I was hoping to put a bunch of live plants in my sorority tank. What is the best way to prep a tank for live plants? Should I put soil in the bottom, then sand on top, so plants can establish roots in soil?
Any help on this would be great, I plan on upgrading to a 65 Gallon. Maybe making it into a half land half water.
It would depend what type of plants you have, some require hi-tech set ups with soil, CO2, light etc. Others do well in low light/low care conditions.
For example; java moss, java fern and anubias attach to bog wood or rocks so they need no special care. I have elodea planted straight into the gravel, nothing special done to the tank; except I shoved them in and left them. (All low light plants; but they will grow better in brighter light but they also grow well in low light).
cool thanks for the help, I was hoping on taking some from my fresh water lakes and seeing how they don in the fresh water tank i have, like Lilly pads and other small aquatic plants, if i put some soil in and a light and keep the water at 80'f i should do ok right?
How would say, Lilly pads or other lake, or stream plants work found in southern ontario? Thinning about adding local aquatic native plants to the tank.
In my opinion I wouldn't use a lily pad; betta are surface breathers and having surface plants would limit that!
I just have my "pond weed" shoved into the gravel. Literally I shoved it in and walked away. It's rooting and growing well :) It doubled in size in about 2 weeks; which is good as I'm using it to make bushy hiding areas.
Im up at my cottage, and went snorkeling with my girlfriend yesterday and found a wack of AMAZING fresh water shore plants. Found some Grass, short sand hugging plants and long red wavy plants. Also sound some short kelp and little fern like water plants!
I will get some pics today and post them later in the week. Its amazing what a little exploring will help you save $.
I think each plant runs 4$ upward, so hopefully, I can get them in my new tank, and remove all the fake ones!
When you take plants out of streams, rivers, lakes, etc. how do you know you aren't introducing any parasites to your tanks?
Which brings me to another question. When people purchase plants from dealers, is there anything special anybody does to make sure the plants are disease/parasite free before adding them to tanks?
Have a bowl of water that is 90 degrees and a bowl that is 60 degrees and swish the plant in the cold bowl then the hot bowl for awhile(a minute or two) And it will be parasite free!
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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