The guy that I regularly buy fish from has them and I thought they looked pretty cool. Was wondering if anyone has any experience keeping them with shrimp? Someone said they can be pretty aggressive and might hunt the babies which I can't afford since I'm planning on getting 2 pairs of adult shrimp to start a new colony. In one tank I have spotted rasboras with shrimp which isn't a problem although I caught one of them trying to take a bite out of a shrimp even tho the shrimp was a bit big bigger.
Question about Albino Glowlight Tetra
- Thread starter NStalgia
- Start date
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Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Despite what I've been reading online, any Tetra specie has the ability to eat your baby shrimp. They may do fine with the adults but if you are concerned about them eating your baby fish, I suggest not adding fish to the tank. Only fish that are 100% vegetarians can be trusted with baby shrimps and those fish get way to large to keep in a shrimp tank. They are just too much of a natural food source for carnivorous and omnivorous fish species.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
All fish will eat baby shrimp. If you want to breed anything, have a single species enclosure/ aquarium.
Glowlight tetras are peaceful and don't require much work. Have soft water (GH below 150ppm) that is slightly acidic (pH below 7.0), feed them a variety of food, keep them in groups of 10 or more, and they are happy.
Normal glowlight tetras are more colourful than albinos.
Glowlight tetras are peaceful and don't require much work. Have soft water (GH below 150ppm) that is slightly acidic (pH below 7.0), feed them a variety of food, keep them in groups of 10 or more, and they are happy.
Normal glowlight tetras are more colourful than albinos.
10 is the minimum? Hmm I think they'll feel crowded in a 10in cube so gonna have to find a different fish. Thing is I need a fish in there with the shrimp so it doesn't get mosquitoes. Also I heard someone say if there's too many fish with them, you won't be able to get the best out of your shrimps cause they might be hiding most of the time.
I'm gonna have to check those normal glowlights in person cause it's hard to judge with pictures. The Albinos look prehistoric to me somehow that's why I find them cool.
I'm gonna have to check those normal glowlights in person cause it's hard to judge with pictures. The Albinos look prehistoric to me somehow that's why I find them cool.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
School sizes can be a bit arbitrary when you look online. The issue is that they do better in schools and schooling fish tend to have a hierarchy within the school so if there are only 2 they will fight. If there are only 3, #1 will pick on #2 and #2 will pick on #3. When you have them en mass, the hierarchy gets diluted as will the aggression. Smaller fish, like the Glo-lites, will always feel more secure when en mass no matter what else is in the tank with them.
As for a good fish to keep with your shrimp that will eat mosquito larvae, unfortunately there are no fish that are large enough to eat mosquito larvae that will be happy in a 10" cube tank. The right fish for that is a Betta but a Betta can eat your shrimp. Your best bet is to use a cover on the tank to keep mosquitos out.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
I lived in an area that had so many mosquitos, you had to go inside when you saw the sky change colour. And when the sky changed colour, you heard the buzzing from hundreds of meters away. There were literally millions of mozzies that used to get airborne in the afternoon there and if you stayed outside, you would disappear. They would drink you alive. I never had problems with mozzies breeding in my aquariums. I had an airstone (or several) in each tank and the female mozzies won't lay eggs on water that is rough and turbulent. They like calm still water.
Shrimp will eat mozzie larvae if they can catch them.
I wouldn't worry about mozzies breeding in the shrimp tank unless you have no surface turbulence and a house full of mozzies.
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If you want a nice tank for the albino glowlight tetras, set up a 24-30 inch long tank and put black gravel in it. Put a black backing on the tank. Put dark green plants along the back and sides. Have some floating plants and add the fish. The white body of the fish will stand out in contrast to the black and dark green and look stunning.
Years ago I had a tank with black mollies in. I used a white gravel and light green backing. There were lots of Water Sprite plants (Ceratopteris thalictroides) on the surface and planted in the gravel. The black fish stood out really well against the white and light green.
Shrimp will eat mozzie larvae if they can catch them.
I wouldn't worry about mozzies breeding in the shrimp tank unless you have no surface turbulence and a house full of mozzies.
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If you want a nice tank for the albino glowlight tetras, set up a 24-30 inch long tank and put black gravel in it. Put a black backing on the tank. Put dark green plants along the back and sides. Have some floating plants and add the fish. The white body of the fish will stand out in contrast to the black and dark green and look stunning.
Years ago I had a tank with black mollies in. I used a white gravel and light green backing. There were lots of Water Sprite plants (Ceratopteris thalictroides) on the surface and planted in the gravel. The black fish stood out really well against the white and light green.
