LIVE PLANTS!! I never thought this day would come.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I have been wanting live plants for months and months, but never got them with my old tank and decided that they were a must for my current tank. I was at my LFS last week and the guy said that they would get more plants in today. So, I went before and they had just got a shipment of everything in. All the fish were still in the bags and the plants were still in the styrofoam(sp?) box. I asked the guy for some plants that do good in low lighting and he gave my 3 of one and 3 of another. I don't know what the names of them are. One has long thin leaves that look like the top of an onion. I can't really describe the other. The second one had a rubberband around it when I took it out. I saw that there were 7 seperate little branches in each plant. So, I just planted them a little while ago, putting the one with seperate branches in groups of 3 each. I can't believe how good they look. I wish I got them a lot earlier. I will have pics of them a little later.


Also, german blue rams will be in tomorrow, so I think I might go back and get some. The guy said that the bolivians would get rather big and eat the neons. He said that the gold rams and the blue rams would be better because they do not get as big.

[Erynn]

Good luck with the plants!!! I'm about to give my first attempt with them in a LONG time. Last time I had them one of them flowered!!!! It was really cool!!

[morleyz]

I never even thought I'd care to have live plants...didn't think it would make that big of a difference...now I'm kicking myself for not trying sooner. They're great...and pardon the pun, but they really grow on you. Good luck!

[NJ Devils Fan]

Thanks guys. Good pun;)

[NJ Devils Fan]

Ok, here are some pics.

http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL47/889630/1620657/20719349.jpg

http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL47/889630/1620657/20719338.jpg

http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL47/889630/1620657/20719325.jpg

Can someone please tell me what the plants are?(their common name would help more then the scientific)

[Skittyfish]

The dark green is anachris.

[djlen]

Hey Devil Guy,
Lottsa luck with your plants!! I figured you'd be over here sooner or later. I hope you have better luck with the Anachris than I've had. I gave up when I couldn't get any of them to root and they just kinda rotted and fell apart. Later I found out that Anachris are more of a floating plant than an in the substrate plant. The other plant looks like some sort of "Onion Plant". Does it have a bulb on the bottom of it? If so, that's what it is.
I suggest you try some cryptocorynes and some anubias. They are good for beginners and come in different shapes and sizes and the crypts in different colors. If you have driftwood you might try Java Ferns as well. And heaven help you.....I hope you don't get as addicted to the plants as I have. Now I check the plants before the fish!!
Len

[downloader]

Hi devils fan, was I me that pushed you into the live plants? The second plant looks like mondo grass. Both these plants need strong lighting. Try Java moss, how would it look to have green moss growing from the driftwood? My java moss does very well in a very low lit tank. I have to trim it monthly. Good start keep going.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Thanks guys. The dude at the store said that the plants were ok for low lighting. I hope that he is right or i'm screwed.

[JP457]

Did you get the plants from Petgoods? I got the same stuff a few months back. The grass like one is called Mondo grass and the other is anacharis (also called elodea, waterweed and foxtail). The anacharis will grow VERY fast. The mondograss on the otherhand grows verry slow. Congrats on the plants!

[wetmanNY]

It's a good start! Anacharis is Elodea canadensis. If you make a note of the scientific name, you can run it through www.google.com or look it up at www.tropica.com or various plant sites, and find out more and more about it. And get good at growing it.

Plants make a real difference in the character of your water. They take up nutrients, including micronutrients like copper that are toxic, especially to inverts like shrimp.

The Mondo Grass isn't a genuine water plant. It will last a long time, and at the beginning it will even put out a new leaf here and there. But it has no permanent future.

Look for Cryptocorynes. "Crypts." the next time you're in the lfs. Most of them will do well for you. The cheapest ones are always the easiest ones!

[NJ Devils Fan]

Yea, I did ge tthem at Pet goods. Do you go there often?

[NJ Devils Fan]

Is there a difference between Elodea densa and Elodea canadensis.(I was just at google ;) )

[Slappy*McFish]

Elodea densa is south american
Elodea canadensis is north american

[NJ Devils Fan]

I knew that, I was just testing you.

You passed Slappy.

:D ;)

[Fishiebusiness]

i believe the currently accepted genus name is Egeria

[superstein61]

Welcome to the plant world NJ - looks good.

I would not worry about the Anachris - I had some growing in my old 29 gallon under the cheap bulb it came with - it grew albeit slowly.

Now I have 3 bunches in my 72 gallon with 1.5 watts per gallon and they are growing like weeds. I trim it and throw some out weekly.

