New and excited about plants, few questions

Tamberav

Tamberav

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Dec 29, 2007
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I am new to these forums, so hi!! Pretty much this week I suddenly got the urge to take owning fish and an aquarium to a new level (for me anyways). So I'll give a little background.

While at Walmart (Our selection where I live is very slim).. I saw a plant for sale in one of their aquariums and decided to buy it and a pictus catfish. They are now home with my Albino Clawed Frog and a Male Beta. I have no filter/heat system. The only thing I have is aereation (which I read is bad). I just do partial water changes (for about two months now) every so often when I feel its needed. I have not added anything for my plant other then a lamp I had around.. since before the tank wasn't lighted. This isn't one of those my plant is dieing (at least not so far) stories, my plant seems to be thriving I think. It seems to be growing at a very fast pace. A fresh leaf which was under the water two days ago is now poking halfway out.

My first question is what kind of plant do I have? I'm thinking an Amazon Sword just from looking at pictures but I've never seen any plants in real life to compare.

Here is a pic: (See how its growing?!)

plant1.jpg
plant2.jpg

tanksetup.jpg


If it was to start dieing, would it tell me right away or what would happen first? would the tips turn brown? I think I have gotten more attached to the plant then the fish. =O

I decided if this plant did well then I would set up a 10 gallon as I have the basic setup already minus a filter (I have a filter but its an UGF).

My budget is low... the odd shaped tank in the picture I actually got for free from a friend, even the rock cave in it I found hiding in the garage. (My Beta is thankful)


Here is a pic of what I want to set up into a planted tank: (Ignore the ugly dirtyness, I never emptyed the water after battling Ich)

10gal.jpg


I plan on taking it down for a cleaning and removing the filter. The bulbs are two 10 watts.

What sort of plants should I get? I'm thinking another sword since mine seems to be doing well. (Our hard well water is rich in Iron!) When I did some reading I came across "java moss, java fern, anubias, and anacharis" as easy keepers. Theres different kinds of anubias and anacharis, right?

I am also getting rid of that plastic log for a real piece of driftwood. I want to keep my agate rock collection (whenever I go out for a walk and find one I bring it home for my tank). so I don't want to get other gravel for it to get mixed up in.. There isn't enough agates yet for a good bottom layer though so I was thinking about sand since I could easily filter the agates out of it if I had too. However I also read this is bad for plants but I see lots of tanks set up with it. Suggestions? And if I do go with sand, what kind? I want it to look like natural sand.

Also, fish! I wanted to get some guppies, feeder ones, and see if they would grow up. (Kind of like a grab bag of fish, don't know what colors you will get). But I don't know anything about trying to raise a baby guppy. Is there anything special?

Also since they are so tiny they won't put out much CO2, right? Should I get some adult fish to go along with them and hope the plants and rocks will make it so they can hide to avoid getting eaten?

And how many plants can I get w/o adding CO2? I don't want a dense jungle or anything but I'd like to make it look nice.

I was thinking about getting some snails for both tanks.. and maybe shrimp for the 10 gal.

Is there anything else I absolutly need (or will need) for these types of plants?


Sorry for such a long read and thank you! I've done hours of reading but there seems to be a lot of opinions so I wanted to just show someone what I had to work with.
 
Oh one more thing, do you think I need a filter for my current tank? I only have two fish and a frog and I don't plan on adding anymore. In fact The Pictus Catfish will eventually get a new home as I think they can grow quiet large and my boyfriend has a 55 gal tank he said I could have.

The Beta/Frog have been living without a filter for awhile now and show no signs of stress. The pictus was lethargic when I got him and seems to be energenic and "shinier" now. I thought the plant would also help filtering and I'd like to add one more to the other corner. A different kind though.
 
You are right about it being a good idea to add more plants. Without a filter, the plants are the only thing removing nitrogen from your system. An aquarium can actually be run that way but it takes lots of plants and very few fish. Most people here are fish people at heart and won't put up with the very low fish stocking that could actually work.
As far as agate is concerned, I thought it was a silica rock (basically the stuff glass is made of) and thus it would be inert in the aquarium . I'm not sure and it would probably be worth checking on a rock hound site. People there will know.
I'm certain you have one of the echinodorus but I'm not real certain of which one. My first thought was melon sword but you could well be right that its an amazon sword. I have some that look just like yours but mine were sold as "assorted swords". The plant growing emergent is a good thing for the plant's health. It gives the plant to pick up CO2 from the air which will make the overall plant healthier. Another plus for emergent growth is that the plant may actually flower. The down side is that if emergent growth is later placed in a submerged location, the emergent leaves can die back in what is called melting. The plant will quickly send out new leaves but its disappointing if you've gotten used to the emergent growth.
Guppies are really easy. You put them in water that is warm enough and is kept clean. You feed them at least 3 or 4 times a week and no more than twice a day. They get bigger and if there are places to hide, you get more baby guppies.
 
Welcome to the addiction. Plants are definitely a good idea. You have gotten lucky so far by not having a filter and not hurting your fish. In my opinion, you should have some API test kits to test your water for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ph. Then you can be SURE that you are not hurting your animals. I am a little worried about your African Clawed Frog. It could grow to as big as 5" in and will eat any fish it can get in its mouth, possibly even your beta.
 
Oh, and I also think that they need to have a stable temperature, around 78 degrees.
 
livingword26 said:
Welcome to the addiction. Plants are definitely a good idea. You have gotten lucky so far by not having a filter and not hurting your fish. In my opinion, you should have some API test kits to test your water for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ph. Then you can be SURE that you are not hurting your animals. I am a little worried about your African Clawed Frog. It could grow to as big as 5" in and will eat any fish it can get in its mouth, possibly even your beta.
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Yeah I read about that, I had one a few years ago, felt like I had it for an eternity, (was an accident when my dad was "babysitting :[) it never grew very big though but I read males are smaller and it definatly sang every night. My grandma did have a huge one though, size of a fist. When/If he gets bigger I will relocate him to a private home without plants (I doubt a plant and a 5 inch frog would get along either). So far he doesn't harass the fish at all, not even during feeding time.

I do have an unused heater I could use for them, my last frog did great without it though. I want to say I had that one for 10 years.

I will also get some kits, I have been wanting to anyway.

How much is a high plant load so where I may not need to get a filter? I don't mind low fish load at all. Although, exactly how many fish is a low fish load?
 
ghjhreed said:
As far as agate is concerned, I thought it was a silica rock (basically the stuff glass is made of) and thus it would be inert in the aquarium . I'm not sure and it would probably be worth checking on a rock hound site. People there will know.
Click to expand...

Yeah its made from lava flows. I have had the rocks in a fish tank for as long as I can remember with no ill effects from it.
 
i have a non-filtered 10g that has a betta and some cherry shrimp. it is half fill of java moss and has floating plants as well. water has been crystal ever since i set it up and the betta's never had any problems.
 
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