20 Gallon Long - Help me plant it!

N

Natosha24

AC Members
Mar 24, 2007
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Reisterstown, MD 21136
I have a 20 gallon long tank that has been planted for about a year. Unfortunately, in the beginning we were getting plants from petco. Well that didn't work. They outgrow the tank quickly, end up nappy looking, or just die off--which after joining the forum and reading up on plants and plant keeping, I learned that some of the plants we purchased weren't even true aquatic plants. After we had enough of the petco plants we tried a few from the aquatic store. They have all their plants labled (though I couldn't tell you what the names were) and it would tell what size they would get and what not. Right now we have 4 planted tanks--2 tens, 1 20 long, and 1 20 tall--and keep moving the plants around in all the tanks but really what we have just isn't working. Like I said, I couldn't tell you the type of plants they are. The leaves get much too long and the plant itself gets much too "thick" for a decent appearance--we end up doing massive pruning and that helps for a while but then the leaves just get waaaaaaaay too long so we end up giving them away or throwing them in the trash. :screwy:

So anyways, here's what I have and would like suggestions of plants that would "work" in the tank. It's 20 long--remember it's only 12" tall. It has a Coralife 65 watt 50/50 lighting system (full length), RedSea CO2 biogenerator, Seachem Flourite Substrate with a bit if natural small gravel on top (this is in all 4 tanks), relatively large piece of driftwood, temperature 75-80, ph 7.2ish, and is home to 8ish tiger barbs (normal & albino mix), two paradise fish, and a Chinese algae eater that is soon to be put in the 20 tall and replaced with a small bristlenose pleco.

Any recommendations would be awesome. When it comes time to buy more plants I want to know exactly what I'm looking for. Here is an e-bay store that I've been watching http://stores.ebay.com/Aquadise-Store, they have what seems to be an awesome selection and pictures if you want to make recommendations from there I may give them a shot at some point.
 
Here are pictures of my tanks. Feel free to make suggestions aimed toward any of them.

20 Gallon Long: 9 tiger barbs (I finally counted!), 2 (breeding pair) paradise fish, 3 (very very temporary) bala sharks, 1 Chinese algae eater (soon to be moved and replaced with a small bristlenose pleco).

10-28-07_20GallonLong_%20%283%29.JPG


20 Gallon Tall: 4 African Cichlids and 1 Pleco (still need to identify type of African's & Pleco)

10-28-07_20GallonTall_%281%29.JPG


10 Gallon: Red Cherry Shrimp--supposed to be 10 but seems impossible to count them! Also, small brig snails.

10-28-07_10Gallon_Shrimp_%281%29.JPG


10 Gallon: 1 German Blue Ram, 1 Long fin Danio, 2 Siamese algae eaters, 3 Julii Corys (supposedly! I don't believe they are but still researching.) 1 bristlenose pleco (I think!).

10-28-07_10Gallon_Community_%281%29.JPG
 
in the 20 long, I would move the driftwood more to one side or another, place some bunches of tall fast growing plants behind it, like those spiral vals, maybe soe cambomba... and then use dwarf sag along the mid/back to start to fill it in. I feel like I'm always reccomending dwarf sag... because it looks awesome, my otos love it, and it grows the best in all of my tanks, even in relatively low light. In my 15g, it has been growing like wildfire, and it's a fairly dark tank that I don't really fertilize much.

In the front and on the other (woodless) side, I'd go with something like HC or glosso or even aquatic clover (forget the real name) in small clumps, that ought to spread out to start a bed.

I'd really consider changing up the substrate, not that your gravel isn't ok for growing plants, but you'll have better rooting in something finer. and I'd really really suggest (from my own mistake) that you grade the substrate up in the rear, so it is sloping, at least 3" higher in the rear than the front. it will make a lot of difference with visibility, but also will let the plants in the rear grab more light. I wish I had done this in my tanks.

you might also consider putting some stone under the gravel, under one end of that driftwood, to form a hill... so it forms some cave-ish-ness under it... would make a great spot for hiding.
 
