Plant supplements

[toad]

I was thinking about trying this supplement, since I am ~attempting~ to keep live plants in my tanks now.

Is this really safe for the fish?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=4652

[battered]

Yes. What kind of plants are you trying to grow? If you've got a good substrate and lighting, you should be good to go for easier plants. I occasionally dose Flourish, but I've never seen visible improvements solely because of it.

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"Easy" plants, lol. I've got a couple anubias that seem to be doing well, but I haven't had them very long, so I may be slowly killing them unknowingly. I bought some java fern, which was actually a bunch of little java ferns and left them floating in my 10 gallon. Howie loves them and is building nests in them :D They are growing these long green strings - I thought they were roots, but they are coming from all over the plant. Does this mean the plant is happy and growing?

I also have an Amazon Sword (the very first plant I bought), and he isn't looking so hot right now. The sword is in Rosco's tank, and Rosco loooooves this thing; he sleeps on it at night. I read that swords need iron, but maybe all he needs is a better light? The one I have in there came with the tank, which was left in my apartment when I moved in.

Yesterday, I bought some water wisteria for my newest (currently empty) tank, because I heard that those were rather undemanding plants.

ETA: The substrate I'm using in the new tank is sand, and the other 3 tanks are plain gravel. No fancy plant substrate, I'm afraid.

Perhaps I don't really need fertilizer for these plants?

[battered]

Your anubias and java ferns get their nutrients through the water column and are underdemanding - they probably do not need additional dosing (although it might help). The reason why your sword isn't doing too well is probably because it needs a good substrate. Swords are heavy root feeders, so your best bet is probably just sticking a root tab underneath the sword. Same with stem plants, like your wisteria.

[toad]

Thank you so very much :)