Anyone using fake plants with big cichlids?

[SwampFins]

I'm thinking about getting something tall to give my tank a bit of color other that the terracotta pots and I wanted to see if anyone had some recommendations for cheap fake plants?

I've tried a few hardy natural species but my fish (especially the Nicaraguan) like to shred everything. Including java fern and Anubias!

 

[FINWIN]

I have a combination of natural and silk. Get some large silks from the craft store. Just make sure there's no glitter or felt. Go with silk or plastic. I've got roughneck cichlids and they haven't uprooted anything (my Oscar tried though). Rinse and plunk in. I've got literall shrubs in my tank and the fish love it to explore. Also have floating pothos. You can even try large garland (plastic or silk only) and wrap it around stuff for interest and depth.

 

[Serpentine]

I have a combination of natural and silk. Get some large silks from the craft store. Just make sure there's no glitter or felt. Go with silk or plastic. I've got roughneck cichlids and they haven't uprooted anything (my Oscar tried though). Rinse and plunk in. I've got literall shrubs in my tank and the fish love it to explore. Also have floating pothos. You can even try large garland (plastic or silk only) and wrap it around stuff for interest and depth.

Could you post pics? I'm having a hard time visualizing this.

Most of the silk plants at our craft store have stems with paper-wrapped wire and I am fairly certain that's not what you mean.

 

[FINWIN]

Check out my tank journal thread, its called "Tank Pics". I just put up more pics.

The plants I'm talking about have plastic stems NOT the paper wrap kind. Look for the larger ones in the greenery area of the stores that have stuff for outdoor arrangements and weddings. Wire can be inside since its covered by plastic. I've had no problems at all with craft store silks.

Michaels or A.C. Moores in my area is where I get them.

 

[Serpentine]

Thanks!

 

[PhishMon84]

I like marine land 3ft bamboo- floating, hanging from the back or planted

 

[SwampFins]

I have a combination of natural and silk. Get some large silks from the craft store. Just make sure there's no glitter or felt. Go with silk or plastic. I've got roughneck cichlids and they haven't uprooted anything (my Oscar tried though). Rinse and plunk in. I've got literall shrubs in my tank and the fish love it to explore. Also have floating pothos. You can even try large garland (plastic or silk only) and wrap it around stuff for interest and depth.

Awesome! I had seen those in the past but I wasn't sure they were aquarium safe.

Will definitely take a look at those. Much cheaper than the regular ones

 

[FINWIN]

Anything that's all plastic is inert. The silks are okay , just no christmas stuff because it has glitter and felt.

You can get some more unique old plastic flowers on Ebay. Roses, carnations, etc. People used to have straight up plastic stuff. Rinse and plunk in.

 

[SwampFins]

I just wanted to update and thank everyone for the suggestions. I went to Michael's and while I did find some cool stuff for pretty cheap, I didn't find anything that was tall enough as I wanted.

However I found these aquatic plastic plants on Amazon for $12 ! Pop and couldn't pass them up.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Tank looks good!
I used to use lots of fake plants from michaels, never gave me a problem. The ones I used had plastic "branches" which I believe did have wire inside. Sealed off inside the plastic for the most part, I never noticed any rust or anything like that. The silk ones they have are very nice.
This is an old setup I had full of the michaels plants