# Live plants for plant beginners?



## wystearya (Sep 27, 2010)

Well, I have potted plants, but aquarium plants are new to me. 

Are there any easy to care for plants out there? I think my new boy would like a real plant in the tank. 

I would like something though that isn't likely to be infested with snails. Years ago I got a plant (no idea what kind it was) and I ended up with a ton of snails! I guess their were eggs on the plant.

My tank is 2.5 gallons and is heated. pH is a steady and solid 7. 

So, are there some plants out there I could easily take care of that my Betta boy would enjoy? Something that is OK with lower light levels -as my tank is not lit, though I do have a desk lamp I have been using for a couple hours after sunset.


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## BlueHaven (Jul 17, 2010)

Top Fin has some plants in their own cylinder at petsmart, BUT you have to make sure the one you get is for aquariums, some of them are made for animals like lizards and will die under water. I guess they find it helpful to them not to mention that to customers. 
Anyway, the one's that are underwater are the Tropical Fern (java fern, but on the cylinder it says tropical), just find one that's as green as it can be. If there are some brown spots on some leaves, just pluck the leaf off and another will grow out. Another is the Anubias Nana, it says this on the cyclinder too. They are pretty easy to take care of, requiring a fair amount of light but they don't need tons. I have both of them and they are doing well so far with a 10-15 watt flourescent bulb. AND they are snail free. 

Another plant is the marimo moss ball. I love this plant, it is good in pretty much any aquarium setting, low-high light, and it eats stuff that falls on it, also eating ammonia. You don't really need to use plant food on it, it gets what it needs from the aquarium and you can even separate it to make more than one. 
They come in different sizes, but be sure to rinse it in separate water from your tank first, squeezing it out some because from the store (petsmart, maybe petco) they be a bit dirty inside (not a bad thing, they keep them in their own tank and feed them, that's why...actually keeping some stuff inside it might help seed your tank, but i'm not positive). They will float before sinking too. 

I also have hornwort from petsmart. It's is very pretty and soft, and so far it hasn't been hard to care for, as long as it gets enough light. I think it requires a little more than the others, but I have it with the same lighting and it's doing well. Unfortuntately, it DID have snails on it.....but I rinses it off and picked off the little dirty stems off the main branch/stem and rinsed it off again and the snails all came off. 
I don't know about eggs, but I haven't seen any show up yet. 
I know you said no snails, but I wanted to give you the option anyway because it is a really nice plant and you CAN clean the plant first before adding it to the aquarium. Some people use salt baths (not sure what kind) or bleach and rinse it really well, that kills the eggs and snails......I haven't done this though, I'm afraid of killing the plant. Someone at a petstore I went to said that when they get live plants, they don't realyl worry about the snails, they just pluck them off when they see them in the tank and it's been fine for them. I guess you just check daily for them, sometimes fish will eat the snails. 

Anyway, I hope I helped some and sorry it's so long! lol


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## windfire (May 25, 2010)

i'd agree with blue haven, the easiest plants are the low light plants, anubias nana, java fern i've never used marrimo balls but would love to. you could try researching the internet, in the case of aquatic plants its your best friend.


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## wystearya (Sep 27, 2010)

Oh it's great to know that Petsmart should have some plants! I didn't want to have to order anything and have a plant shipped to me. 

Thanks so much for the information. I'll have to get at least one live plant for my new boy's tank.


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## zoragen (Sep 25, 2009)

Those are good low light plants.

I'm sure your guy will love having a live plant!


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## BlueHaven (Jul 17, 2010)

Your welcome! 
If your petsmart or petco doesn't have those cylinder plants, you can ask them to order some or just call around local stores/other petsmarts around you. I sure hope they do though!
My local petsmart only had the cyclinder plants that were non aquatic, but they did have the java fern and maybe anubias in a planted tank like the hornwort. I actually got an Amazon sword there, it was with the other plants and it had no snails. I guess it depends. I went to another petsmart a little further away to get the cyclinder ones, and they had their own planted tank too. 
So it's a good chance you'll find something you like, and that the cyclinders will be there.


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## crownie (Apr 27, 2010)

I just started a planted tank as well! I found the cylinder plants they're talking about at my Petco. I didn't have much of a selection, but i did get a few. Also my Petco has been having sales on their aquatic plants that they keep in big tanks right in the store. I got some pretty good looking ones that were buy 2 get 1 free! And so far they look great! Unfortunately I don't remember what kind of plants I bought....


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## TharBePirates (Aug 15, 2010)

I've been trying lots of stuff, so far what's worked in my 2.5 is anubias nana, lacey java fern, reg java fern, duckweed and riccia fluitans. 

