Plants In Tropical Fresh Water Tank

[Joeycich]

My question for yous is when do you think its good to add live plant to aquarium. At start of setup or after?

 

[Joeycich]

Can anyone help

 

[BerryAttack]

i would before you add fish. so you can mess around to make sure that you have your plants going good... then it allows for a great setup environment for the fish when you add them in.
 
read about fishless cycles if you don't already know.
know the lights you are using, what plants you can support with them.. the substrate.. etc etc and you'll be fine.

 

[yoruyongbpei]

I would add in the plants before adding in the fish, because disturbing the environment while the fish are inside the tank would cause them undue stress, In my experience the best method is to get your substrate in the tank first add in enough water so that there is an inch level above your substrate, add in your plants and aquascape it in whatever configuration you please, then add in a plastic bag use this to diffuse the water as you fill the tank as to reduce the amount of clouding that can happen during this part. allow your tank to cycle for a couple of days constantly checking twice a day during dawn and during sunset for ammonia, nitrate, and ph level as plants can in the beginning cause havoc on your tanks water conditions before becoming stable.

 

[Alasse]

 allow your tank to cycle for a couple of days constantly checking twice a day during dawn and during sunset for ammonia, nitrate, and ph level as plants can in the beginning cause havoc on your tanks water conditions before becoming stable.

It will take more than a few days to cycle a tank, wether it is done with fish or fishless
 
Plants dont cause havoc to cycling tank either
 
I fully plant the tank and generally leave it for a few weeks for the plants to get good root systems and comfy. Then i start adding fish (i cycle with fish and mature media)

 

[Joeycich]

Ah ok I've had my fish for about three weeks and would like too put some green in the tank lol. Any plants that you would recommend

 

[Alasse]

Easy plants i use, Java fern (normal, crested, needle leaf), Anubias, Crypt wendtii, Swords. All are low light and very easy to care for
 

 
The above is one of my tanks

 

[Joeycich]

God what a beautiful tank I would love to have mine look like that

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't want to take anything away from Alasse, because she's obviously done a fantastic job with that tank, but most of those plants are very easy ones, so there's no reason you can't do something similar

 

[Joeycich]

Yea easy or not it has been put together very well. One of these days im going to have to go too the store and find something similar to these plant