond snails you have.

Have heard of certain apple/mystery snails munching on plants/roots before but pond snails, not so much.

Get rid of those snails if you don’t like them, especially if they eat plants, get some MTS or nerites instead if you’d prefer.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hmm, never had my snails munch on plants or roots tbh, must be a different variety of pond snails you have.

Have heard of certain apple/mystery snails munching on plants/roots before but pond snails, not so much.

Get rid of those snails if you don’t like them, especially if they eat plants, get some MTS or nerites instead if you’d prefer.

Right now I have MTS and BRH and 1 Nerite. Would BRH snails do that?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I've had similar experiences with most floating plants I've had, actually: It thrived for a while, then gradually died off. I suspect that, as the tanks matured, rooted plants got established, and nutrients decreased, so did the floaters and other water-column feeders. The only ones that have made it long-term are amazon frogbit and duckweed. I can't kill that stuff with an atomic bomb!

Deanasue is onto something, though. A lot of people grow plants for the chemistry benefits, which are great. But having some greenery--real or fake--up top is extremely beneficial to fish mental health, too.

Bamboo is pretty invasive in the ground. The previous owners of my home planted some and it's now absolutely towering! Really dense too so actually a good screen for smoke or other pollutants.

I wish I had that problem here. At least bamboo is beautiful, as well as useful--it makes wonderful bows! Our invasives are things like leafy spurge and thistle--worthless, toxic, and ugly. Bleah.

 

[Ch4rlie]

BRH?
is that Blue Rams Horns?

Hmm, I’ve had ramshorns in the past, both blue and red/ pink ones and tbh I didn’t really notice if they munched on my plants, I don’t THINK they did but it's been quite a while since had ramshorns as assassins snails seems to favour the ramshorns over pond snails

 

[PheonixKingZ]

BRH?
is that Blue Rams Horns?

Hmm, I’ve had ramshorns in the past, both blue and red/ pink ones and tbh I didn’t really notice if they munched on my plants, I don’t THINK they did but it's been quite a while since had ramshorns as assassins snails seems to favour the ramshorns over pond snails

Yes, Blue Rams Horn. I didn’t think they would have...

I will upload a picture in a snail ID thread, and tag you when I do.

 

[kwi]

That looks pretty good, anyone know of a UK stockist? I can find it on Amazon but it's coming from the US.