Now, I have only used it as a floating plant - so I don't have expereince with it in the substrate - but it show be fine there.

You better watch out - once you get hooked on plants, its like a disease - LOL. Shoot, I never thought I would want to add more - but I look and say it might be nice to add this plant . . . .

[Faramir]

That one's pretty definitely E. densa - at least, that's what it's always been sold to me as. The canadensis one is the familiar goldfish weed IIRC, and is more brittle IME. Though I've also heard that one called Lagarosiphon major. They basically can't leave the classification alone.

If you have got mondo grass, not only is it a slow grower but it's not even an aquatic plant. It's Ophiopogon japonica and it's not in my aquarium books, but it is in my gardening and houseplant books. But it doesn't look like the mondo grass I was conned into buying. However, there are lots of varieties and if people say that's what it is, then I imagine it is.

[Heady]

Java moss would be great too, and easy! I have some in my Lake Tanganika (sp?) tank with pH 8.2 temp 84 F and lots of salt. It's doing great. I took some out of that tank and put it in my tetra tank and it's doing great there too. It will grow ANYWHERE.

[superstein61]

Originally posted by Fishiebusiness
i believe the currently accepted genus name is Egeria

I concur Fishiebusiness - and the folks at Tropica also agree:

http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=058

http://www.tropica.com/default.asp

[Slappy*McFish]

"In the case of discussing the plants here, the common name "anacharis" used to be a valid genus name for some of these plants; and is a moniker still often used. The correct scientific name for most species of "anacharis" is Elodea ("Ell-oh-dee-ah"). Egeria is another recent (1961) erected genus for a similar plant (the one of most interest to aquarists) that produces 2 to 4 flowers (Elodea only 1), that have large and deeply white petals (versus small and colorless), and are pollinated by insects (elodeas is done via water).

Elodea and Egeria are members of the aquarium-important frog's-bit family (Hydrocharitaceae). They're joined there by such notable plant genera as Blyxa, Hydrilla, Lagarosiphon, Limnobium, Ottelia, Vallisneria."

This is referring to "egeria densa" formally elodea densa.
most of the cold water varieties are of the genus "elodea"

NJ Devils Fan probably has the commonly sold "egeria densa"

good heads up Fishiebusiness.:)

[JP457]

NJdevlisFan - I go to Petgoods to get plants and the fish I cant get anywhere else. Their fish are good too but usualy a little bit higher priced than they should be. For fish I go to the petco way down central avenue. The fish are generaly healthy and much cheaper.

[NJ Devils Fan]

OMG JP, Petco is a dump. I hate that place. Everytime I went in there after the first few months of it being open, there were crickets and other unidentifiable insects hopping around, and in every tank, there were about 5-10 dead fish. The last time I went there was in the beginning of the summer to get something that was only sold there. I guess that there must have been huge changes. But seriously, the way I remember it, there were some big health violations there.

You are right with the fish prices though, they are all higher then they should be, but there is no other place to go(Petland across the street has garbage, Petco as it used to be is a dump.) I want to get some rams, but I hate the fact that they are $10 each, and I want to get 4 which sucks because that $40 for only 4 fish. For that much, I would expect to have like 10-15 fish.

Since you go to both of those places, you probably live right by me, which would be very cool. If you know where it is, I live on a street right off Alta Vista.

[JP457]

I dont know where that is. I live like 10 - 15 minutes away from central av. Are we talking about the same petco? I mean the one closer to county center. There are almost never dead fish and there are two people who work there that know their stuff. They have Rams for $6. Still higher than I think they should be but better than 10.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Ooooooooo, I was talking about the one next to kohls. I know which one you are talking about. I was there once years and years ago when I first got my dog. I don't remember anything about it though. I think i will check it out on saturday.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I just got back from that petco since i thought it would be better. I was very disappointed. Half of the tanks in that little room had ich. Many fish were swimming upside down. There was only one guy in there who didn't know crap. I asked him what the name of on of the plants was, and he tells me, "We only have to kinds of plants, potted and non potted". I was like, "that not what i asked you, i asked what is the name of this plant." he just said, "i don't know." So i then asked him if he had any rams. he brings me over to a tank with tetras and points to a black widow tetra and says "there, there are 5 in here." I was like, those aren't rams, they are black widows", and he is like "oh, then we don't have any". I just took my frozen blood worms and left. Good selection of stuff and a lot of tanks, but fish wise, not good. I would go back just for things that aren't fish.