Getting ready to plant my tanks, suggestions, ideas, tips welcome!

[Brian10962001]

I have a 20 gallon long that I plan to divide into to a 5/10/5 section for my males. I have a 10 gallon that I plan to make into a sorority tank. I just purchased adjustable heaters for both tanks, I have several options for filtration as well.

Right now I'm trying to decide on substrate, and live plants to place in them. I've done a planted 10 gallon before with an African sword and a few other various plants. That tank THRIVED until I introduced guppies to it and it got a snail infestation! It was down hill from there (this has been years and years ago).

I'm just trying to pick what direction I want to go with this. I've been looking at the various hardy species of aquatic plants and even considered doing a tiered setup with regular plants rooted into the aquarium. On my 10 gallon I currently have an incan style hood with 2 of the fluorescent bulbs. The 20 gal has a topper but no hood for it at the time. Thanks in advance everyone.

[laughing]

What are FULL water perameteres? pH level, hardness, alkalinity, temperature? That will help on giving you the right start.

Oh! And are you wanting sand or gravel? Will you have any bottom dwelling species?

[Brian10962001]

Originally Posted by laughing

What are FULL water perameteres? pH level, hardness, alkalinity, temperature? That will help on giving you the right start.

Oh! And are you wanting sand or gravel? Will you have any bottom dwelling species?

Right now I only know 2 of these parameters, the rest will have to be checked after the tank is established. I know my water temp is going to be 82, and the substrate is river rock and aquarium gravel. I also put several tera cota pots in the water which will hopefully counteract my towns pretty hard water conditions. Tank was just filled, I had water and goldfish from an established tank, they're cycling now, I'm adding aqua safe to de chlorinate. The sorority females are floating in their cups so they can get up to temp, they'll probably be like this for the next couple days while I sort out what I'm planning to do with the 10 gal.

[Brian10962001]

This is where I'm at now, working on dialing the settings in on the heater and matching them to my thermometer on the side of the tank.

[Brian10962001]

Here's a list of "easy to raise" plants I have found, any suggestions are highly welcome. Can I pick these up from Petsmart/Petco? Right now I think I;m going to skip on Java Moss as it seems like a very high maintenance plant as far as keeping it from taking over. The other plant I really like the look of is the mini sword plant.

Java Fern
Java Moss
Anubias
Najas
Water Sprites
Duck Weed

Also I divided my 20 gallon long AND got a 10 gallon for swapping rear brake pads for my friend today! I went ahead and divided the 10 gallon into 3 3.3 gals.

[laughing]

Java Moss doesn't "take over". I have Christmas moss and a Moss ball and neither have "taken over". Does it grow and attach? Yep. It really adds to the tank, too, and will attach to those pots.

Duckweed, on the other hand, WILL take over. Absolutely, 100%, guaranteed, will take over. Unless you want a lovely top layer of duckweed that will constantly grow and you will have to throw out, then don't buy it.

Swords do great in hard water. They don't mind a bit. I currently have a very large Melon Sword but it is browning a tad, I haven't quite figured out why, but I think from lack of nutrients. It's been striving for awhile, though.

All the types of vals will do great as long as iron supplementation and good water quality is provided. I love vals!

Java ferns will do good in most conditions. I have no idea about Najas or Water Sprites. Most plants will do okay as long as acclimated and properly adjusted to hard water.

I would adjust your tank and line the back of your tank with a couple vals, then I would attach a type of moss (whichever you prefer) to your pots, and in the front I'd place a smaller plant, maybe put down some java ferns, maybe some crypts? (I have crypt wendtii that do great in my hard water, but they do completely melt when you re-plant them, but they stay nice and low for the front part of the tank!)

You'll need WAY more hiding spaces for a sorority than you have... So pick dense plants and aquascape with them!

[Bombalurina]

If you want some hardy, fast-growing plants to provide taller cover, look into ambulia, lacefern, elodea and rotala. :)

[Brian10962001]

This is where I'm at now. I am down to 7 females, 5 in take, one in isolation for swim bladder (my friend fed the Betta's after I had fed them and a couple of them go it, it actually killed one of my males who was already in isolation for it but he didn't realize it ) and one in her own tank (my crown tail). I was worried about the plants because the Petco people had absolutely NO IDEA what I was talking about when it came to aquarium plants, fish, ANYTHING; Petsmart Columbus Indiana, those people have no business working there. Their bettas looked awful too, it kind of sucked. I didn't get to quarantine these plants because I didn't figure my females would start escaping like they did! The new filter has very little current forward, but whenever one would get under the lip it would drive it down and the clever things figured their way out!

[heathbar]

Your current substrate isn't very plant friendly. With the rocks I'd stick to plants that have rhizomes that will attach to them such as anubias and java ferns. You can also get some nice floating plants that will send their lovely roots into the tank. I prefer larger floaters like red foot floaters and frogbit over duckweed, once you get duckweed in a tank its very hard to get rid of if you change your mind.

Also plants like anacharis (which it looks like you already have) would work well too since they don't need to be planted in the substrate to thrive.

[Brian10962001]

I actually have a an anubias attached to a lava rock in there, I believe the plant up front to be mini sword but the one I picked has no tag and now that it's home I am starting to wonder. I have 2 bundles of anacharis, I already pulled all of the dark stalks and let the new growth float on top. The other bundle I just cleaned up and let the weights sink it where it's at in the background. The large rocks are a top layer, there are much smaller aquarium gravel mixed in below it. I had picked out plants that would handle my substrate, but Petco has no clue what they have so I had to play it by ear. I was worried about the anacharis but it looks like that wasn't too bad of a choice