Ideal Gar Hydroponics?

[Bellisareaus]

Hey yall, I am currently underway in setting up my initial gar tank... its a long way from receiving the fish though. Curious if anyone has any recommendations for plant life in the tank? I'm doing a natural gar environment. What plants do yall have? What ones do you notice your gar like?

I'm already set with Fluval Stratum substrate, we well as Fluval Biomax filtration media to avoid using charcoal filtration, which is not ideal for the plants.

 

[Leebtattoos]

I don’t know that the gar really care. Young gar do best with plants, real or fake, to hide in to reduce stress. Just like in nature when they float in duckweed and similar.

I have hairgrass and pothos roots hanging from the top. Mostly because I wanted the live plant aspect. If I had nothing at all in the tank. The gar would not care as long as I fed them.

But if you want a full native looking tank, just plant what you like. The gar will just keep doing their thing anyways. I would suggest you Keep in mind that when they get larger, They’ll probably rip up or uproot any larger plants that get in the way of swimming.

 

[Bellisareaus]

I don’t know that the gar really care. Young gar do best with plants, real or fake, to hide in to reduce stress. Just like in nature when they float in duckweed and similar.

I have hairgrass and pothos roots hanging from the top. Mostly because I wanted the live plant aspect. If I had nothing at all in the tank. The gar would not care as long as I fed them.

But if you want a full native looking tank, just plant what you like. The gar will just keep doing their thing anyways. I would suggest you Keep in mind that when they get larger, They’ll probably rip up or uproot any larger plants that get in the way of swimming.

Yeah i know gar aren't overly picky, they are ambush predators, so they prefer in nature to hang out in super grassy and weedy areas. I currently have some Water Onion and Crytos planted to start the tank off, along with some black minnow to jumpstart the cycles of the tank. I want to do the most natural looking plant life and decor. short of checking out the hydroponics in the local rivers and streams, i just didn't know if anyone had anything they could specifically recommend, especially in the low laying, wide ground cover plantlife.

 

[Leebtattoos]

I originally was going to try and carpet my 530 gal plywood tank with dwarf sag. But after it leaked and I ordered a glass 350g, I had better luck with the hair grass so that’s what I’m personally using for a large carpet Area.

I may also plant some corkscrew Val got some highth. Jungle Val will look nice too. Imo

 

[Deadliestviper7]

A willow tree on one side would be cool,you can bonsai it any way you want it to grow