Plant noob .. looking for beginner help!

[Acura_RSX]

Alright. so here it goes. up until this point i've had oscars etc therefore real plants have been somewhat out of the question. I'm getting rid of my oscars and deciding what fish i'm going to go with next. Snakeheads are my ideal fish but not positive yet what exactly will be going in there.

Anyways once I get rid of the oscars and have an empty tank I plan to aquascape my tanks .. I have a 50 gallon and 10 gallon at the moment. I want help one with the aquascaping from anyone that is good at it. never really had a good set up. at the moment I have black background .. whiteish sand .. a rock pill coming out from back corner and a self made driftwood thing. hard to explain so i'd like help re-doing this.

Now on to the plant stuff. Alot of people have been convincing me and I think I've finally caved. to really brighten up my tank and make it look nice I might just have to go with adding real plants. However i don't know the first thing about plants. I don't know names nor what to look for or buy for my tank. Nor do i know anything about keeping them.

Okay well I don't want to start with seeds or anything of the sort. If possible I'd like to order some already grown bigger plants that I can take right away and aquascape my tank. .. is this possible?

My main question is needing help with what kinds of plants are easy to keep/care for and are cheap but look nice and grow well. Ive searched alot of pics and found some nice tanks. this is a pic of the tank I think I've liked most so far. It's more planted then I'm looking for but I still really like it so id like to start at something like this. any help what kind of plants i should look for etc and help with the aquascaping?

http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/include/popup.php?img=1146_200909fwtank1.jpg

 

[Acura_RSX]

?

 

[dudey]

it sounds like you are planning a low light, low tech (no co2) tank.

A lot of those plants in that tank are low light and fairly easy to maintain. It is possible to buy plants already grown, I have actually never tried to grow plants from seeds.

Your best bet for low light and no co2 are java ferns, java moss, and various low light anubias. I have also had luck with some amazon swords in a low light tank. The swords didn't really grow much but didn't die either.

If you aren't running co2 you should look into buying fertilizers or even dosing with co2 at least weekly.

Post what kind of lights you have or plan to have and it will make suggestions easier. If you just have basic flourecents t12 lights than your best bet is try the java ferns, moss and anubias and experiment with other low light plants as well, those are just some of the low light plants I have had success with in a low tech tank

 

[Acura_RSX]

it sounds like you are planning a low light, low tech (no co2) tank.

A lot of those plants in that tank are low light and fairly easy to maintain. It is possible to buy plants already grown, I have actually never tried to grow plants from seeds.

Your best bet for low light and no co2 are java ferns, java moss, and various low light anubias. I have also had luck with some amazon swords in a low light tank. The swords didn't really grow much but didn't die either.

If you aren't running co2 you should look into buying fertilizers or even dosing with co2 at least weekly.

Post what kind of lights you have or plan to have and it will make suggestions easier. If you just have basic flourecents t12 lights than your best bet is try the java ferns, moss and anubias and experiment with other low light plants as well, those are just some of the low light plants I have had success with in a low tech tank

wow thanks .. very helpful post. ya it's low light and idealy planning on least amount of care to the plants as possible so i've heard alot of people say java ferns etc. they do indeed brighten up the tank bright green do they? and arent hard to care for?

 

[Raul-7]

Okay well I don't want to start with seeds or anything of the sort. If possible I'd like to order some already grown bigger plants that I can take right away and aquascape my tank. .. is this possible?

My main question is needing help with what kinds of plants are easy to keep/care for and are cheap but look nice and grow well. Ive searched alot of pics and found some nice tanks. this is a pic of the tank I think I've liked most so far. It's more planted then I'm looking for but I still really like it so id like to start at something like this. any help what kind of plants i should look for etc and help with the aquascaping?

http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/include/popup.php?img=1146_200909fwtank1.jpg

Most aquatic plants are not grown from seeds, they propagate via vegetative reproduction. So it is definitely possible to buy plants that are ready to plant.

Good plants that are easy to grow and hard to kill include plants from the follow genus: Microsorum sp., Anubias sp., Bolbitis sp., Cryptocoryne (most of the common ones are easy to grow, stay away from the blackwater species), Vesicularia sp. and Vallisneria sp.

Here are some aquascapes that rely heavily on these plants:

More available here: http://acuariorosa.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/the-international-aquatic-plants-layout-contest-2009/

 

[dudey]

I had ferns in a 55 tank with gravel low light and only dosed with ferts once in a blue moon. They typically don't grow fast either but mine wouldn't stop growing and reproducing. I had more ferns than i knew what to do with I ended up just taking all of the new plants and planting them on one side of my 125g tank that received little to no light (6 foot tank, 4 feet receives 10 hours of 130watts of pc lights) and they are still living and growing slowly for about 4 months now.

What I did use to does my the low tech 55g were these tube things that last a few months and slowly release ferts into the substrate. only problem is you cant control how much goes in and your unaware of what exactly is going into the tank

 

[dudey]

as said before I completely forgot about cypts, most cypts grow slowly and only require low light.

 

[Acura_RSX]

as said before I completely forgot about cypts, most cypts grow slowly and only require low light.

what are some exapmles of these? like names to type into a site or ebay or something. I found a decent few java ferns etc for sale from mylasia. has alot of plants on there in his online store. free shipping .. 4.09 CAD. 5 leaves. is that alot or better then LFS would be. And the seeds comment was a bit sarcastic. I meant more along the lines of .. if my tank is 24" tall and I want some plants right away that are gonna be 18" etc so that I don't have just all baby 5-6" plants along the bottom. I'd like to order my plants soon and withing 3 weeks ish of now have aquascaping done .. like some tall plants etc in there.

 

[Raul-7]

what are some exapmles of these? like names to type into a site or ebay or something. I found a decent few java ferns etc for sale from mylasia. has alot of plants on there in his online store. free shipping .. 4.09 CAD. 5 leaves. is that alot or better then LFS would be. And the seeds comment was a bit sarcastic. I meant more along the lines of .. if my tank is 24" tall and I want some plants right away that are gonna be 18" etc so that I don't have just all baby 5-6" plants along the bottom. I'd like to order my plants soon and withing 3 weeks ish of now have aquascaping done .. like some tall plants etc in there.

Easy Cryptocoryne include: wendtii, walkeri, balansae, undulata, beckettii, willisii (lucens), pontederiifolia.

The reason the plants from the Asian sellers are really cheap is because they give you tiny cuttings of the plant. At least this is my personal experience when I order some Cryptocorynes.

 

[Acura_RSX]

Easy Cryptocoryne include: wendtii, walkeri, balansae, undulata, beckettii, willisii (lucens), pontederiifolia.

The reason the plants from the Asian sellers are really cheap is because they give you tiny cuttings of the plant. At least this is my personal experience when I order some Cryptocorynes.

where does everyone buy them to? that will ship to Canada?