Im moving Kudo into a 10 gallon tank with his four tetra buddies on Sunday. Lucky for me Kudo isn't really that aggressive, he could care less about the tetra. But anyways back to my original question, I have several plants in the tank but they are all fake plants, would my tank benefit more from having real plants in there? I'm worried though because Ive had some friends tell me if you buy live plants you run the risk of getting snails attached to them and SURPRISE you have a new tank mate. Im also getting a bigger tank because Im looking into getting two ADF and I didn't want the tank to be too crowded.
If you are worried about snails they are not that hard to get rid of, if you do it right away and don't leave them for months to multiply to hundreds
When buying new plants... You have the option of quarantine for a week, or just rinsing well in tap water. This should dislodge or remove most of the eggs and snails.
If you do get snails in the tank, and you do not want them, entice them with either lettuce or cucumber or zuchinni on a plate at the bottom of the tank. They should gravitate towards it and you can pull the veggy out with the snails and discarded as seen fit.
BUT live plants are great for the tanks, and also give it a nice natural look to it :)
Thanks Sena Hansler! Im also wondering, Ive heard live plants get "mushy" or disintegrate in tanks? Is this true? And also, are they hard to maintain, like with fake plants you just bury them in the gravel and then they're good. Is it the same with the live plants? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to make an uninformed decision, I got Kudo in May and I keep upgrading his tanks and I just want to give him and his tank mates the best possible care =)
that happens usually for a number of reasons.
And for a betta tank it would be:
The plant is a cold water plant
The tank is too clean and leaves no nutrients for the plants
There is not enough lighting for the plant
The plant was planted wrong (ie for anubias an javafern which should not be buried)
The plant is not a true aquatic plant (ie lucky bamboo, peace lily etc)
but generally if you go for lowlight easy plants like anubias, crypts, java fern, Java moss, Susswassertang, elodea etc, you should be fine. acclimatize plants as you would if they were fish :)
duckweed is an easy plant, but it is also a pain to eliminate.
Thanks aokashi! I think I'll try live plants now. Which would you recommend for a beginner like me? Im going to have a ten gallon tank with a light, filter and for the moment no heater because my room gets warm enough so the water stays warm.
Have a think about purchasing a heater if night temps are lower than the day - unless you live in the high tropics. Heaters aren't just to heat the water, but to keep it evenly warm all the time. And summer does sometimes have its cold patches..
Plants!
As Aokashi mentioned, java fern and/or anubias tethered to a bit of wood or a stone is about is easy as it gets.
Java moss is pretty much unkillable. If you have good lights, some echinodorus (amazon sword) would be nice, or elodea, hornwort, water wisteria.. there's actually a sticky here on low-light plants you might like to check out for hints and tips.
Just beware the pet store plants - many are not true aquatics and will sooner or later rot, fouling your tank.
I have java fern, java moss.... Both are really really unkillable LOL. I have been sold some non-aquatic plants and they do die.... Do your research on types before buying :)
I "tether" mine with either the "plant weights" which are usually safe metal strips that you can bend easily. Or, under a rock, under your gravel, etc. I let my moss float until it found itself a spot
Ohh okay! I think I'll just put it under a rock or under the gravel. Thanks so much everyone! I love this group, everyones so nice and theres just so much information here that is so helpful. You can tell the people here REALLY care about the bettas and tank mates. Its just awesome!!
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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