Hm, what plants?

[Fathomed]

I've been thinking for a while now and still don't know the right answer. Whether to get real plants or fake. I don't know the benefits of real plants but I'm pretty sure I won't need to be taking any extra measures with fake plants.

I'm planning on getting a 30 gallon tank but currently using a 5 gallon. By the way, I've tried to find a used, decent-priced tank at the craigslist website but failed many times.

Thanks.

 

[Purrbox]

Personally I think that live plants look much better than fake plants. They are also a lot less expensive once you get them growing well. The benefit of fake plants is that if you have any algae issues, you can simply remove them and scrub them clean.

For additional information on growing live plants, I suggest you check out the Planted Tank forum. There's a sticky at the top of the forum with links to threads and articles with lots of great information on all aspects of growing plants. I suggest that you do this before aquiring an aquarium, as most standard lighting will only grow very low to low light plants at best. If you decide to go with live plants it probably will affect what you want to look for equipment wise.

 

[saffikeagan]

I had that same debate. I decided fake, then went out and bought myself the ones I could afford (yep, walmart). After putting them all in, I decided they looked like crap, pulled them out, and took them back. LOL.

I have my tank now semi-planted. I have some anabis (?) a crypt, and some java moss. It's been slightly frustrating to get them how I like them. It seems I'll bury them in the sand, and as soon as I need to do some tank maintenance, 1/2 come unburied again. Then there was the fact that the LFS sold me a big ball of java moss that was brown. It stayed brown, too and created a mess. HOWEVER, they do look really nice in the tank, and I'm sure as soon as I beat the learning curve. I'm going to have a great looking tank

The moral of the story, is that live plants look great, but can be work especially if you have a semi-black thumb. I didn't realize it wasn't going to be any harder than buy plant, put plant in substrate, ignore plant until it needs pruning.

 

[Purrbox]

Java Moss should not be brown. Remove any portions that are brown (ie dead or dying) and only keep the green bits. Depending on how much is left after you remove the brown portions, you may want to try tying it to a stone or driftwood. Spread thinly and wrap with cotton string to fasten.

The Anubias will also do well tied to stone or driftwood. Gently position the Anubias on the driftwood getting the rhizome (thick horizontal stem that the roots and leaves grow out of) as close the wood as possible without harming the roots. Then wrap with cotton thread to secure.

By securing both these plants to some hard scape you won't have to worry about them becoming dislodged during maintenance. For the plants that are in the substrate, they will just need some time (usually 2-4 weeks) to starting putting out new roots and securing themselves. Once this happens they won't become dislodged nearly as easily anymore.