plants in tank?

[thewes]

hi, im fairly new to owning an aquarium and i had a question. I have
two male bettas, (split up, of course) in a 10g tank. there are a few
rocks and crystals in the tank for hiding places and decor...but i
kinda want plants now...I dont know anything about adding plants to the
tank and the local petstore doesn't offer much help or advice :/ so i
was wondering, are there any risks to having plants inside the tank?
are the certain kind that are really easy on, and compatable with
bettas? what basics should i know about having live plants in there?
thanks for any info and advice!

[Elaine T]

thewes wrote:
> hi, im fairly new to owning an aquarium and i had a question. I have
> two male bettas, (split up, of course) in a 10g tank. there are a few
> rocks and crystals in the tank for hiding places and decor...but i
> kinda want plants now...I dont know anything about adding plants to the
> tank and the local petstore doesn't offer much help or advice :/ so i
> was wondering, are there any risks to having plants inside the tank?
> are the certain kind that are really easy on, and compatable with
> bettas? what basics should i know about having live plants in there?
> thanks for any info and advice!
>

Well, first here's the plant FAQ. http://faq.thekrib.com/plant.html

Live plants are great for fish! They improve the water if you have a
lot of them, provide hiding places, and give the fish something
interesting to swim around and through. Bettas love to swim through and
rest on plants and pretty much all plants are fine with bettas. If you
have tall or floating plants, your bettas may use them for a bubblenest.

If you have a fluorescent light on your tank, it's probably a 15 watt
tube, which is enough for low light plants. If you have a hood with two
incandescent lights, replace them with two 10 watt compact fluorescent
lights and you'll have enough light for medium light plants. You'll
also need an iron and potash (K) fertilizer like Tetra FloraPride.

Some easy first plants to grow are Anubias, Cryptocornes, Java fern, or
Java moss. Anubias are slow growing but live through anything.
Cryptocornes may seem to melt or die off when you first buy them. Leave
them in the tank and they will usually grow back from the roots.

Risks - um...plant addiction? There's no unplanted gravel left in my
tank and I just covered the driftwood with java moss. ;-) You may get
snails with the plants, but if you inspect the plants carefully for
snails and eggs (a jelly like cluster with white specs in it) you can
keep them out of the tank. The FAQ has information on disinfecting
plants to prevent diseases if there are fish in the tank where you buy
the plants.

Hope this helps, and ask lots of questions. You might want to post to
rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants instead of this group because there are
some real experts there.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Larry Blanchard]

In article >, eetmail-
says...
> Some easy first plants to grow are Anubias, Cryptocornes, Java fern, or
> Java moss. Anubias are slow growing but live through anything.
> Cryptocornes may seem to melt or die off when you first buy them. Leave
> them in the tank and they will usually grow back from the roots.
>
Just a few comments from a plant novice.

I also planted a split 10 gallon for two bettas. I had to move one out,
but that's a different story :-).

My favorite plant is a sword, Echinodorus bleheri "Compacta". Note the
variety, the regular one grows too big for a 10 gallon.

I've got a healthy Java fern, but I don't like it. The constant
production of pups with their roots hanging off the mother plant leaves
is ugly to me.

I put some tall sag across the back and some pygmy chain swords in
various bare spots. The tall sag is growing, but slowly. The little
swords are taking over the world! Great plant, but be prepared to get
rid of some periodically.

Good luck.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[John D. Goulden]

> hi, im fairly new to owning an aquarium and i had a question. I have
> two male bettas, (split up, of course) in a 10g tank. there are a few
> rocks and crystals in the tank for hiding places and decor...but i
> kinda want plants now...I dont know anything about adding plants to the
> tank and the local petstore doesn't offer much help or advice :/ so i
> was wondering, are there any risks to having plants inside the tank?
> are the certain kind that are really easy on, and compatable with
> bettas? what basics should i know about having live plants in there?
> thanks for any info and advice!

In addition to the other good advice in this thread, I would comment that
your bettas will appreciate plants with a few broad, horizontal leaves as
they like to use them as resting places.

--
John Goulden