Live Plants in the tank????

[Dezel98]

I currently have a 72 gallon tank that I inherited from my roomate who took care of it. Now I'm in charge and need some advice....

Its a freshwater tank with african chilids only. I am interested in putting live plants in for decoration.

1. Is this possible????

2. If so, What will determine which plants to buy?? (ie. gravel, filtration, fish types)

3. What type(s) of plants are easy to care for and look nice?????


If any one could help that would be much appreciated !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sohfatfish]

Most plants will not be able to survive in the conditions that ur african cichlids live in due to hardness of water and the ph value. However you can try easy growers like Elodea, hydrilla, vallis, cabomba, java fern, anubias and maybe crypts just to name a few.

Gravel should be fine sand about 2mm in grain size for easy rooting of the plants with a layer of base fert below it to provide nutrients. For filtration i recommend a cannister filter so that there would be less surface aeration to keep Co2 levels ard 5ppm for the plants to grow. Lighting should be in the 6000K to 10000k range as any more than that it would be more suitable for marine tanks. Intensity should be about 1.5 watts per galon for low demanding plants. However you might want to get a overpowered lightset first with switches to allow you to control intensity so that you can save the hassle and money from upgrading later on.

 

[Dezel98]

Thanks for the help sohfatfish. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[joel]

welcome to MFK Chuck.

 

[catfish]

i dont know if i would try live plants with cichlids cause they like to dig. i have a tank of african cichlids they dont dig up my fake plants though but they do dig under my decorations. you could always try a couple plants at first to see if they dig them up or not.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy and welcome to MFK,

You could try anubia species or java fern. If they get dug up, just tie them to a big rock or driftwood. They will root there and you'll have less trouble with them. Also, Vallisneria might be hardy enough. These three plants are likely to flourish in your tank. The first two are very likely.

HarleyK

 

[romanmann]

cichlids dont mix with plants. they are typically most happy with just rock work and lots of it. caves nooks and crannies. lace rock does really well in the tank. i would recommed the plants

 

[guppy]

If you plant it putting them in small pots will help keep the cichlids from digging them up.