I use spotted rasboras for one of my shrimp cube tanks. There's 6 of them. Works great, haven't had any mosquitoes but I'm not sure if they really do eat them cause I tried giving them some a bit bigger ones that I took out of my crayfish tank and they just ignored it. Eventually my endler got to it. The rasboras rarely bother the shrimps so they're able to move around and reproduce freely. Just thought I'd try a different fish for my other tank. Think I'll go for a couple of AFR guppies. Finished the brown tank and made it a little less cluttered so I can easily take out the fish or the culls for when I grade the shrimps. Thinking of adding my pygmy Cory's in there but I don't think they'll be happy with the rough substrate.
Attachments
They eat mosquitoes? Woah never seen that before but thanks for the info. Idk where all the mosquitoes are coming from in our area, I think one of our neighbors was stocking water and breeding them or something. When I go to the garage at night I bump into them cause they're that many now. It's funny cause I tried catching mosquito larvae outside by leaving a bucket with water in a dark corner but I can never get any. Instead I catch them sometimes in one of my empty tanks.
Oh yea I'm gonna try adding some bushy background plants but I never have much luck with them in the background. They usually melt. This time I'll try some tried and tested plants that do well in my tanks. I love water sprite but I can't seem to keep them for long. They always start turning black starting from the stem bellow where they're tuck into the substrate.
Oh yea I'm gonna try adding some bushy background plants but I never have much luck with them in the background. They usually melt. This time I'll try some tried and tested plants that do well in my tanks. I love water sprite but I can't seem to keep them for long. They always start turning black starting from the stem bellow where they're tuck into the substrate.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
If the stems on new plant turn black shortly after you get them, they have been damaged and you need to find a different supplier or make sure you aren't damaging them when you plant them. Water Sprite grows best on the surface and I leave it to cover the surface, then take some and plant them in the substrate. The stems do snap and get damaged easily so handle with care.
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AQUARIUM PLANTS 1.01
TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.
In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.
At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.
Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.
If you don't have live plants in the tank, you only need the light on for a few hours in the evening. You might turn them on at 4 or 5pm and off at 9pm.
If you do have live plants in the tank, you can have the lights on for 8-16 hours a day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness to rest. Most people with live plants in their aquarium will have the lights on for 8-12 hours a day.
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LIGHTING TIMES
Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.
If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.
Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.
Plant lights should have equal amount of red and blue light and a bit less green light.
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TWO LIGHT UNITS
If you have two light units on the tank, put them on timers and have one come on first, then an hour later the second one can come on. It will be less stressful for the fish.
In the evening, turn the first light off and wait an hour, then have the second light go out.
If the lights have a low, medium and high intensity setting, have them on low in the morning, then increase it to medium after a couple of hours, and then high for the main part of the day. In the evening, reverse this and have the medium setting for a few hours, then low. Then turn the lights off.
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LIST OF PLANTS TO TRY
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow or twisted/ spiral Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.
Ambulia, H. polysperma, Elodia/ Hydrilla and Vallis are tall plants that do well along the back. Rotala macranda is a medium/ tallish red plant that usually does well.
H. ruba/ rubra is a medium height plant that looks good on the sides of the tank.
Cryptocorynes are small/ medium plants that are taller than pygmy chain swords but shorter than H. rubra. They also come in a range of colours, mostly different shades of green, brown or purplish red. Crypts are not the easiest plant to grow but can do well if they are healthy to begin with and are not disturbed after planting in the tank.
Most Amazon sword plants can get pretty big and are usually kept in the middle of the tank as a show piece. There is an Ozelot sword plant that has brown spots on green leaves, and a red ruffle sword plant (name may vary depending on where you live) with deep red leaves.
There is a pygmy chain sword plant that is small and does well in the front of the tank.
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GROWING PLANTS IN POTS
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.
You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.
You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.
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We did plants in pots for a couple of reasons.
1) I was working in an aquaculture facility and we grew and sold live plants to shops. Some of the shops wanted advanced plants in pots so we did that.
2) Plants like sword plants love nutrients and have big root systems so they needed more gravel and big pots. When given ideal conditions these plants would produce lots of runners with new plants on and we got more plants to sell.
3) Most of the tanks only had a thin layer of substrate that was nowhere near thick enough for plants to grow in so having them in pots allowed us to grow plants in tanks with minimal gravel in the tank.
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TRUE AQUATIC VS MARSH/ TERRESTRIAL PLANTS
Lots of plants are sold as aquarium plants and most are marsh plants that do really well when their roots are in water and the rest of the plant is above water. Some marsh plants will do well underwater too.
Hair grass is not a true aquatic plant, neither is Anubias.
