# Plant Issue. Petco Lies!!!



## MJK87 (Jul 18, 2011)

So im a little upset. Today I was at petco and decided to get a grassy plant for my tank for the background. I bought a pot of mondo grass thinking that it was going to be like the grass in the beautiful display they have at the store (since thats what the employee told me it was) but upon further research I found out that it isin't the grass in the display and that it is not a true aquatic and will die in tanks. Ive had this problem buying plants from petco more than once and im fed up. Can someone tell me some true aquatics that will thrive in my 5 gallon tank? I need background plants and some foreground plants. I found what looks like a reputable website called planted aquariums central and I have decided to bypass petco and order them online so Im sure I get what I need. I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me.

I have a 6500k 13 watt fluorescent bulb in my hood and floramax plant substrate. My tank also has one Anubis plant that is growing well.

Thank you.


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

Some of the simpler plants, and fairly low light, are anubis (as you have found) java fern, and java moss. Anachris can be hit or miss, it grows like a week, but it needs to be trimmed of browning leaves very frequently. There is a really nice guide to aquatic plants which I highly suggest.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=76428


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

i remember seeing a forum thread that listed semi aquatics LPS usually mark as fully aquatic. cant seem to find it atm .


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

You can get a neat grassy sort if effect by attaching flame moss to smaller rocks...once the moss starts growing upward it looks nice and grassy...some other grassy looking plants would be dwarf sagittaria...microsword..dwarf hairgrass.. vallisneria..
I have only tried the moss and vallisneria though and my val melted and didnt survive...I have a very low tech low light tank though so that may have been the reason. If you can get it to grow though val makes a wonderful grassy background plant..I also recommend rotala as a background stem plant...It is a very hardy plant and it grows really quickly...I started out with a few stems and now have 2 tanks full of rotala... Java fern is a nice plant too.


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

if you want a nice floating plant, pennywort is awesome. My girls nap in it all the time.


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## MJK87 (Jul 18, 2011)

Silverfang said:


> if you want a nice floating plant, pennywort is awesome. My girls nap in it all the time.


I know this sounds like a really stupid question but how do you float a plant? Do you actually plant it and let it grow so that the top of the plant floats on the surface or do you just float the whole plant on the surface of the water?


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

When you "float" a plant, so long as it can live that way, you literally just allow it to float. No planting needed. Some plants like vals, anacharis, etc. do indeed grow that tall and "bend" with the water when they get tall.

Note, though, that not all plants can live well while floating.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Java fern (can't remember what it is labeled as) is sold at Petsmart and is a great background plant for a 5 gal. I have duckweed as a floating plant in with my bettas. Water sprite it another good choice for a floating plant, but it's not available at Petsmart. Anubias is another good choice for a 5 gal, and I think it is found at Petsmart.


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## MJK87 (Jul 18, 2011)

Can you actually buy duckweed or does it only come from hitchhiking on other plants?


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

I've seen it for sale on aquabid, most places just have it as a pest and I've seen plants listed as guaranteed duckweed free


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## MJK87 (Jul 18, 2011)

I wish we had a local store that sold good aquatic plants. Petco is pretty much it. Can anyone tell me what to expect if I order them offline? How are they shipped? Ive been looking a plantedaquariumscentral.com. Has anyone ordered from them before? What about liveaquaria.com?


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

Aquatic plants from Petco are good plants but you have to do your research and know what you're buying. I too wanted a grassy plant but I couldn't recall one named "Mondo" from my research so I asked an employee and she confirmed it was not aquatic. From the petstores, I stick with the ones although I wish they had more variety.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

MJK87 said:


> Can you actually buy duckweed or does it only come from hitchhiking on other plants?


I bought duckweed from Carolina Biological, a life science supply store. I've also ordered plants from liveaquaria. Had good experiences with both. The duckweed has already taken over the top of my betta tank, and I just got it last Monday.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I got a fern from them that said aquatic but it was semi aquatic. It tried planting it but its way too dry up here


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