Keeping Live Plants

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SeverumGuy

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
387
Location
Aiken, SC
I just bought two live plants. They were beautiful and green about three hours ago when I bought them, but now they're not looking as good. I need all the advice I can get on how to keep live plants and what the requirements in the water need to be. I've never kept live plants before and the lady at the store made it sound like there was nothing to it.
 
Aww, plants are not so tough. Low light plants will do well in most tanks even if they are low tech. Did you do anything to treat the plants before adding them in your tank? Did you let them dry out, or keep them submerged in water the whole time before adding? Do you use any anti-algae chemicals in your tank?

Also, what temp. is your tank maintained at? Some plants prefer cooler waters, and they require acclimating to higher temperatures.
 
where are the plants now? and what are the water parameters? and what plants are they?

I don't know much about plants, but if you need help, we need more information about whats happening to give you informed advice.
 
It's possible they were grown emersed (out of water) and are converting to their submersed (water) forms. What kind of plants are they?
 
They're both narrow leaf hygro. My cycle is set, my temp is 77, and my ph is 6.3-6.4. That's all I can tell you. I don't have anything to test phosphates, calcium, or nitrogen. They're still getting worse. I might have to take them back and stick to fake plants unless I can get some good advice.
 
If they're getting enough light, then I can't really help you ><

Anyways, nitrogen is just another name for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and other things that have nitrogen in them.
 
Insufficient light is usually the cause of plants dying. What kind of light are you running?
 
BigJim is on the right track. What type of lights do you have? Could you post the wording that is on the bulb(s), it usually tells you how many watts. It is either lack of light or lack of nutrients.
 
I honestly doubt that after only 3 hours of having them, its due to light or nutrients (well, at least not the lack of... maybe too much?). I'd say its more of an acclimation issue.
 
Good point rookie, I must have skimmed over the OP. I'd say acclimation, handling or just plain bad plants to begin with are the culprits then.
 
I honestly doubt that after only 3 hours of having them, its due to light or nutrients (well, at least not the lack of... maybe too much?). I'd say its more of an acclimation issue.

I tend to agree with this statement. However, making sure the tank conditions are good is the best way to help the plant recover.
 
Well it's the next day, and they're still not looking any better. They haven't degressed as much as I expected them to, but worse is still worse. My fish are enjoying snacking off of them. I'm running a 48" AquaGlo bulb that is 40 watts. I tried running just that for about any hour yesterday before I added another bulb from Wal-Mart that was 40 watt. That didn't help either, so I'm back to just the AquaGlo. I don't feel that light would have affected the plants health that quickly. Any other suggestions? Should I take the plants back and not deal with live plants anymore? They were beautiful when I got them. They were nothing but green and were standing tall, and now there's a few yellowish leaves and they're wilting.
 
I would give them some time to see if they recover. If you rough them up during transportation and don't acclimate them they can take a while to recover. I don't think you'll get your money back for them either. At least you wouldn't at any of the LFS around me.
 
They may recover still. My amazon swords practically died off when I put them in my tank. They came out of one of those gel packs, which means the plants were grown emersed. It took a few weeks for the swords to adjust to total submersion, then they started growing like mad.
 
I got these plants from Petsmart. All of their plants were fully submerged in water. I only paid $8 for both plants, so I guess I'll just see what happens. If anything, my fish got a good snack.
 
If you have all the fish that are listed in your tank info, IMO it's very unlikely that you will be able to keep any but the toughest of plants. All the cichlids in your tank are plant eaters and I would guess that they are a big part of the problem here. Occasionally you'll get a severum that won't decimate your plants, but most of them really go to town on them. Same for cons and dempsey IME.

That doesn't mean you can't try some different plants though. Given the stock in your tank, you might be able to keep anubias or java fern varieties in there.

If you want more of a variety of plants, maybe you could think about trying them in your 10 gallon tank. The fish you have listed for that tank pose no threat to plants. :)
 
Yeah, the plants aren't looking any better. The fish have been all over them so there's a lot of holes in the leaves. Once they really start dying I'll take them out. Maybe it'll be nice and nutricious for my fish.
 
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