# Best beginner first time plant for this tank ( pictures )



## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Hello, I've been loving my first betta Tywin, and I'm finally becoming comfortable in his care. Now I think I'd like to try a plant, I will be at persmart tomorrow while im in that town. I'm aware it is probably not the best place to purchase anything of extreme quality but as I said I am a beginner and it's easily accessible. So looking for suggestions on which type I should get, I will only be starting with one at the beginning.

Here is my tank: hopefully you can see the picture.


It is cycled with a filter
10 gallons 
It has an overhead light which looks to be fluorescent
It says not to use anything rated over 15 watts so I assume it's in that range
Tank has a heater but so far I only use it at night when I turn off the tank light, the tank lights has consistently kept the water temp at 79,80 degrees unless our heater on in the home then it's never gone higher then 82.

So any suggestions for type of plant for these conditions or advice on what to change or additional plant tips would be appreciated.

Also I intend to get a snail or two with the plant to aid in tank cleanup so snail suggestions greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks everyone


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## bettagurl777 (Mar 19, 2015)

Moss balls can be good as well, if you don't want a snail.
As for plants, real, if you are willing to take care of it, but if not silk plants are good.


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Thanks! I'm actually kind of looking forward to snails just as extra life to observe in the tank. And the plants you see in the picture are silk, I want to try a live plant and see how I do so I can eventually have all real plants. I'm looking more for specific live plant suggestion. Thanks for your response!


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## summersea (Jul 26, 2013)

Easiest beginner plants at petsmart would be anubias and java ferns. Those would do well in a tank like yours. Don't bury them in the gravel as that will kill them but you can tie them to rocks to get them to sink.


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## livenatso (Mar 1, 2015)

For an unkillable, no maintenance plant Java fern in my experience is it. Got some that were half dead-looking from petsmart (kinda brown and patchy probably from the complete lack of lighting). They weren't pretty enough for me so I ended up giving them and some other excess plants I had to my mom to put in the goldfish tank. She buried them (rhizome and all) in little glass jars and put them in there. My eight inch common goldfish tore apart and devoured every plant except java fern which I guess was too hard for him to bite through. 

I changed the water yesterday, uprooted the little jars, and miraculously the java fern looked pretty much the same as when I bought them. No better, but surprisingly not any worse even after about a month of abuse from my goldfish, lack of light, and having had its rhizome buried. I ended up cutting off the deadest looking leaves and tied some big decorative beads on them to weigh them down and I think with some ferts they might be able to green back up. So if you could find some that are in good condition already then that might be your best bet.

If you're up for something thats a little bit more demanding, the first plant I ever got that I had good success with was actually an amazon sword. It grows at a fantastic rate. Granted I use fluval stratum as substrate so that might have helped but im sure a root tab like once every few months near the roots would keep it happy. I've also had good success with stem plants like Cabomba (which I also bought from petsmart!! they too were also kinda sad looking when I bought them... My petsmart just isnt good with plants I guess...) however they seem like really hungry plants so you might need some liquid fertilizer in case they start looking drab... I personally use Seachem's flourish comprehensive. My dwarf sag have also done okay and have been very low maintenance even though whenever I rescape they take a bit of a beating from me. I just use my tiny Ikea desk lamp for these plants so whatever you have in your tank should be strong enough for these too.


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Well in my impatience my girlfriend went to a tattoo shop today. Which I was more then happy to accompany her as its next door to our LPS and I ended up coming home with a amazon sword plant and a zebra nerite snail. So any tips are greatly appreciated for this haha and thanks for the other tips guys sorry I jumped the gun but within a month ive become obsessed with this tank and my fish


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Here is a picture. Dont mind the reflection of "Friends" playing on our tv


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## livenatso (Mar 1, 2015)

Yay amazon sword!!! It looks so good in there. They're heavy root feeders so root tabs = good idea. If it gets too big, to trim it all you do is cut the stem of the leaf thats too long close to the base where all the stems shoot out of. If the plant is doing well you should see a new little leaf coming out from the middle of the base on a regular basis.


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Awesome thanks so much! Ill be sure to look you up if I have any issues!


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

And poncho looks content, having already conquered Mount Thermo


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Went to petsmart as planned today and I got me an.anubias nana got it anchored down to a couple large rocks and an additional snail came home with me as well. Very excited to.dabble in plants now!


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

I love the java fern in there! I have cryptocoryne in both of my tanks. It's super slow growing, but I love it. I also have one anubias nana, and I think the betta loves it! I think they both make great beginner plants -- they're low light and seem to be doing fine in my beginner planted tanks!


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Thanks sadist just today I got a java fern.

So now I think im happy with the anunias nana (far left) the new java fern (back left) and the Amazon sword (right)

Wish us luck!


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

Good luck!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

If you ever want a nice foreground plant, Crypt 'petchii' stays small and looks good in a small group/bunch. Easy to grow and probably my favorite Cryptocoryne.

Tank is looking good!


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Oh don't tell me that ma'am I am so obsessed with this tank ill end up buying them all. I've seen your tanks and already I want to buy a 20 gallon for an NPT. I'm never satisfied and I just got this tank within the past two weeks. Plus you have me wanting adf's once the cycle is more mature. What are the crypto plants? My LPS had my sword and fern but the rest of their plants I did not recognize and the employees knew less then I did. And petsmart seemed just to have the most common plants such as anubias and ferns. I'd absolutely love more plants haha


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

I also ordered som IAL from bettawan which shipped yesterday so I should be giving that a try within two weeks (shipping from thailand is no good for impatient people like me).


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

JDAquatics has Crypt 'petchii' in his eBay store. It's where I bought mine. They are the small plants to the left of the Cholla stump. BTW, all of my tanks are CaribSea Tahitian Moon Sand. I use root and Iron tabs because I have the Swords and Crypts.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odk...petchii.TRS0&_nkw=petchii&ghostText=&_sacat=0

You should check out AquaBid's SNE next month on the 18th.


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## Trip77Legit (Mar 15, 2015)

Awesome! Will do thanks!


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