Some common marsh plants include Amazon sword plants, Cryptocorynes, Hygrophila sp, Rotala sp, Ludwigia sp, Bacopa sp. These plant do reasonably well underwater.
True aquatic plants include Ambulia, Cabomba, Hornwort, Elodia, Hydrilla and Vallis.
The main difference between marsh plants and true aquatic plants is the stem. True aquatics have a soft flexible stem with air bubbles in it. These bubbles help the plant float and remain buoyant in the water column.
Marsh plants have a rigid stem and these plants can remain standing upright when removed from water. Whereas true aquatic plants will fall over/ collapse when removed from water.
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IRON BASED PLANT FERTILISER
If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. An iron based fertiliser is not just iron, it contains other nutrients as well, but the main ingredient is iron. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
You use an iron (Fe) test kit to monitor iron levels and keep them at 1mg/l (1ppm).
I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.
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CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
There is no point adding carbon dioxide (CO2) until you have the lights and nutrients worked out. Even then you don't need CO2 unless the tank is completely full of plants and only has a few small fish in or no fish in it.
There are no natural waterways anywhere around the world that have supplemental CO2 added to them to make aquatic plants grow. People add CO2 to aquariums to help some marsh/ terrestrial plants grow underwater. These plants should not be grown in aquariums and the fact they need to add CO2 (as well as huge amounts of fertiliser and light) just to keep them alive is a clear indication they shouldn't be kept underwater.
In an average aquarium, there is a constant source of carbon dioxide produced all day and night by the fish, and the bacteria in the gravel and filter. More CO2 gets into the aquarium from the air mixing with the water. And plants release small amounts of CO2 when resting. There is no real need to add CO2, either in a gas or liquid form to an aquarium unless it is devoid of fish. There is plenty of CO2 in the water in most aquariums.
Liquid CO2 boosters often contain Glutaraldehyde, which is a disinfectant used to clean and sterilise medical equipment. It is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms and people have wiped out tanks by adding too much of it. These products should not be used for aquariums.
For aquarium plants to use supplemental CO2, they need lots of light and lots of nutrients. Unless they have the light and nutrients, they won't use a lot of CO2, so there's no point adding extra. To check if your plants are getting lots of light, see if any of them produce streams of tiny little bubbles from their leaves. This is called pearling and is the plant photosynthesising and producing tiny bubbles of oxygen. Algae also does this when given bright light and nutrients.
--------------------
PLANT SUBSTRATE
Some pet shops sell aquatic plant substrates that are meant to improve plant growth. Most don't do anything except add a lot of ammonia to the water and eventually turn into a brown mud on the bottom. Since the majority of aquatic plants take in the nutrients they need via their leaves, having a plant substrate is not going to help much. There are exceptions to this and laterite (red clay) can sometimes be added to the gravel to increase the iron level for the plants taking in nutrients via their roots. But for most plant tanks, all you need is gravel on the bottom of the tank.
Most aquatic plants need at least 2 inches of substrate to grow in and some need 3-4 inches.
--------------------
AQUARIUM PLANTS 1.01
TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.
In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.
At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.
Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.
If you don't have live plants in the tank, you only need the light on for a few hours in the evening. You might turn them on at 4 or 5pm and off at 9pm.
If you do have live plants in the tank, you can have the lights on for 8-16 hours a day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness to rest. Most people with live plants in their aquarium will have the lights on for 8-12 hours a day.
--------------------
LIGHTING TIMES
Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.
If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.
Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.
Plant lights should have equal amount of red and blue light and a bit less green light.
--------------------
TWO LIGHT UNITS
If you have two light units on the tank, put them on timers and have one come on first, then an hour later the second one can come on. It will be less stressful for the fish.
In the evening, turn the first light off and wait an hour, then have the second light go out.
If the lights have a low, medium and high intensity setting, have them on low in the morning, then increase it to medium after a couple of hours, and then high for the main part of the day. In the evening, reverse this and have the medium setting for a few hours, then low. Then turn the lights off.
--------------------
LIST OF PLANTS TO TRY
Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow or twisted/ spiral Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.
Ambulia, H. polysperma, Elodia/ Hydrilla and Vallis are tall plants that do well along the back. Rotala macranda is a medium/ tallish red plant that usually does well.
H. ruba/ rubra is a medium height plant that looks good on the sides of the tank.
Cryptocorynes are small/ medium plants that are taller than pygmy chain swords but shorter than H. rubra. They also come in a range of colours, mostly different shades of green, brown or purplish red. Crypts are not the easiest plant to grow but can do well if they are healthy to begin with and are not disturbed after planting in the tank.
