# Are These Plants Betta-Safe?



## RMKelly (Jan 17, 2016)

So my local aquarium gave me the website of their live plant supplier. I find what plants I want from there and he orders them for me. He's the only aquarium in my area that will do special orders. Anyway I originally went on there looking for one plant but unfortunately they don't have it BUT I did come across these three, including one that could replace the one I was originally looking for since it's in the same family. 

I was wondering if any of these plants are actually Betta-Safe since some breeds of fish can't handle certain plants? 

Narrow Ludwigia: http://www.piscesenterprises.com/cm...!/Narrow-Ludwigia/p/25629050/category=5944015

Dragons Flame: http://www.piscesenterprises.com/cms/index.php/products#!/Dragons-Flame/p/25582066/category=5944015

Cuba (Hemianthus Callitrichoides): http://www.piscesenterprises.com/cm...!/Cuba-HC-5cm-Pot/p/26154154/category=5944004

Thanks


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## hellobird (Nov 11, 2015)

Dragons flame is not an aquatic plant, so it will rot after a while if you leave it submerged. Pisces sell lots of plant's like this, so just be wary. If it LOOKS like a houseplant, it probably is. Aluminium plants, waffle, ivy, etc..
HC needs very high light and preferably CO2 as well. I wouldn't generally advise it for a betta tank, as bettas prefer lower light levels.
I believe the ludwigia would be fine, as long as you had medium light levels. I don't have any experience with it however.

You may be able to find a type of crypt that is similar to the dragons flame.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

As stated above "dragon flame", more commonly known as Dragon's tongue or Hemigraphis repanda is *NON *AQUATIC. its often mis-sold as an aquatic plant because it does not break down fast under water, but it will not survive submerged. DO not put it in a tank. It does great in medium light with roots in water but leaves/stems above water-this is considered riparium style planting. I have some on my 20g long, let me got take a quick photo
.
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Any true aquatic plant is fish safe, but putting in non aquatics means they will break down (some lower than others) which will raise ammonia/nitrates.


HC aka dwarf baby tears are a very short rooted plant that need at least medium light and ferts, but high light and co2 is better. They grow fast with proper light and because of their short roots can because a mess as they will break loose and float up. Trimming them is mandatory to keep this plant... I tried it once but did not keep up on trimming.. more of it was floating than planted at the bottom by the time i removed it all and went for micro swords.


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## RMKelly (Jan 17, 2016)

Thanks! After my experience with the Chinese Evergreen and how much trouble it caused me with Kaname, I'm becoming more wary of plants. I've seen the Dragons Flame in other aquariums, one place was selling it as a _Marine plant_ but they don't the difference between moss and driftwood, they're the ones that tried to tell me Bettas and Angels are vegetarian. Wouldn't surprise me if that's why their Angels and Bettas look so bloated. 

Think I might just go with the Ludwigia. I want something to break the green and my boys hate artificial plants, they got to make things so complicated lol

I was originally looking for a carpet plant such as a Hydrocotyle Tripartita. If I get a carpeting plant, would it make my monthly 90% water change more complicated since I usually remove the gravel to clean it?

I have an _Aqua Nova NSL-300 9W_ light on both of my tanks, it's a white light and I usually have it on for about 8-12 hours, it doesn't seem to bother my boys any and the newly added water sprite seems to dim most of the light. 

I was thinking of picking up some ferts next week, my local aquarium recently got in Seachem Flourish which they use on the plants in store...does water sprite, java moss and anubias need fertilizer?

My local aquarium only get a select few plants at a time, usually the top-sellers. When I asked them if they could order the water sprite for me, Pieces has it listed as "Lace Fern", it was the first time they ever ordered it so they got in about 10 of them just to see how well it sells and I told them it seems to be popular with Bettas. When I went in to pick up my two they'd already sold about three of them. The sprite came in about half an hour before I got there. So maybe it'll become a common plant there?


