live plants or fake plants...

I'd definitely reccomend live plants. A tank looks a lot more natural with live plants, and the plants will help in reducing nitrates (though you'll still need to do regular water changes).

There are quite a few undemanding plants (anubias, cryptocoryne, water sprite, java fern/mass, amazon swords, and quite a few more) that require no maintenence besides the occasional pruning and removal of dead leaves.

One thing "If you have live fish, have live plants; if you have plastic fish, have plastic plants."

I too am a big fan of live plants--all my tanks have them. However, they are not required for a tank. As many a cichlid keeper will tell you--sometimes they are not even a choice. So, if you are more comfortable starting out with plastic plants, that is fine. The big point is to provide shelter and cover for the fish to make them comfortable, and a plastic plant will do that just as well as the real deal.

Once you are comfortable keeping the fish alive and happy, you can start replacing the plastic with real, low maintenance plants like java ferns, some crypts, anubias, and such. Trying to keep both fish and plants happy can be a challenge, and most of us started out by focusing on the fish. Do what works for you!

Ihave a black thumb and can kill even the plants that have been recommended, so I have a lot of fake plants. Let me tell you, they look nice and they're not plastic anymore. So, do what OG recommended, start with artificial and then add some good low-light plants like she suggested over time. Then you can make the decision as to which plants do best for you.

As to your other question, cardinals are big tetras, I've got some that are almost two inches long. I'd start with 7 or 8.

Val

Jared,
I will tell you that almost every tank I own has live plants in it, all but 1 brackish tank (that is 10 total).
As a forewarning to live plants, you will need to invest in lights that will make plants happy. I personally use power compacts for my plant tanks but you can buy some decent flourescents for your tanks or buy the incandescent hood for your tank and buy the screw in Power compact bulbs for the hood, they are about 10 watts. Not bad lights, for low light plants and work well for a 10 gallon tank. Walmart sells a bulb for about $4 and a hood for about 20, $28 total.
Now this is personal preference also on this, You can design a DYI CO2 system for your tank (simple coke bottle and tubing) or buy the Hagen DYI system . I own 3 of these and find them nicer than what I can build for a 10 gallon tank. You can find these at Petco, petsmart or your LFS. They have an adobe acrobat file that shows the instructions on the website. They are not a bad system for small tanks.
Also Plants need food, Seachem makes excellent substrates for planted tanks, you can either get the onyx sand or Flourite. They also have great additives for the plants to add to the water.

I hope this helps
Jim

Trick, I informed him about everything, like what filter, heater, substrate, etc. Next on the list was ferts. Thanks for reminding me.

I would go for live plants too, I can't think about setting up a tank without them.

Once the 12 cardinals get bigger, they might get crowded in the 10gal.

Originally posted by NJ Devils Fan
Trick, I informed him about everything, like what filter, heater, substrate, etc. Next on the list was ferts. Thanks for reminding me.

Click to expand...

NJ no problem.. Any time, if you need a reminder, just hollar.


jim