Most Amazon sword plants can get pretty big and are usually kept in the middle of the tank as a show piece. There is an Ozelot sword plant that has brown spots on green leaves, and a red ruffle sword plant (name may vary depending on where you live) with deep red leaves.
There is a pygmy chain sword plant that is small and does well in the front of the tank.
--------------------
GROWING PLANTS IN POTS
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.
You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.
You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.
--------------------
We did plants in pots for a couple of reasons.
1) I was working in an aquaculture facility and we grew and sold live plants to shops. Some of the shops wanted advanced plants in pots so we did that.
2) Plants like sword plants love nutrients and have big root systems so they needed more gravel and big pots. When given ideal conditions these plants would produce lots of runners with new plants on and we got more plants to sell.
3) Most of the tanks only had a thin layer of substrate that was nowhere near thick enough for plants to grow in so having them in pots allowed us to grow plants in tanks with minimal gravel in the tank.
--------------------
TRUE AQUATIC VS MARSH/ TERRESTRIAL PLANTS
Lots of plants are sold as aquarium plants and most are marsh plants that do really well when their roots are in water and the rest of the plant is above water. Some marsh plants will do well underwater too.
Hair grass is not a true aquatic plant, neither is Anubias.
Some common marsh plants include Amazon sword plants, Cryptocorynes, Hygrophila sp, Rotala sp, Ludwigia sp, Bacopa sp. These plant do reasonably well underwater.
True aquatic plants include Ambulia, Cabomba, Hornwort, Elodia, Hydrilla and Vallis.
The main difference between marsh plants and true aquatic plants is the stem. True aquatics have a soft flexible stem with air bubbles in it. These bubbles help the plant float and remain buoyant in the water column.
Marsh plants have a rigid stem and these plants can remain standing upright when removed from water. Whereas true aquatic plants will fall over/ collapse when removed from water.
--------------------
IRON BASED PLANT FERTILISER
If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. An iron based fertiliser is not just iron, it contains other nutrients as well, but the main ingredient is iron. The liquid iron based aquarium plant fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
You use an iron (Fe) test kit to monitor iron levels and keep them at 1mg/l (1ppm).
I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.
--------------------
CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
There is no point adding carbon dioxide (CO2) until you have the lights and nutrients worked out. Even then you don't need CO2 unless the tank is completely full of plants and only has a few small fish in or no fish in it.
There are no natural waterways anywhere around the world that have supplemental CO2 added to them to make aquatic plants grow. People add CO2 to aquariums to help some marsh/ terrestrial plants grow underwater. These plants should not be grown in aquariums and the fact they need to add CO2 (as well as huge amounts of fertiliser and light) just to keep them alive is a clear indication they shouldn't be kept underwater.
In an average aquarium, there is a constant source of carbon dioxide produced all day and night by the fish, and the bacteria in the gravel and filter. More CO2 gets into the aquarium from the air mixing with the water. And plants release small amounts of CO2 when resting. There is no real need to add CO2, either in a gas or liquid form to an aquarium unless it is devoid of fish. There is plenty of CO2 in the water in most aquariums.
Liquid CO2 boosters often contain Glutaraldehyde, which is a disinfectant used to clean and sterilise medical equipment. It is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms and people have wiped out tanks by adding too much of it. These products should not be used for aquariums.
For aquarium plants to use supplemental CO2, they need lots of light and lots of nutrients. Unless they have the light and nutrients, they won't use a lot of CO2, so there's no point adding extra. To check if your plants are getting lots of light, see if any of them produce streams of tiny little bubbles from their leaves. This is called pearling and is the plant photosynthesising and producing tiny bubbles of oxygen. Algae also does this when given bright light and nutrients.
--------------------
PLANT SUBSTRATE
Some pet shops sell aquatic plant substrates that are meant to improve plant growth. Most don't do anything except add a lot of ammonia to the water and eventually turn into a brown mud on the bottom. Since the majority of aquatic plants take in the nutrients they need via their leaves, having a plant substrate is not going to help much. There are exceptions to this and laterite (red clay) can sometimes be added to the gravel to increase the iron level for the plants taking in nutrients via their roots. But for most plant tanks, all you need is gravel on the bottom of the tank.
Most aquatic plants need at least 2 inches of substrate to grow in and some need 3-4 inches.
Thanks I'll read that a little later. The water sprite took a while to slowly melt. Maybe a couple months. Some said it might've been grown emersed. The guy I bought it from grows them all in containers in his backyard. I used soil mixed with pumice stone as the base layer. It was great and managed to make some of the plants take root. Had to take it apart and redo it again to make the sand thinner to give the plants stem more room to breathe also so I wouldn't have to bury the dwarf sagittaria too deep for the roots to get to the soil layer. It was painful separating everything, hope this is the last I need to do it. Bought some root tabs and took it apart and planted one near every plant. There's also a red plant in there now idk the name and I just decided to put it in a pot to see if it survives in my tank.
