Introduce plants & fish together or seperately?

[MagicMan]

I'll be setting my Fluval Ebi up soon & will have some live plants, a couple fish & a few shrimp in there.

I'll, most likely, have to mail order the shrimp.

I should be able to grab the plants & fish locally. Once I have the tank cycled & at a good ph level, will I be ok introducing the live plants to it with the fish @ the same time or should I do these seperately?

Also, feel free to suggest low to moderate light plants.

 

[neilanh]

It's best to get the plants in there first (even if only by a few minutes). Once the fish go in, the plants provide hiding spaces/comfort for the fish, so that's why you want them in there first. It will help to relieve more quickly the shipping stress the fish have from being brought home.

The plants don't need to go in and be established for any period of time necessarily, so you can purchase together and plant your plants in the tank while the fish are acclimating.

 

[Vircomore]

Sorry about the previous post - didn't see you say "once it's cycled".

For medium to low-light plants - mosses are great and are natural jungle-gyms for shrimp and small fish. Java Moss, Star Moss, etc. are good places to start.

When you're looking to buy your shrimp - try and find someone who is selling them as a package deal with some plants. Usually they will be sending you plants that they clipped right out of the same tank that the shrimp are breeding in - so you'll know they're good.


Just make sure to rinse any plants before adding to your tank - snails can quickly be a problem in a small tank - and with shrimp, you can't use many of the common snail-removers without also "removing" the shrimp.

 

[BigJim]

Feel free to put the plants in the tank while you cycle. Plants use the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates as nutrients. My plants grew well during the fishless cycle.

I'm a fan of crypts and java fern.