Plastic/silk vs. live plants....

[jazzyarizona]

I have been having a wonderful time browsing through all the pics on this site and WOW, what terrific tanks. Right now I have a few silk plants and a couple of plastic ones.

Can anyone give me some advice on artifical vs live plants ? Right now all I have are 3 little cats and a snail. I love having snails and plan on getting more. As for fish.....I seem to be going through a nitrate problem so I am waiting to restock. I have thought about the really fancy goldfish.

I have a 29g tank. Live plants with tropical fish.....live plants with goldfish ? What about snails eating the plants ?

Thanks so much......

 

[newfound77951]

Live plants and goldfish are pretty much mutually exclusive. Goldies will eat anything they can get in their mouths. If you do add some plants that will help with your nitrate problem, although you should still figure out why you have a nitrate problem in the first place....what kind of filter do you have? Did you have any fish in there before??

As far as plants go, they are easy, but before you do anything, read, read, read! Then read some more. Read all the stickies at the top of the planted tank forum, there is some great info in there.

The stock light that came with your 29g likely won't be enough to grow much, but I would suggest reading first to see what type of planted tank you'd like to do (ie high light, low light etc) before you go and upgrade. Then when you want to get started, ask folks here about suggestions for lighting etc.

As for snails, depends on what kind you have. Some eat plants, and some don't. I'm not a snail expert but there are other people here who are, so I'd wait for them to chime in (they will!)

Good luck and welcome to AA!!

 

[jazzyarizona]

Thank you so much...and I will do as you suggest, read, read, read.

I am in the 'unhealthy fish' forum and have been getting some wonderful help. Without that info I wouldn't even have known it was a nitrate problem....

I did have fish, they all died which is why I came to this site for help. Everyone on here has been so wonderful and incredibly helpful. Reading through the various subjects has made me realize how little I do know about all this.

So.....reading up on the subject and no goldies with live plants...? Unless I just want the stems left ?

Thanks so much......

 

[severum mama]

If you want plants, you could have a really nice looking community tank. Most tropical community fish will not eat plants, with some exceptions. There is really a lot you can do with a 29 gallon as far as stocking and aquascaping. That said, even fancy goldfish tend to grow relatively large, so if you would like to be able to keep more fish, you may want to just go with a tropical community.

I agree with Newfound, a planted tank does take some research if you want anything other than low light. But, there are some low light, easy plants that you could start out with, and if you want more of a challenge, you can always upgrade your lighting later on. Just to give you an idea of what you can do with a low light tank, here is a (crappy!) pic of my 29 gallon as it looked a couple of years ago. All the plants in the tank flourished with the normal output light strip that came with my tank. I believe it gave me just under 1 wpg (can't remember the exact wattage).

The point is, this was an extremely easy setup to maintain- no CO2, no dosing ferts or anything like that.

 

[SCFatz]

yup...my 29g is a freaking jungle if I let it go to long.Lit @ 1.2 wpg and stocked with low light plants.

Live plants is a different challange that both you and your fish will enjoy.

 

[jazzyarizona]

Thank you so much for the help and the nice welcome. Severum mama..... the picture of your tank is terrific and the plants look so healthy. I am going to go for a community tank, with tropicals.....as you said. I like the idea of movement in the tank and you are right, with fantails I would have to keep it to a minimum.
OK, I'll hit the planted tank forum and go from there.
SCFatz...... a jungle, huh? I like that....love the looks of it. There is a pic of a tank on this site that is like a jungle, wow, it is beautiful !
Thanks so much......

 

[tommyr]

Try floating some Hornwort, my goldies don'tbother it at all. Plus it's a low light plant. Jave ferns are another fave of mine....

Tom