Attachments
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
Water Sprite is never grown out of water, it doesn't survive in dry conditions like marsh plants do. Most people grow it on the surface of water but some grow it in pots underwater.
The Water Sprite needs the stems out of the gravel or they rot. The roots get buried but the stems and leaves have to be above the substrate.
If the plants took a couple of months to die, it was lack of light or nutrients, or an infection in the plant, either caused by physical damage or having the stems buried in the substrate.
Did the Water Sprite have a decent root system when you got it?
The Water Sprite needs the stems out of the gravel or they rot. The roots get buried but the stems and leaves have to be above the substrate.
If the plants took a couple of months to die, it was lack of light or nutrients, or an infection in the plant, either caused by physical damage or having the stems buried in the substrate.
Did the Water Sprite have a decent root system when you got it?
m.j.gomez
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hello, I found theses the other day. I think they're cool but a little pricey!!!!!
Ahh I see. No it didn't have any roots, the guy just harvested it so I'm guessing he gave me the upper part of the plants. If I get some again I'll try putting them in those plastic aquarium pots. I'm guessing it was lack of nutrients cause I tried floating one and it grew roots on it's stems but then it just slowly melted after a while too.
Btw do you have a lot of experience with plants? Cause speaking of infection, I'm having trouble with some pothos and basil that I'm trying to grow on top of my tanks. Some just suddenly turn soft or wilt overnight. Completely different from some of my plants that normally just become yellow when they're dying. I was thinking insects might've gotten to it.
Btw do you have a lot of experience with plants? Cause speaking of infection, I'm having trouble with some pothos and basil that I'm trying to grow on top of my tanks. Some just suddenly turn soft or wilt overnight. Completely different from some of my plants that normally just become yellow when they're dying. I was thinking insects might've gotten to it.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you got stems of Water Sprite, then the supplier simply broke some branches off their plants and sent them to you. That's not a good way to get them. If you buy Water Sprite or any floating plant, it should have leaves and roots. The best size plants for Water Sprite have stems/ leaves about 3-5 inches long and roots that are a similar length. If you get Water Sprite cuttings without roots, let them float and hope they survive. If they do survive, let them spread across the top and when you have a number of healthy plants with a decent root system, then plant those.
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Basil is a herb and they don't like wet feet (wet roots). If it is wilting overnight and dying, then it is rotting and has a fungal infection caused by too much water.
If you have terrestrial plants above the aquarium, only have the bottom 1/2 to 1 inch of the pot in the water and keep the rest of the pot out of water. The plants will send water roots into the aquarium water and have air roots above the water in the pot.
AlbanyFishGuy
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2023
- Messages
- 32
I had same issue with Pothos. They do great in tank or filter for a month or 2 then slowly droop, discolor or rot. I tried them in a tank that had been used as an emergency fry tank. As they grew i needed a light so i bought a clip on plant light at home depot for 20 bucks. The pothos TOOK OFF. Crazy root system going all the way to the bottom, new leaflets, firm sturdy leaves.....so why not in my 20gallon established tank?? Then it dawned on me.....its the light. My tank light is attached to the lid. All the plants in the tank grow like crazy. Since the pothos is root only in the water or filter, its never getting proper light. I tested this theory and attached the light in a way so that it was raised above both the pothos and the tank itself. 2 weeks later, crazy roots strong leaves. Same with white ribbon plant. Seemed so simple once i figured it out.
I think I'm finally improving with some plants. Root tabs plus dirt bottom layer helps a lot. I might try again and get some water sprite. I wanna put some thick green plants in the back but still not confident they will survive with minimal lighting. With the herbs I made a cover with holes in them so only the lower part is submerged in the water. My Betta loves it. Thanks for the advice. It's hard to improve when I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong but I'll keep trying.
I see, but my Pothos are directly in front of a window with strong lighting. But it's almost exactly the same issue I'm having. Suddenly it droops but it doesn't discolor, just very slowly shrivel while still retaining it's green color. Thanks for the info btw cause now I think I can tell that the yellow discoloring is a sign of lack of lighting. Having that problem with a monstera cutting right now and trying to save it, thankfully I managed to move it in time and now it's growing a new leaf the old leaf turned too yellow tho so I think it's gonna come off
the old leaf turned too yellow tho so I think it's gonna come offSimilar threads