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## hellobird (Nov 11, 2015)

I don't know how well carpeting plants would go in gravel honestly. Most of them have very fine roots so trying to keep themselves rooted in gravel is difficult for them. You could possibly try Glosso, or pygmy chain swords. Are you able to make purchases online? I could link you to some great Aussie sites that sell plants, I believe most of them accept direct-deposit as well if you don't have paypal/credit cards. One of them also sells Hydro in both the mini and petite forms, I'm going to order some for myself soon and see how it goes. The only downside is the cost of shipping, so you wan't to buy in bulk. :{
You don't want to remove the substrate at all in a planted aquarium, you also don't usually want to do deep gravel vacs. Just a skim over the surface.
Java moss and anubias are pretty slow growers so they are generally fine with the nutrients from the fish, however if you are going to be planting more it could be a good idea to pick up some ferts. Although I know some people don't bother with them at all and they do fine. Watersprite/lace fern grows very quickly ime so they always benefit from some extra nutrients.
Sprite is such an easy plant, and it looks lovely. They are also really easy plants to propagate, just get a bit of leaf and leave it floating at the surface and it will eventually grow roots of its own. Or put any stems you trim off in a bucket, and same thing!


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## RMKelly (Jan 17, 2016)

hellobird said:


> I don't know how well carpeting plants would go in gravel honestly. Most of them have very fine roots so trying to keep themselves rooted in gravel is difficult for them. You could possibly try Glosso, or pygmy chain swords. Are you able to make purchases online? I could link you to some great Aussie sites that sell plants, I believe most of them accept direct-deposit as well if you don't have paypal/credit cards. One of them also sells Hydro in both the mini and petite forms, I'm going to order some for myself soon and see how it goes. The only downside is the cost of shipping, so you wan't to buy in bulk. :{
> You don't want to remove the substrate at all in a planted aquarium, you also don't usually want to do deep gravel vacs. Just a skim over the surface.
> Java moss and anubias are pretty slow growers so they are generally fine with the nutrients from the fish, however if you are going to be planting more it could be a good idea to pick up some ferts. Although I know some people don't bother with them at all and they do fine. Watersprite/lace fern grows very quickly ime so they always benefit from some extra nutrients.
> Sprite is such an easy plant, and it looks lovely. They are also really easy plants to propagate, just get a bit of leaf and leave it floating at the surface and it will eventually grow roots of its own. Or put any stems you trim off in a bucket, and same thing!


The links would be great, thanks! I'm new to this whole planted tank thing lol The carpet plant is mostly for Kirito's tank since he's getting a Japanese theme. Not sure how Sasuke's would look with it since he's getting a Greek/Atlantis theme. Haven't seen many online that have carpeting plants.


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## hellobird (Nov 11, 2015)

http://www.aquariumgalleryperth.com.au/collections/plants (sells hygro petite)
http://www.liverpoolcreekaquariums.com/
http://stores.ebay.com.au/zaquatics/
http://www.aquagreen.com.au/catalog.html
https://www.livefish.com.au/plants.html

I've purchased from the first 3 sites, and I hear Aquagreen is also great to deal with. LiverpoolCreekAquariums also have a facebook where they post lots of great deals so you should check that out too.


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## RMKelly (Jan 17, 2016)

Thank you so much! I'll be looking through all these tonight :-D


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## BettaNard (Jan 27, 2016)

I've ordered from zaquatics' ebay store and I can vouch for them. Good quality plants and pretty quick delivery! Think it was around 2 days.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I don't use gravel in any planted tanks, sand is much easier. If you are removing substrate each month to clean (personally I'd jut use a siphon and keep substrate in the tank) you may want to stick with rhizome based plants (buce, anubias, (aquatic) ferns) and mosses that can be tried to driftwood, rock, and other decor so substrate is free for easy access to clean.




hellobird said:


> http://www.aquariumgalleryperth.com.au/collections/plants (sells hygro petite)
> http://www.liverpoolcreekaquariums.com/
> http://stores.ebay.com.au/zaquatics/
> http://www.aquagreen.com.au/catalog.html
> ...


Wow they really jack up prices over there in Au. $150 for a Madagascar lace?! I get that for $5 in the states.


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