Potted Plants

[Aquarius0015]

I'm sure this is one of those common plant newbie questions, but if I buy a potted plant from the LFS can I keep it in the pot? I like being able to rearrange my aquarium every so often (to achieve feng shui and the proper flow of chi of course) and I have trouble keeping my current plants rooted as is. I am upgrading to a 10-12 gallon, and I am considering: java fern, java moss, amazon sword, anubia, MORE aponogeton :) and maybe something that floats (but of course potting that wouldn't be an issue). I want to add 3 platies, 3 cories, my betta and ghost shrimps.

[djlen]

Your potted plants probably came from a grower who wrapped the roots in a cotton-like material loaded with nutrients.
It is best to remove all traces of this material and plant them bare root. It's better for the plants and alleviates the chance that there will be an over abundance of nutrients in your water table.

Len

[Aquarius0015]

No, they are actually tiny black plastic cups, and I think they are packed with some sort of mud but I many be wrong.

[wigglejaggles]

Hey now,

my crypt wendtii came in that nutrient filled pale yellowish spongy type stuff inside the little black plastic pots. I am glad I got it all out, now that I know it was full of nutrients, but it also looked really dirty anyway. I wasnt sure of the tank where I got the plants from so I made sure I cleaned the plants really well before I put them in my tank. Better safe than sorry.

take care,
jared

[Toro Driver]

Nutrients is very liekely, I romoved a flourishing Amazon sword from the plant and planted it in the gravel. It quit flourishing. That was before I started the CO2 and fertalizing. I think that stuff in the pot is fiverglass or polyfiber? :idea2:

[NJ Devils Fan]

Yes, you are supposed to remove that little black pot and sponge-like material. It is just temperory for transportation and sale at the LFS. Carefully take it out of the pot and sponge material- try not to rip the roots as best as you can. Rinse the roots off very well and do you usual procedure for adding live plants to your tank.

[shewlett]

I just received through the mail a couple of small plants in the black plastic pots rooted in the yellow spongy material from an online aquatic plants store. Is this stuff bad for fish?

I put the plants in a tank with no fish last night and plan to introduce a betta to this tank today or tomorrow. Will the spongy material or the nutrients harm the betta?

[TKOS]

Be careful with floating plants in a 10-12 gallon tank. I loved having them but they can quickly grow and cover the whole top which stops light from getting to the other plants. this is fine when you are home and able to trim things but when I would go away for a couple of weeks I could barely find anything when I would return home.

I also have an amazon sword in my 10 gallon and it needs to have a few leaves removed everyweek or it will bust my tank wide open.

With rooted plants you won't be able to move things constantly. For Java fern your best bet it to attach it with thread to a rock or small piece of drift wood. The roots will grow around that and hold on. Then you can move it when ever you want. But with a sword I would suggest picking a spot and going with it.