What plants should i get?

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JuliaAndFish co.

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Hi guys, I'm looking for some easy care plants to add to my tank. I have a fish tank like this
20220503_203507.jpg
,with 6 harlequin rasboras and 6 fairy corydoras.and 1 guppy. The plant in the picture are:
1 plastic plant
1 anubias nana
1 rotala rotundifolia
2 java ferns (one small)
1 limnophila sessiliflora
And 1 amazon sword.

I feed with liquid ferts and jbl 7 balls.
I would love to hear your opinions!
Julia
 
You have some great plants already so make sure you replant any tips you trim over time. Some other easy growing choices are things like Hygrophila Siamensis 53b, Cardamine Lyrata and Pennywort species. Valis is a nice plant for the background as it will hide some of the equipment.

Try and find some more hardscape - rocks and wood, try and get pieces that will add some height to the tank rather than sitting on the bottom. Have you considered changing from gravel to sand for your substrate too? Your Cories will thank you for it.

I'd also take the shell out as it will be increasing the hardness of your water which most of your fish wont appreciate.

Wills
 
AQUARIUM PLANTS 1.01

LIGHTING TIMES

Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.


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TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.


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LIST OF PLANTS TO TRY
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow or twisted/ spiral Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

Ambulia, H. polysperma, Elodia/ Hydrilla and Vallis are tall plants that do well along the back. Rotala macranda is a medium/ tallish red plant that usually does well.

H. ruba/ rubra is a medium height plant that looks good on the sides of the tank.

Cryptocorynes are small/ medium plants that are taller than pygmy chain swords but shorter than H. rubra. They also come in a range of colours, mostly different shades of green, brown or purplish red. Crypts are not the easiest plant to grow but can do well if they are healthy to begin with and are not disturbed after planting in the tank.

Most Amazon sword plants can get pretty big and are usually kept in the middle of the tank as a show piece. There is an Ozelot sword plant that has brown spots on green leaves, and a red ruffle sword plant (name may vary depending on where you live) with deep red leaves.

There is a pygmy chain sword plant that is small and does well in the front of the tank.


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TRUE AQUATIC VS MARSH/ TERRESTRIAL PLANTS
Lots of plants are sold as aquarium plants and most are marsh plants that do really well when their roots are in water and the rest of the plant is above water. Some marsh plants will do well underwater too.

Hair grass is not a true aquatic plant, neither is Anubias.

Some common marsh plants include Amazon sword plants, Cryptocorynes, Hygrophila sp, Rotala sp, Ludwigia sp, Bacopa sp. These plant do reasonably well underwater.

True aquatic plants include Ambulia, Cabomba, Hornwort, Elodia, Hydrilla and Vallis.

The main difference between marsh plants and true aquatic plants is the stem. True aquatics have a soft flexible stem with air bubbles in it. These bubbles help the plant float and remain buoyant in the water column.

Marsh plants have a rigid stem and these plants can remain standing upright when removed from water. Whereas true aquatic plants will fall over/ collapse when removed from water.


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IRON BASED PLANT FERTILISER
If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.

You use an iron (Fe) test kit to monitor iron levels and keep them at 1mg/l (1ppm).

I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.


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CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
There is no point adding carbon dioxide (CO2) until you have the lights and nutrients worked out. Even then you don't need CO2 unless the tank is full of plants and only has a few small fish in.

There is plenty of CO2 in the average aquarium and it is produced by the fish and filter bacteria all day, every day. The plants also release CO2 at night when it is dark. And more CO2 gets into the tank from the atmosphere.

Don't use liquid CO2 supplements because they are made from toxic substances that harm fish, shrimp and snails.
 
i went to Lfs and bought lagenandra meeboldii red, ludwigia palustris super red, and lysimachia nummularia aurea. i was going to buy vallis but it was out of stock. thank for advice though!
 
lagenandra is an interesting plant; mine does better shaded. I'd personally get some more different type of crypts - crypts are your best bet for some interesting shapes and colour - be sure to check which ones like soft water and which one like hard water - most are not picky but a few are picky. Another class of interesting plants that are relatively easy to grow are apongeton - this tank has boivinianus:
1.jpg
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The large plant dominating the aquarium - the tank is a 29. This tank has italia val and mad. lace plant (antoher apongeton):
2.jpg
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Another class of plant that generally grow well in low light and has some interesting textures are java fern....
 
Went to another aquarium shop and this time they had vallis. Bought that, some floating elodea, and 4 swordtails, 12 more guppies and two female bristlenose plecos. Now looking for male to breed them !
 
Please dont listen to that man anymore, you are over stocked and I suspect he was just trying to sell you fish.

The most basic guide for stocking a tank is inch per gallon, if we call the Swordtails 3 inches as adults, Guppies 2 and BNs 5 you have just added 43 inches of fish to your tank which is not only bad long term but way too much to add in one go. Add in your 6 harlequin rasboras and 6 fairy corydoras.and 1 guppy and you have a further 26 inches giving you a total of 65 inches of adult fish in your tank. Which is a much more appropriate number of fish for a good sized 4 foot tank.

In the short term please keep testing your water as your filter is unlikely to be able to keep up with that much additional poop the new fish will produce so you could get an ammonia or nitrite spike. Longer term if the filter for a 20g can keep up with that much food and poop you will end up with really high nitrates, but this will be in 6-10 months as your fish start to grow into their adult sizes.

I think you probably need to make a decision based on where you are at. Either take some fish back to the store, get a second tank or get a bigger tank.

Sorry for the bad news but hopefully if you make some choices we can help you.

Wills
 
Guess what, I called my uncle who went to UNIVERSITY TO STUDY AQUARIUM FISH and he told me I'm not overstocking as well. So I don't know who to listen to. I'll put some guppies in the new tank anyway.
 
The tank might be ok for a while but if the guppies, swordtails and bristlenose breed, the babies will add to the bio-load in the tank. At this stage, just monitor the water quality and do regular water changes and gravel cleans, and when you get the bigger tank (or another tank) move some into that. :)
 

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