Why do you keep live plants?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Why do you keep live plants?

  • I keep fish to compliment my plants.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Who needs fish, i just love the look of live plants.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Plastic and silk just do not look as good.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Live palnts? please give me a Neon pink Plastic Sword anyday!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

JDogg

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
2,294
Location
Rapid City, SD
i have never had a "green thumb", well in this case a "green fin", lol. if you have read about my battle with BBA and the devastation it caused, then you might understand my questioning this in myself. if you have not read about my battle, you might learn some lessons from it, I am first and foremost a teacher, and must turn even my tragedies into teachable moments :D

starting the battle http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=88036
the outcome http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=88266

anyways i fully intend to rebuild and make my tank better (and more algae resistant :wink: ) then ever!

if you are wondering i voted for the first option. growing up my father had a 20 gal full of plastic... plastic (neon colored) plants, plastic dinosaur skeletons, neon pink ceramic cave... fish seamed fine, but not Happy, and certainly did not look natural...i like to try and recreate the natural environment for my fish as best possible...IMO plants that grow, photosynthesis and die off, do that...

EDIT: i do not think the spell-check checks your poll questions...look at the spelling in that last question! :oops:
 
I voted for #1, but it was a toss up whether I should vote for #2 (or even #3 for that matter). When I set up my first tank (a 29 gallon kit from Wal-Mart that I received as a Christmas present) five or so years ago it had blue gravel, plastic plants and a mixture of various fish like zebra danios and neon tetras. Within a few months I realized that I wanted something more natural (with live plants), figuring that the fish would be happier in surroundings that more closely simulated their natural environment. I was fortunate in that my LFS regularly stocks many varieties of live plants and the staff could answer my questions and usually make intelligent suggestions. I did some reading and came across Diana Walstad's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium". It inspired me to try a low tech approach to a planted tank. I took everything out of my 29 gallon tank, cleaned it and put in potting soil, gravel and low light plants to make an African biotope which is still set up that way today. A year or so later I bought a second aquarium (which is a 30 gallon) which I planted from the very beginning. I've since added six more aquariums that are all planted (except for my quarantine tank) and work at taking care of my plants with about the same (or even greater) effort that I put into my fish. The fish certainly seem to approve as I have had many fish spawn without my intention (of course that could be related to other factors like the quality and frequency of food).
 
My tank was intentional. I wanted an amazon biotope and by golly did I get just that. Of course, over the past year or so, it has transformed into a heavily planted tank and no longer qualifies as a biotope. :)

As far as opinions go, live plants (and other natural decor) looks far more natural and to that end, is beneficial for the fish. If I knew back then what I know now, both of my tanks would be planted.
 
Currently I'm definately #2 keeping fish to complement my plants. For me it's about keeping the plants and the fish are a nice bonus. Of course when you've got really small tanks, there's a lot more space for a variety of plants than there is a variety of fish!

I first started out keeping plants because of #4 Live plants just look better than fake. I could always tell the difference between the two, even the so called "quality" silk plants. I always thought that #1 Enhancing the quality of life of the fish was just an added benefit.
 
Unless your goal is to grow plants in the first place, what I have learned is that the most beneficial thing for fish is to strike a natural balance in the tank. A balance between live plants and fish. This is a balance where the fish benefit from the plants and the plants benefit from the fish. All this can be achieved without much interference from the tank owner.
 
I had enjoyed fine plastic plants and giant pirate ships for over 20 years. I wasn't until I decided to try and get some fish to breed that I even looked at live plants. Funny thing is, I had always used live plants for terrestrial animals. Reptiles, Amphibians, Inverts, Arachnids... all kept in natural live environments. Yet, it still never even occured to me that you could grow plants, other than maybe anacharis, in an aquarium.
I was trying to get some Dwarf Gouramis (Colisa lalia) to breed, and a book I bought suggested use of live floating plants. I started with Anacharis and Ludwidia. Over a couple months each plastic plant in the tank was replaced with a live one, and the plastic decor was replaced with driftwood. The Gouramis did end up breeding.. a lot. Since then I have gotten a few more fish to breed in planted aquariums: Dwarf Gouramis (4 color variations), Pygmy Croaking Gouramis, Metallic Half Beaks, Checkered Rainbowfish, Angelfish, Swordtails, Guppies, Mosquito Fish, and Cherry Shrimps. I have also had eggs from the Bloodfin tetras. There is no doubt in my mind, now, that live plants are a necesary part of almost any aquarium, and are crucial to the health of the animals that live there.
 
I voted for #1. I do have plants to enhance the lives of my fish but also I have them because I love the look of a planted tank. I can't imagine setting up a community tank of any kind without plants. I'm still perfecting my aquascaping and it will take me awhile before I can get one looking anywhere close to some of the tanks I've seen. I'll be starting up a high-tech planted tank soon and I can't wait. Plants are really the focus of my other community tanks and while they do have lots of fish in them....the plants are my fav parts.

I also agree that live plants look so much better than fake. When I first started this hobby, I had a tank with tons of fake plants. I could never get them to look half way decent though. So finally, I tried live plants and the difference was huge. The live looked so much better...even if I did plant a whole bunch of stem plants together in one spot. ;) I finally learned to spread them out and then how to choose the right plants for my tank. Live plants are awesome!
 
When I first started I put plants in to help the fish. Now, I have more fun with the plants than the fish. I voted number 2.
 
I would say #1 but I got live plants because I have 10 gallon tanks and they are simply a pain in the neck to keep balanced. The plants keep the tanks balanced and also allow me to keep some of the more delicate fish, like otos which I have never been able to keep before. Also, if something happens for some reason and I can't change water every week the plants keep the tank better balanced than without them.

But I think the main reason I like live plants is because I love change and there is nothing that changes faster than a heavily planted tank with 3-4 fast growers, especially in a 10 gallon tank!
 
I use live plants to compliment the fish, and fish to compliment the plants. With all the green in the tank a few red/gold fish really brighten it up. Then again with all red/gold fish the tank is just screaming for some green!
 
Back
Top Bottom