Plant question

[Oafboy182]

I bought 3 potted plans from the LFS and didn't bother to ask the guy if I need to take them out of the little plastic pots they are in, or if I just put them in as is. I have a gravel substrate that is between 1 and 3 in. depending on the area of the tank. My african cichlids like to move the rocks around alittle, but not a lot. Thank you.

Justin

 

[brendan]

If I were you I'd take them out of the pots. This will allow their roots to spread better.

 

[TankGirl]

You might need a bit more substrate to get them firmly anchored, and you might find that plants won't work with Africans. They dig and most likely these plants will be floating on a daily basis, or if they are mbuna they will be eaten. Hopefully if you maybe put some larger stones around the base of the plant they won't disturb it.

I agree though they need to come out of the pots.

 

[rubysoho]

do you need to remove the cottony stuff around the roots? I don't know what it is called, but it all my potted plants came with that stuff on/around their roots. They grew into it so much that all I could do was remove as much as I could, but left the remainder on.

 

[deeni0z]

is it kind of like a light brownish cotton ball and it's pulled apart easily? most potted plants i've seen come with that stuff. I usually just take it out and then plant the plant. just take out as much as you can without damaging the roots.

 

[malkore]

carefully remove as much of that packing wool as you can...try not to damage any roots.

 

[Oafboy182]

thanks for everyones help. so far my fish don't move the plants around but they are getting a little beat up looking. Could be because my tank is at work and i wasn't there for a week and i'm not sure the lights were turned on everyday. i'm pretty sure they were left off for a couple of days. need to get a new timer mine quit working.