plants for cichlid tank

[thanew]

ok.. i've been reading liveaquaria.com looking for plants (they seem to be the only place that wants to ship to california... but some of the plants I want do not seem to be able to tolerate a higher pH that is required in a cichlid tank.

so my question is what are some good plants that will thrive in a cichlid tank with a pH of ~8 ?

 

[medge00]

I don't know about the cichlids, but I am pretty sure www.aquabotanic.com will also ship to california...

 

[TankGirl]

Look for posts by Travis Simonson, as he is keeping a planted cichlid tank, or most likely he will turn up here.

I have anubias nana, and you can also grow bolbitis and java fern, and the old standby, valisneria. The question will also be what plants will not be torn up by the fish. If you have diggers they can uproot the plants before they take hold, so that is why rhizome plants like the anubias and java fern, and the bolbitis can be tied down in such tanks. Travis is growing plants you would not expect to see in a tank with Africans, though.

 

[opiesilver]

I think I ship just about everywhere. Why wouldn't the other sites you've looked at not want to ship to California? Just don't order hygro and expect to get it there. (That plant is a no no for Cali.)

 

[thanew]

opiesilver -- cause apparently there is an importing law in california -- ive only seen a handful of sites that ship to california because apparently they have to be authorized by the state or something (atleast thats what a quick google search turned up)

 

[travis simonson]

thanew - There really aren't very many low light plants that won't grow at an ARLC tank's pH level. What are your KH and GH? They will play a more important role than pH in my opinion, although I think your main issue will be light. If you can provide at least 1-1.5 wpg you can grow Anubias, Java fern, Java moss, Wisteria, Hornwort, Anacharis, Marsilea spp., maybe even Watersprite. I think the pH may be a little high for Bolbitis but I haven't tried it myself, so it might be worth a shot And I've never had any luck keeping Valisneria with my mbuna, they love the stuff and will eat it to the ground in a day, although others don't seem to have had the same problem. And if you do go with any Java moss, be careful. My Africans didn't eat it, but they seemed to love shredding it and scattering it all over my tank. I'm still finding bits of it growing in dark corners to this day

 

[shawmutt]

I would agree with java fern, it's very hardy and doesn't have roots in the substrate that cichlids love to dig up.

 

[opiesilver]

Thanew,

I've been doing some research on what you said and all I can find is references on Importing Agricultural goods from outside the US. I do know that there are a few species of aquarium plants that are considered obnoxious weeds in your state and being such we do not ship them. Other than that it looks like you are good to go as long as you don't try and order from outside the US. Believe me, you don't want to pay the customs and broker fees.

 

[thanew]

hrm I havent been home to test the GH... (i moved back into my dorms and my parents take care of the tank until the weekends when I come home) and its hard to explain to them how to test things, all they know how to do is feed them

anyways, I have about 2.3 wpg (2x65 lights) so I guess the anubias should grown fine then I guess.. as for the moss I think my plecos would gobble it up as they are getting big real fast...


opiesilver -- i dunno, I just read some things on importing, I know the borders have a strict check from CA to AZ... I just don't know to be honest, but Ive been told from places like thatpetplace and all these other online retailers that they can't ship due to restrictions...