Suggestions For Planting For Dwarf Cichlids

[Gvilleguy]

Hi Plant types,

I have zero experience in my adult life with aquatic plants. I currently have a 26 gallon bow front tank with artificial plants. I have zebra danios, glofish, and neon tetras. After my tank matures in several more months, I am likely to add in a pair of dwarf South American cichlids, such as Bolivian Rams or German Blue Rams. From what I have read, either fish type would want caves and live plants. I would like to re-do part of my tank to accommodate them.

I do not have CO2 injection (and don't plan on it), and I also have low lighting for plants. I have a 15 watt T8, and if I did the math correctly, that's only 0.60 watts per gallon of light. I do not want to change the light fixture due to custom LED lights that I installed in my hood recently. I am, of course, willing to start adding fertilizer to keep the plants fed properly.

Here is the left half of my tank as it looks today (I let my kids decorate the tank, so don't have a seizure from the bright rocks & tiki theme!):

I plan to move the large green plant that is currently behind the volcano. This leaves an area that is six inches deep:

By about eight inches wide:

And here is my hand drawn rendition:

I'll probably add a small terracotta planters pot for a cave, in addition to the island/cave structure I already have.

For plants I would like:

1. A 'screening' type of plant for the back wall. It can be tall, but I was hoping not very deep. This would help hide the air line and filter intake tubes.
2. A scattering of smaller plants around the cave that allow swimming space - perhaps Amazon swords??

I welcome any suggestions you might have. Thanks for your time!

 

[PDSimon]

My bolivians don't tend to use the caves much, more of an apistogramma kind of thing. They do enjoy cover but not quite like apistos.

I can't really help you with the plant side of things though..not sure what grows under light that low.

 

[RadaR]

Amazon swords
Crpyts
Java fern
Java moss
Anubias

Turn the airstone off It's driving off CO2 which your plants would appreciate.
Dose a trace fert after every water change. That's it.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Thanks for the replies! Radar - I used your message, plus a cross reference here...

Dwarf Cichlid Plants

...to come up with a short list of plants.

At Petco today I managed to find two that seemed decent:

1. I bought 4 Amazon Swords (Echinodorus Amazonicus)
2. And 1 Java Fern (Microsorium Pteropus)

The Java Fern I tied to a fake island cave with fishing line to keep the roots exposed (it's fake rock with good spots for roots to grab onto). Hopefully it will take hold.

The Amazon Swords are 8" varieties, and I think they look good so far. I planted them in the gravel along with some fertilizer tabs.

I'm still hoping to find a Water Sprite (Ceratopteris Thalictroides) to serve as a tall backdrop to the entire planted area. No luck so far, and online sites charge $15 - $20 for quick shipping on a $4 plant. Can't bring myself to do that yet!

I'll upload a pic tomorrow if I get a chance.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Pics of updated arrangement. Still need a plant in the background to replace the fake purple one.

(just realized all six Neon Tetras are in this shot - can you find them??)

Java Fern:

Amazon Swords:

 

[Gvilleguy]

Okay - I think I've finalized the planting. I was 1 1/2 hours away from home in Charlotte, NC, today, and found an amazing fish shop called Fintastic. This is the largest independent fish store I have ever seen. They even stock Bolivian Rams that I think I am going to purchase pretty soon.

While I was there I purchased four Water Sprites to line the back of my tank. Just planted a few hours ago, but here's how it looks at the moment:

(EDIT Aug 23rd: this first shot is updated from the original 8,000K bulb, to a new 6,700K bulb - check the color difference compared to the last two shots!)

I'm not satisfied with the layout yet, but will let the plants settle in before doing much re-arranging. My Neon Tetras already seem to appreciate having more cover. Half of them are settling into the Sprites tonight.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Your tank is looking very good.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Just to update and warn anyone else with low lighting like mine. I gave it a month, but the Amazon Swords just did not do well in my low lighting, in spite of weekly doses of fertilizer. They would sprout plenty of new leaves, but within a week the leaves would develop brown spots. So the plants just did not look good at all. The java fern also did not grow well in this lighting. I cut back all of its initial leaves, which had turned half brown. It has grown a few new leaves that are still green. We'll see how the new leaves do.

The water sprites did GREAT in my tank and doubled their height to the top of the tank in a month.

So today I made some changes - the swords are now all gone - and they've been replaced with some silk plants that seem to still provide good cover for my Bolivian Rams. They immediately took to swimming under the silk leaves and did not seem to mind the change.

 

[Biulu]

What about sagittaria platophylla? This does well in my low light tank, and has a similar structure as swords, only with smaller leaves. Another nice small background plant is vallisneria in its different forms. It grows tall but doesn't grow wide.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I have not seen the sagittaria at my LFS, but I'll keep an eye out for them. How low is your lighting? Mine is 0.60 WPG.

 

[Biulu]

Mine grew with 0.8 WpG.

 

[mbsqw1d]

hi,

how long do you have your lighting on for?

i have live plants and also 'caved areas' and yet my bolivian ram spends most of his time out in the open! are you going to try and by a pair? (male and female)
good luck

 

[Gvilleguy]

My main light is on for almost 14 hours per day.

I actually bought four Rams, hoping to end up with one mated pair. I'm about nine days in so far. I started a journal with pics and videos here. In the videos you can see the sorry state of the Swords:

Bolivian Ram Journal

 

[mbsqw1d]

fantastic journal!! Good luck getting them to pair.

Regarding your plants. 14 hours is twice the amount of time you want to have your lights on for live plants to be honest. A 7 hour photo-period is what plants require. Anything more and algae will get the upper hand in your tank.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Thanks! (about the journal)

I didn't know you could have too much light for the plants. I thought with my low lighting they could use all the help they can get. Algae has not been a problem for me yet - I'm keeping up with it with weekly water change cleanings.

Since I've now reduced the live plants to just the water sprites and the java fern, I'll cut back the timer to about 10 hours and see how it goes.