Trouble getting plant bulbs to grow

[somnomania]

Okay, so I have a five gallon tank with a Whisper filter and a heater and a male betta fish. When I set the tank up, I had purchased three live plants from Petsmart along with the fish. I was fortunate that the two taller plants actually had two separate plants within each tube. I planted all of them, but within a month one of the taller plants had completely died, and it turned to mush when I tried to pull it out of the tank. None of the remaining ones seem to be growing at all, just surviving. I wanted more plants, so I bought one of the $3.99 TopFin packages of bulbs, guaranteed to grow within thirty days. I got at least ten viable-looking bulbs out of it, and was hopeful that at least some of them would grow, but it's been at least thirty days and none of them have done anything at all. In addition, when I bought the betta I also bought three neon tetras to keep him company, and they have all died of mysterious natural causes since then, one at a time, after being apparently healthy the day before. I've found all of them dead and plastered to the underside of the heater.

I took a water sample to Petsmart to get it tested for free, and my ammonia and nitrates/nitrites were fine, but I was told that the pH and alkalinity were both out the roof. The betta doesn't seem to mind, but I'm wondering if this is what's keeping the plants from doing anything, and if so, what do I do about it? I am on well water, and I get water from an outside faucet that bypasses our water conditioner, because I have experienced gradual but inevitable fish death if I use the conditioned water. Any advice anyone can provide would be a huge help; I could take advantage of the offer on the bulb packaging, which says that if they don't grow I can send them back in exchange for new ones, but I'm really not sure that would make a difference. These all looked fine, intact and with some visible thready roots, so what's the problem?

 

[Ellenquacker72]

What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[somnomania]

Hah, that never even occurred to me as a potential problem. I have a single GE Soft White 15w bulb, as other bulbs seemed too harsh and glaring. Also bettas require/prefer a more filtered light, as through plants, but if a brighter bulb would help the plants grow...

Also I take back my statement that none of the plant bulbs had done anything; one lily bulb finally has a small sprout next to it. But otherwise none of them have done anything.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi and welcome to the site!
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html

 

[Koikid88]

Don't buy from petsmart.
Keep neons in groups of 5 or preferably more.

 

[KaylNeko]

I got a package from walmart that had 5 bulbs in it over a month ago. I've had 1 sprout, and it took about a month. I have two that are still sitting and waiting--so long as it's not growing white fungus, I'd leave them in there.

Increase your light and that will help with all plants--try a compact flourescant that's in the daylight/soft white spectrum and see if you can find a floating plant bunch (enough to give at least a palm sized cover for him)--hornwort, dwarf lettuce, water sprite--so that if the betta wants out of the light, he can duck under the floating plant. See if you can encourage it to stay over an area that's not over a plant--that'll give you the best of both worlds. Enough light for the plants, enough shade for the betta. That's what I did, and it's working great.

Ensure the plants you get are actually aquatic plants--a lot of the plants sold by pet stores are actually semi-aquatic and will die in a tank. Try looking into anubias, amazon sword, cryptocoryne, vallisneria, water wisteria, and java fern--those are low light plants that are pretty easy to care for and just need trimmed when they get to tall.

Agreed with Koikid on the neons--need at least 5, preferably more, and a 5 gallon tank isn't big enough for them IMO. Petsmart's not awful--not the best deals, but not awful depending on your store. I got a fair number of plants from them for my first tank, and a couple for my 55 gallon. I wouldn't buy if the fish constantly look like they're living in filth and half are dead. The Petsmart's around where I live vary on their knowledge, but the fish are mostly well taken care of. I go to my LFS first, Petsmart and the good Petcos second if it's not something she has or can order.

 

[somnomania]

We do all our animal-based shopping at Petsmart, and have had no problems that could specifically be blamed on them. Fish, especially, have been good from them. We don't have a Petco near us and I don't like how they treat their non-aquatic animals anyway. We also don't have an LFS anywhere nearby.

As for the neons, I had read that it needed to be at least three, but that more would be better. It's a moot point now, anyway, with all of them dead.

I know at least one of the plant tubes I bought initially was anubias, and I think the other two may have been amazon sword and water wisteria, but I'm not positive. A couple of the bulbs I put in do have some fuzzy white stuff on them, so I'll take those out, and just wait for the others. The one lily bulb that's finally sprouted is doing really well now that it's up. I'll also look into some kind of floating shade that the betta can hide under – plant or otherwise – because he really is the whole reason I'm hesitant to put a brighter light in there. Thank you for all the advice!

 

[KaylNeko]

Anubias, wisteria, and amazon sword are good--I only mentioned it because more than half the plants they sell aren't good, but the tubes are pretty good at labeling them as aquatic or semi-aquatic. The Petsmart's around here sell hornwort, so that's an option. Also, there's a little toy called a Betta Log--I thought it was a stupid gimmick, but my guy likes his. It usually gets taken over by a shrimp or a snail, but he still likes it. An option if you can't find any floating plants--might try a garden center, too, if Petsmart doesn't have any. ^_^