Lots Of Questions.... Region Specific Plants

[MrsEspoNYC7]

hi I am totally new at this plant thing except for the anacharis and marimo moss ball I have plopped in my tank,
View attachment 70747this is my setup now which I used to like but now looks kinda cheesy since I started seeing natural aquascapes.
I am totally redoing my tank and going with the natural look but now I think I want to try and do plants that are native to Barbados since
I have all guppies in my 27 gallon cube and I thought it would be nice for them to feel like they were back home.
 
I tried to look it up but it's somewhat confusing so could you guys help me if you know which plants grow there mainly.
 
also my next huge problem is I have no clue where to buy plants from my 2 lfs have a very terrible selection full of rotting and snail infested plants. I'm in the US and I see lots of folks from the UK here so anyone in the states that knows a good place please help.
 
any advice at all would help I know NOTHING about planted tanks

 

[Meeresstille]

Hi MrsEspo,
 
I think what you are looking for is a South American biotope plant list.
Also, the plant choices will not only depend on the size of your tank but also on the lighting you can provide. Good plant substrate is also something to consider.
Amazon Swords (there are also dwarf varieties), Saggitaria and guppy grass are good options even for low lighting. Pennywort looks like would work also. If you have good lighting Stargrass would be really nice!
 
As to where you can get the plants from, have you considered online orders?

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

hi my light is a marineland LED im not sure what the output is exactly but it says it is comparable to a double tube fluorescent fixure, and it has day and night led's (I know that's too vague ill look into it).I got caribsea eco complete black planted aquarium substrate. I have thought of buying online but im not sure which site is best... liveaquaria.com seems ok but their shipping is outrageous theyre (not shipping dogs for goodness sakes)... any experience online

 

[HHH]

For online i would go to peabodysparadise. I just recently ordered from them and i was very happy with the plants and the price. Their shipping is 7.50 which is cheaper than most sites.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thanks ill check them out.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thanks for the info HHH. I made an order with that site you suggested... I think I went away from SA plants but I decided to go with mostly hearty stuff since this is my first time trying a planted aquarium...View attachment 70756

Saw this on eBay. Isn't it gorgeous

 

[HHH]

Haha no problem ! And that plant does indeed look beautiful

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

So I ordered some plants from peabody's paradise. They got here super fast but I'm not quite ready to plant them yet,
My plan was to set up the new tanks and move everybody out of the big tank, remove all the ugly blue gravel and replace it with the planted substrate and put all my plants in. My new tanks haven't arrived and I have to wait now.

So my question is ... Will the plants be ok in a plastic bowl for a few days until I get the tank ready to rescape?

 

[Meeresstille]

They will be fine, probably best to keep them from direct sunlight so you don't get any algae problem. It is actually a good thing if you don't plant them right away, in effect you are quarantining them and you can see if there are any hitchhikers like pond snails hiding in there!
For the few days I would just freshen up the water now and then.

 

[DrRob]

Yeah, most things will be fine for a few days in a dull bucket.
 
If you're changing things out, try to get to do the planting with the tank not full, makes things far, far easier.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

hi again , I keep chanking the water and adding half dechlorinated tap water and half tank water, figured the tank water has some fertilizer for them ... I started a journal in the planted journal section so ill bee updating there instead of here from now on...  thanks so much for all the help so far and feel free to post any tips or anything on my other thread