# Got some live plants today



## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

I've always wanted to try live plants and got some today at Big Al's. What a difference it makes, tank looks so much more natural. I was told these plants I have require fairly low light so I should be okay.

Here's some pics, will search for how to maintain the plants but if anyone can identify what plants I bought, that'd be great. I don't remember the names after I left the store.

Much appreciate your help.

Tank picture:









First plant:









Second plant:









Third plant:


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

The first is a _Bacopa_ species, perhaps _B. monnieri_.

The second is Anacharis (_Egeria densa_)

The third is _Hygrophila polysperma_


----------



## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

Thanks so much, for now I keep the bunch together and while I thought I can just root them into the substrate, looksl like for some I'm not supposed to do that. I also wonder if I can separate them so I can lay them out across the tank and how to anchor to the bottom if they're not supposed to be in the substrate?

Will any plant supplement be good such as Seachem Flourish?


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

All of those plants are stem plants and are meant to be planted in the substrate. The weight band is not meant to stay on.. it often damages the stems and you will often find dead stem material and dead roots once you remove it. 

So take off the lead band and separate the stems. Snip off any dead stems, use clean scissors and keep the bottom of the stem under water when you cut.. this helps prevent air from getting into the stem and also helps prevent rotting. Where any leaf joins a stem is called a node. The place to snip a stem is just below a healthy green node. Then remove any dead leaves you find, and strip off one or two pairs of healthy leaves. For the anacharis and the Hygro, strip about an inch of the bottom stem clean of leaves. This is so the leaves won't rot under the gravel. Then tuck the bare end of each stem into the gravel with a bit of space between them.

If you find they tend to come loose and float up at first, you can sort of slide them in a bit sideways for awhile, so they lean a bit, just 'til they grow some roots. Once they have some roots, straighten them up and the roots will hold them down just fine. You can also float them until they grow a few roots and then plant them, be gentle with the roots so they don't break off.

You will have to feed them something. Even low light plants need some feeding. Flourish works well and is easy to use. Once they grow to reach the top of the tank, you will have to trim off cuttings to keep it looking nice. You can toss them, sell them or you can plant them, which will give you a thicker display over time.

The plants that should not be planted are things like anubias, java fern and some mosses that have no roots, and some floating plants that don't root into any substrate, such as frogbit or duckweeds. Ferns and anubias have a rhizome. The rhizome has roots you can plant, but the rhizome itself hates to be buried and will rot if this happens. Stem plants, for the greater part, need to be planted in the substrate, though quite a few of them will also grow if left to float free. If you get a few broken bits of stem, they will often root and grow if left to float for awhile, and can then be planted.


----------



## Zer0 (May 14, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> ...use clean scissors and keep the bottom of the stem under water when you cut.. this helps prevent air from getting into the stem and also helps prevent rotting.


I learned something today!


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Happy to be of help. Btw, that trick of cutting stems under water also works for terrestrial plants.. you will get healthier cuttings that are a bit less prone to rot and a bit quicker to root if they are cut under water. And if you sterilize the scissors or pruners in either alcohol or a 10% bleach solution, you are unlikely to pass any plant diseases from one cutting to another.. just dip the blades between cuts. 

Cut flowers will also last several days to a week longer if you cut off at least a couple of inches of the stems they come with under water, and then repeat this treatment a few days later, and change the water. After you cut the ends off if you raise the cut stem up so you can see the cut end and watch, you'll see the drop of water that clings to the cut end slowly be sucked up into the stem ! Clearly visible evidence of the way water is taken up into plant tissues. It's the same no matter if it's a water plant or land plant.


----------



## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

Thank you very much for cutting the stems under water, never thought that little detail could make such a difference.

You're correct, after I removed the weight band, sure enough the stems that got covered were mostly rotten, I cut them in the tank water and removed some leafs in the area that mostly be buried into the substrate. Being a newbie doing this, I spent almost half an hour to keep the plants in the substrate, that was fun and require some patience 

I'll pick up a bottle of Flourish tomorrow, it's amazing to look at the tank and fish starting to swim through the plants and hiding in between.

As for gravel cleaning, I guess there's no escape but to take everything out? I normally change out 10% water weekly, should I be maintaining the same schedule? I will do a bit more frequent water test just in case if anything goes crazy.

I assume I should remove any dead leafs in the tank? Do I need to check the canister filter more often to remove any dead leafs that got caught?

Much appreicate your help.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Since I don't run a canister filter, I don't know the answer for that, but I'd guess it's better to prevent anything as large as a leaf from getting into the filter at all. Some sort of screening or sponge on the intake would do that.

Yes, remove dead leaves when you see them. Heavily planted tanks don't get vacuumed much, if at all. If you are careful not to overfeed and the tank is not overstocked, you'll be able to manage just with vacuuming where it's clear and not planted. If you find you have a problem with accumulated dirt on the gravel, then you might have to uproot plants to do a thorough cleaning, but hopefully not very often.

If your current WC schedule is working, the plants should not make any difference to it.. they don't add a load to the filtration like fish do.. unless you allow a large amount of dead plant material to build up.


----------



## Gafi (Sep 1, 2011)

this seems silly....but I seem to wind up having dead bottoms to some of my stems....the light seems to penetrate to the bottom of the tank.....you think im planting too closely?


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That can be a reason for the bottom growth to die off.. but it can also be an adaptive problem, and the way around that is to wait 'til you have enough new top growth, take cuttings and plant those.. so long as they are not packed too, too tightly together, the new cuttings will more likely keep their leaves. Similar to the problem of growing something submersed which was grown emersed before you got it. The old emersed growth is going to melt off once you stick it under water. Well, chances of your water being just like the water the plant came from is not so great, so old growth may not do so well, but new growth will be adapted to your tank conditions and do better. And some plants just tend to drop older leaves, though I have to admit I don't know offhand of a water plant that does this, many terrestrial ones do this.

You can also have problems if one plant is partly shaded by another, say one with big leaves shades one beside it too much, then the one beside it may lose leaves on the shaded portion, much the way things don't grow so well in shaded yards.. or a big piece of wood or rock may shade something. Try wider spacing, for sure, but also try new cuttings.. A bit of research on the habits of the particular plant helps too. Some are very finicky and simply won't grow well unless every detail is pretty much spot on. For example, some plants must have soft acidic water or else they're going to die on you, red plants generally need more iron, etc. It pays to research plants - there are always going to be a few you just don't have the right conditions for, and you won't always be able to figure out why one won't work for you, either. It's just one of the joys of gardening in any conditions .


----------



## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

Unfortunately the Bacopa Monnieri wasn't doing good in the tank so I had to pull them out. Egeria Densa is doing great but I couldn't resist trying new plant so I pulled them out and put it in my other little tank.

I removed some rock pieces in the tank for the plants, I just somehow found it all over the place, not too organized. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'd guess you don't have quite enough light for the Bacopa, if the Egeria is doing well and the Bacopa is not. It's more a medium light plant rather than low light. What kind of lights do you have on the tank ?


----------

