Planted aquariums or aquascaping, anyone?

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Thanks for all the advice and knowledge. I'm an aquarium beginner, so this stuff is important! I was looking up plants that will be safe with my goldfish last night and I found a short list. A couple of them were Java moss and fern, and that's fine with me. I'm going to do a lot more research before I buy any plants, but from what I read so far, those are good beginner plants with low-moderate light requirements. The friend I got the setup from is very experienced and keeps many planted tanks so I wouldn't be surprised if the light he gave me is a good one, but I'll ask him about it to be certain. And hey, I'm definitely not going to spend a fortune on plants, so if all fails at least my fish will get a nice snack and I'll buy some silk plants!

ETA here's one of the sites I found about planting with goldfish. Please tell me what you think based on your experience and/or knowledge.
http://thegab.org/Plants/goldfish-and-plants-the-low-tech-approach.html
and another:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/Greene_Plants in the Goldfish Tank.html

 

[Wolf-Kim]

These tanks are beautiful.

I've always, always, always loved the look of a natural, especially planted tank. But, I never pursued it, simply because I thought they would be way, way too much maintenance. So since we're on the subject, I have a few questions.

How hard are these tanks to maintain?

Obviously goldfish and koi like to tear(and eat) stuff up, but are there other fish that are bad for this as well? I particularly like guppies, certain tetras, oscars and african cichlids. ((Obviously not in the same tank! LOL)

I appreciate it.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Java moss is fun, and its very easy to keep, even in low light. Elodea is another one.

I have platies and they eat the java moss, but it grows so quickly that it doesn't really matter whether they eat it or not. You can also tie it to wood and other things and it will root itself to them. You can basically trim it up to look however you want and the more you cut it, the more it seems to grow.

I don't have a fancy planted tank, but I stuck some free elodea and java moss and it makes the tank look real nice. The fish enjoy hiding in it too.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
If you mean the japanese-style, meticulously landscaped, very artistic ones, the answer is "very".

If you mean "a planted tank in general", the answer is "can be pretty low-maintenance", assuming sufficient light availability, intelligent plant choice, and intelligent fish choice/density.

However no matter what you do, bottom line, plants grow, and there is just no room to allow them to do much of that in a tank (even if you *like* the mysterious dark jungle look, which of course is good for spawning a variety of fish, you can only let it go so far b./c the plants start to self-shade and die off, and mess up water quality). So you are always going to have to do some periodic pruning.

Obviously goldfish and koi like to tear(and eat) stuff up, but are there other fish that are bad for this as well? I particularly like guppies, certain tetras, oscars and african cichlids. ((Obviously not in the same tank! LOL)

If you are serious about a planted tank, smaller tetras are a very good choice as inhabitants. (e.t.a. - guppies are good too, although a certain amount of population control may become necessary, sooner than in a barer tank. Large cichlids like oscars won't work, and the pH required for african cichlids will kill most plants and the ones it doesn't, the cichlids themselves may destroy, they are really better off with a rockscape). Corydoras and kuhlii loaches can also be useful, because it is harder to vacuum a well-planted tank so they will do a certain amount of tidying for you. The main thing you want to avoid is a large fish load in the tank (or any fish that tend to eat a lot), because while plants will help with water quality in some ways, they also make algae control real difficult, and do NOT be counting on 'algae-eater' type fish to do it for you. Snails can be somewhat helpful in controlling algae but then you are faced with the task of controlling the *snails* which is not frankly all that much easier <g>.

Speaking not as a planted tank expert, but as one who's had a number of thoroughly-planted tanks over the years,

Pat​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yes (also Anubias, if you want to splurge a little; it is really quite a handsome plant, and durable)-- remember however that a) you will STILL be waaaay better off getting at least a dual-fluorescent hood, as things will start looking pretty thin and stretchy and straggly in your 29g with just a single tube hood; and b) a good argument can be made that it is healthiest to indoor-overwinter pond fish as cool as possible, and none of those plants are going to survive in the sort of basement type temperature that is best for the *fish*.

But if you are keeping the fish at normal room temperature (no need for a heater for goldfish!) then sure, try some of the easy plants, see how you like them, it is not going to be a fancy underwater naturescape or anyting like that (at least not for more than a day or two) but it is still fun to play with

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
If you mean the japanese-style, meticulously landscaped, very artistic ones, the answer is "very".

If you mean "a planted tank in general", the answer is "can be pretty low-maintenance", assuming sufficient light availability, intelligent plant choice, and intelligent fish choice/density.

However no matter what you do, bottom line, plants grow, and there is just no room to allow them to do much of that in a tank (even if you *like* the mysterious dark jungle look, which of course is good for spawning a variety of fish, you can only let it go so far b./c the plants start to self-shade and die off, and mess up water quality). So you are always going to have to do some periodic pruning.


Speaking not as a planted tank expert, but as one who's had a number of thoroughly-planted tanks over the years,

Pat

Thanks Pat. Being one who works in the yard, I understand that all plants require periodic grooming to remain shaped or healthy. I was worried more of "balancing" a tank between fish and plants. I understand different fish and plants have different water/environment requirements, I guess one of these days I'll just have to jump in. Currently due to lack of space my tank is off in the barn for storage, awaiting it's future resurrection.

I've done fancy guppies in the past and really like them as well as other livebearers, lately though when walking by the aquariums, the cichlids have been drawing my attention, did a little bit of reading on them, they sound quite fascinating. When younger, my brother and I had an large Oscar, he was pretty cool and I wouldn't mind having some of those(my 35 gallon is a weee bit small for "some of those" LOL)

-Kim

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I have also considered turning one of my aquariums into a planted tank. Whether or not it will work, I'm not sure, but it's worth the try

Good Luck with yours!

 

[dfunnyfarm]

I have been researching planted aquariums and think i might turn mine into one. I can't wait to see pictures of yours when done. Good luck to you.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Just another piece of advice that I thought of. Don't buy plants from petsmart or any other chain petstore. The plants they sell are not actually underwater plants. They do great in a terrarium, but underwater, they eventually suffocate and die. I made the mistake of buying one before I knew about plants and I returned it the next day.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Oh, that aspect is easy peasy as long as you pick fish and plants with compatible requirements (temperature, pH, light) and keep the tank SIGNIFICANTLY UNDERstocked with fish (compared to what most people do, I mean).

G'wan, try it, it's fun

Chickerdoodle is 110% right, though, read up on aquarium plants so you can make sure you are buying REAL aquatic plants that will do well in your tank, not these basically-houseplants that "can survive" for a while underwater but not longterm and not well.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat