Quick Plant Question

[Eleven13]

Hey everyone,

I have a 10 gallon tank right now that I set up in my college dorm-room. Currently, I have 3 live plants and 3 zebra danios which I got yesterday. The plants are currently sitting on top of the gravel in the black plastic pots they came in until I figure out how I'd like to place them in the tank, but before I do that, I'd like to know whether I should remove them from the pots, or just plant them pot and all.

The pots are just thin plastic and have a lot of slits on the slides for the roots to grow out of, but I wasn't sure whether or not they would be too constricted in there regardless.

What do you guys suggest I do?

Thank you for the help!

 

[NathanPrince]

Remove them from the pot, carefully remove the wool the roots are in and then plant it into your substrate.

What plants is it, do you know? If not chuck up a Picture for I.D's

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks for the help NathanPrince, unfortunately, I only know the names of 'one' of the plants. Technically, it is several plant species because it is in a "combo," so here is the list from the identification card:

Dracaena
Spathiphyllum
Ophiopogon
Trichomanes
Syngonium

I'll attach close up pictures of the other two, sorry if the image quality isn't great, I only have my built in computer camera to work with =P

First "unknown" on left

All 3, combo in the middle

Last "unknown"

Thanks again for the help!

 

[NathanPrince]

Pretty sure the middle one is non aquatic I'd remove it and put it on your windowsill instead or it will rot and polute your tank. Infact all the ones you've listed are non-aquatic I think?

Right one may be an amazon sword?

Hope that helps, try to get a better pic of the left one and I'll try to ID that one too

 

[Eleven13]

Oh wow really? So much for my LFS guy knowing what he was talking about....=P

Thanks for letting me know, I'll get that out of my tank tonight. The other two are okay though? I think you are right about the Amazon sword, I had a bigger one a few years ago. I will get some more pics up of the grassy one when I get home, thanks again for the help =)

 

[NathanPrince]

Yeah 90% of LFS's will sell the Dracanea plants as aquatic and so many people end up with then in their tanks, will look nice in your window though lol.

The other 2 are ok providing the grassy one is aquatic, looks like Sagittaria but can't be sure from that picture

 

[Eleven13]

Haha do you think that the entire combo there would survive in dirt? I have an empty pot on my window sill with dirt in it but I need a plant, if they won't survive though I'll probably just bag them and take them back to the store for a refund.

Here are some more attempted pics of the grass, it's sort of clunky trying to get a good picture with a Macbook so if these still won't do I'll try to get access to an actual camera this weekend =)

 

[NathanPrince]

Dracanea will survive in a pot of soil yeah, Grassy one does look a little like Sagittaria IMO. Just see how it goes when you plant it in the gravel, expect a little rot but if it dies off rapidly I'd remove it ASAP.

 

[Eleven13]

Alright sounds good, thanks a lot for all the help I appreciate it.

 

[NathanPrince]

Not a problem, keep us updated on your tank

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I don't think that's sag mate, my lfs sells that as sag bit it's non aquatic and soon you end up with the leaf skeleton left and an ammonia spike. It's also a look a like to crypt costata but I'd keep an eye on it, if it melts and shows no new growth bin it.

 

[NathanPrince]

It did look a little different to my Sag but I wasn't too sure lol

 

[Eleven13]

Hmm...well considering the Dracaena combo is non-aquatic, I wouldn't be surprised if the grassy one is non-aquatic too. The picture makes it out to look better than it really does, there are a few strands of it that are yellowing and wilting near the base of it, so I'll probably just ditch it to be safe.

So that leaves a Dracaena combo that is now in a pot on my window sill, and a grassy plant in the trash, leaving the lone amazon sword still in the tank I'm going to try to seek out some private fish stores this weekend to see if I can get some actual aquatic plants this time Thanks for the continued help guys, had I not posted here I would have been miserable when these plants declined in a few weeks and I had no idea why!

 

[gregswimm]

Eleven, what i like to do with plants in pots like that is remove them from the pot, take off the padding stuff, and trim the roots (very slightly! you don't want to hack a lot off). Then gently push the roots into the gravel with your finger, if you have trouble getting then to stay down try piling more gravel around the base (I like to use the thin lead weights that come with stem plants for helping tough plants say down and get rooted, although they do need to be removed after a while as they will eventually pollute the water).

I can confirm that "unknown" plant you have is not fully aquatic, it will eventually start to rot if you leave it in your aquarium too long, although it is semi-aquatic(I think), so as long as the leaves stay out of the water you should be fine (maybe you can grow it out of the top of your filter if you cannot take it back).

Edit: some plants that you cannot go wrong with are: Hydrilla, Anubias, Java moss, and Java fern. Hydrilla will grow fast and thick, anubias is very maintenance free, and you literally cannot kill java moss.

 

[Eleven13]

Thank you for the advice gregswimm, the only plant I am leaving in my tank is the Amazon sword plant, and I will definitely look up the plants you recommended and possibly order them online from a place like Dr. Fosters and Smith or something, that way I know exactly what I'm buying.

And as far as trimming the roots go, do you cut them diagonally like you would a terrestrial plant, or does it not matter?