Homemade Plant Holders

[FishSticks]

I've always had trouble pruning my plants when they get too big, and I like moving them around when they start taking different shapes. As you can imagine this all very stressful for my fish and me! I was wondering if it is safe to put plant holders made out of disposable plastic cups in my aquarium. I'm on a low budget as you can tell Would it affect/harm my fish or plants? I have 1 male betta and 4 neon tetras in my 10 gallon aquarium. The plants are those aponogeton bulbs they sell at wal-mart.

 

[clutterydrawer]

Hmmm. I don't imagine they'd be toxic - the only considerations I can think of are:

- plants don't really like having their roots restricted by cups, and

- you'd have to make sure there were no sharp edge that the betta could catch his fins on.

 

[Chasing Puck]

Might cost a bit more, but you might want to look into getting some small terra cotta pots. These can be used in an aquarium easily (new ones--old ones might contain fertilizers that you don't want in the tank). They won't float around--which the plastic cups might. You can easily disguise them by smearing a bit of aquarium sealant on the outside and rolling this in gravel.

Some plants won't do well with this, though, as mentioned, many have a large root bed that will be cramped in the confines of a cup. Some bunch plants thrive this way, however--might be worth playing around to find the plants you like that will work.

 

[FishSticks]

- plants don't really like having their roots restricted by cups, and

- you'd have to make sure there were no sharp edge that the betta could catch his fins on.

I put holes all over the cup, big enough for the roots to go through. And I cut the cup down to 1/2" so all of it is covered by gravel. It's more like a plant anchor than a pot. I just wasn't so sure whether the plastic was toxic or not.

Thanks for the suggestion Chasing Puck, I might upgrade from plastic cups to terra cotta pots later on