Riccia takes a little bit more light, but it's prove to be very pretty, versatile and gorgeous. It's a floating plant, so it can be a good substitute for duckweed, however you can also use fishing line to wrap it around driftwood for a lovely carpet effect.

here's a pic of the riccia- http://www.vergari.info/foto/piante/Riccia_fluitans_2006ott_biggia_04.jpg


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

If you are buying tube plants from petstores, definately know what you are looking for. Look up pictures and the scientific names of the plants you want so you have something to reference when you are trying to find what you want.


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## Vincent (Sep 10, 2010)

If you want java fern from petco/petsmart, the tube will say "tropica fern" instead of java fern. The one labeled "Aqua Fern" isn't actually an aquatic plant and will only last a couple weeks too a couple months in your tank before rotting if full submerged.


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## wystearya (Sep 27, 2010)

Thanks for all the tips!

I'll certainly look up pictures so I can be aware and make sure to get something that is actually aquatic.


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## JorgeBurrito (Sep 2, 2010)

For any plant I put in my tank I do a bleach treatment first to kill off snail and eggs. Make up a solution that is about 5% bleach. Soak your plants in this for about 5 mins (more delicate plants, which most of the plants mentioned are not, for just 2 or 3 minutes). After the 5 mins wash the plant thoroughly in tap and finally a 2 r 3 min soak in water with triple dose of dechlorinator present. This does a good job of getting rid of both snail and eggs.


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## celine18 (Sep 25, 2010)

are you sure that that gets rid of all the bleach? wouldn't the plant absorb some of it? (i've had live plants before, and i ended up infested with snails, but i'd never tried bleaching them)


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## Capricorn (Sep 4, 2010)

I just bought three java fern in the small cylinders at petco.. they have a "no snail" thing written on the side, though I'm not sure how accurate that is... either way, the ones I found looked healthy, stuck them in the tank this afternoon.


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## JorgeBurrito (Sep 2, 2010)

celine18 said:


> are you sure that that gets rid of all the bleach? wouldn't the plant absorb some of it? (i've had live plants before, and i ended up infested with snails, but i'd never tried bleaching them)


The plant won't absorb the bleach in such a short period, but it might have some trace amounts in hard to reach crevices. This is why I have the last step of a water bath with extra dechlorinator present. The dechlorinaotr neutralizes any residue bleach still on the plant. I have used this treatment for many plants in tanks with fish much more sensitive then Bettas and have never had any issues. I actually picked up this method reading over forums at plantedtank.net, and they are pretty fanatical over there so I trust them.


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## wystearya (Sep 27, 2010)

Well, Petsmart only had one type of real aquatic plant in stock when I went in the other day. (Why do they sell bamboo as aquatic..?)

Anyway, it is called Anacharis, here is a pic I got from the internet:









Nothing fancy at all, but it's better than nothing. The other pet store in my area told me someone had bought all their plants and wouldn't get more in until Thursday. So, this was all I could get.

I hope to find some of those moss balls sometime in the future, they look neat.


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## celine18 (Sep 25, 2010)

JorgeBurrito said:


> The plant won't absorb the bleach in such a short period, but it might have some trace amounts in hard to reach crevices. This is why I have the last step of a water bath with extra dechlorinator present. The dechlorinaotr neutralizes any residue bleach still on the plant. I have used this treatment for many plants in tanks with fish much more sensitive then Bettas and have never had any issues. I actually picked up this method reading over forums at plantedtank.net, and they are pretty fanatical over there so I trust them.


ok thanks! i just had to ask cause i'm super paranoid...


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## TigerLily (Sep 17, 2009)

That's a really cool tip about the bleach. I've never heard of that before, and my first reaction was to think 'wait, wouldn't that kill the plant?'

Anyway, I'll have to remember that, since my lfs sells their plants out of their fish tanks and I'm paranoid about cross contamination.


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## wallywestisthebest333 (Nov 30, 2009)

That's an awesome snail and egg removal method! =D Thanks for sharing!


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## JorgeBurrito (Sep 2, 2010)

TigerLily said:


> That's a really cool tip about the bleach. I've never heard of that before, and my first reaction was to think 'wait, wouldn't that kill the plant?'


This indeed is the danger of this method and why you only do it for a few minutes. Over long periods of time the bleach will attack the plants. As it is, I am sure it does some superficial damage to the plant, but the change in growing conditions from where it was grown to the store to your aquarium is a bigger stress than the brief dip in a low concentrated bleach soln. Almost all the low light plants that are mentioned around here are extremely hardy and will have no problems with this method. If you are doing a high tech setup with more delicate plants you have to reduce the time the plants spend in the bleach soln (thereby increasing the chance that the snails might survive).


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## TigerLily (Sep 17, 2009)

Good to know! Thanks for explaining it a bit further.


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