hardy beginner plants

[fish_keeper2]

i recently tossed in some appongeton(sp) bulbs into 1 of my tanks and they quickly sproted and r quite an impressive size for growing only about a week or so..this has sparked an interest in me to make a planted tank. can anyone suggest good hardy and easy to carefor plants that like similar condition as appongeton(sp). i have tried, hornwort, cabmoboa(sp), anachris(sp) and red lugwigia(sp) and all have died on me after a while....i did ok with money wort though. also can u give me tips and stuff on keeping aquarium plants

 

[kenneth_kpe]

please give us more details on the specs of your tank size, lighting, subtrate, temp etc it will help up

easy maintenance plants would be anubias species, since they are low light...
java fern, moss

and some hygrophilia species that sometimes grow like weeds there are more but i dont know them all

 

[IMCL85]

Java species r all very hardy

 

[fish_keeper2]

its just an idea right now( i was thinkin one of those 10 gal starter kits and maybe a small school of neon or wcmn or maybe guppies)substrate would be gravel(i dont think im ready to bother with sand just yet) i always keep the temp in my tanks around 80(gets to 86 in the summer and thats at room temp...no ac it sucks) lighting would be the standered florescent lighting that comes in that kit....i just want to start with something small so i dont have to spend so much money on it and it ends all dying

 

[IovaykInD]

Most plants would prefer a bit lower than 86. 86 degrees too long could mean loss of chlorophyll in plants, making it lose it's color, then dying.

Isaac

 

[fish_keeper2]

not much i can do about the high temp....thats at room temp with my heater turned off(atleast in all my other tank) we have several days with nearly 100 degrees and 90 inside and no ac as stated before

 

[kenneth_kpe]

research on plant species that are tolerant to higher temperatures. my tank reaches 89.6 - 91 deg F (31-33 deg celcius) during the summer and bows at a constant 88 - 89 all year long. I had a hard time growing java moss because it died almost instantly due to the heat.

right now the plants that are doing okay in my tank are the FF.
Rotala rotundifolia
Bacopa monieri
dwarf sag
crypto wendtii spc. brown
riccia (but its floating)

i have a little over 4WPG over my 13 gal thats why its hot. with a temp of 86 deg... o would suggest anubias species ? though im not really sure... you could try crypto's and maybe the dwarf sag and see if it can handle your tanks temp and lighting levels. Please try to get the small sized gravel.. .err. we call it size 3 here... each grain is around -->O <--- that big


i dont say that its okay to have a higher temp tank to grow plants, its harder but possible! right now im working on lowering the tank temp down because its stressfull to the fishes

hope this helps

 

[IovaykInD]

Frozen water bottles?

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i did try this method, it worked but it required a person constantly placing a new bottle into the tank every 2-3 hours during the day to keep the temp down and sadly with a small tank like mine, it blocked a good 15-20 percent of the light reaching the plants below it (even with a clear plastic bottle)

 

[nonot8946]

anubias, crypts, java fern, java moss, hornwort, hygrophilia polysperma

 

[fish_keeper2]

thanks all your help. can any suggest good sites online where i can get these plants as my lfs only caries a few of the ones u guys suggested

 

[fish_keeper2]

bump

 

[nodding_dino]

where do you live fish keeper?

 

[fish_keeper2]

colorado springs colorado usa......ive checked petsmart and all i remember seeing there(as far as what was suggested) is java fern and another(dont remeber which one), petco always(in my area anyway) has poor looking plants and i have yet to check out my fav lfs on what plants they carry.....sadly all the other lfs in town are really crungey and smell real bad anlong with fish and plants in poor condition.....the only sites i know of are live aquaria and aqua bid