Find a good LFS to buy plants from. My grandfather, who is serious about fish, will never set foot in Petco or Petsmart again, because, based on the service he recieved, the employees come from McDonalds. Your LFS will usually have more variety and better quality plants than Petco.
 
mellowvision said:
in the 20 long, I would move the driftwood more to one side or another, place some bunches of tall fast growing plants behind it, like those spiral vals, maybe soe cambomba... and then use dwarf sag along the mid/back to start to fill it in. I feel like I'm always reccomending dwarf sag... because it looks awesome, my otos love it, and it grows the best in all of my tanks, even in relatively low light. In my 15g, it has been growing like wildfire, and it's a fairly dark tank that I don't really fertilize much.

In the front and on the other (woodless) side, I'd go with something like HC or glosso or even aquatic clover (forget the real name) in small clumps, that ought to spread out to start a bed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinion, MellowVision! I'm going to take a look at some info on the plants that you suggested and note them. That way when I'm ready to plant shop (it's a weekend task!) I'll have a list of plants to choose from--and I will have researched them!

I agree about the driftwood being moved to one side. We actually just aquascaped and laid that down on Saturday. By aquascaping I mean we took plants that were huge and threw them in the bucket. The driftwood was standing up and was kewl that way but we wanted to see how we liked it laying down. So far, I can only notice the tank is naked!

I'd really consider changing up the substrate, not that your gravel isn't ok for growing plants, but you'll have better rooting in something finer. and I'd really really suggest (from my own mistake) that you grade the substrate up in the rear, so it is sloping, at least 3" higher in the rear than the front. it will make a lot of difference with visibility, but also will let the plants in the rear grab more light. I wish I had done this in my tanks.
Click to expand...

Notice that I have flourite substrate under the gravel. Well, it's getting pretty mixed in from gravel vacuuming but there isn't much in there (gravel, that is). Or are you saying that the flourite substrate isn't "good enough" either? I've tried to slope my substrate up higher in the back, but I must really be missing something with that because it always ends up being level again after a couple of months. I finally said--screw it! All the plants we have are sporting excellent rooting systems and very quickly. The roots end up being bigger than the plant. Is the sloping really necessary? Is there a particular way of getting it to STAY that way?

you might also consider putting some stone under the gravel, under one end of that driftwood, to form a hill... so it forms some cave-ish-ness under it... would make a great spot for hiding.
Click to expand...

I'm going to play around with this a bit. I'm all for driftwood moving.
 
BetaBetta said:
Find a good LFS to buy plants from. My grandfather, who is serious about fish, will never set foot in Petco or Petsmart again, because, based on the service he recieved, the employees come from McDonalds. Your LFS will usually have more variety and better quality plants than Petco.
Click to expand...

Hiya Beta...
I have quit shopping at petco ENTIRELY. I won't buy ANYTHING from them. We have 3 local fish stores within 15 minutes of home so we now go to them. However, I've found that they don't really have the best selection of plants and aren't really as knowledgeable in plants as they are fish. I'm likely going to purchase plants online once I get some feedback as to what I should look into. Thanks for your response :)
 
in terms of sloping... you can use slate or other inert stone under the substrate to create a terrace... or plexiglass... the ADA group sells a stainless steel stepped terrace plate for use under gravel, and they put their heaters under it... which seems like a nightmare if the heater fails...

a few well placed stones at the base of the slope will also help a lot with erosion, by creating a partial wall here and there... and of course plants that root quickly will help maintain the slope as well, as long as you don't vac around them much or disturb them.

it's true though, gravity will try to level it all out over time. that's why it's important to build it up higher than you want in the long run. as long as things like rocks and roots keep the slope while everything gets established, it ought to maintain a lot of it's contour long enough to settle.
 
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