Aquatic Plants

Did'nt really know were to put this post so i put here.
i was just wondering how people plant aquatic plants in the water because i have no idea seems i hav'nt ever used them before and am now currently using plastic plants.

Mark

Mark
I like to use plants that can grow attached to wood or rock in my newt set ups, eg java fern, java moss and my personal favourites Anubias.
These plants are also good in that they require low light levels so will do well in even shaded areas of the tank.
Other plants like elodea can just be placed in the tank and will grow just fine free floating, more light is needed to keep these plants healthy though.

If you take a look at the site
www.aquaticplants.eu.com
They have descriptions of the conditions needed for different plants.
Some of my plants I bought from them years back are still doing great in my tanks today.

Thanks for that tip Morg And good timing as I'm currently getting serious about planting all my tanks and diversifying plant species.

To date, I've mainly been using Elodea canadensis and Egeria densa (which I only just discovered is called "Brazilian elodea"), along with java moss. But I've recently found some quite nice plants, including floating ones (though the addition of too many of these blocks out light needed by other plants to thrive).

Only one of my 2 dozen or so tanks is equipped with a high-powered plant light (which consumes massive amounts of electricity) and all the others use just normal ones, so I'm on the lookout for plants that do well in shady areas without needing to add CO2 (though I'm now experimenting with homemade CO2 devices and will later report on the results).

Here's the direct link to Anubias.

http://www.aquaticplants.eu.com/40014075/4031.htm

Mark, you might be surprised to find that some newts, including Cynops species, often prefer to lay their eggs on strips of plastic rather than on live plants

By the way, I have a couple of totally submersible aquarium lamps. Does anybody know if these are more/less effective for stimulating plant growth than the overhead kind?

To add to Morg's list, willow moss is good as a free-living species and Salvinia natans is a great floating fern that grows well at most temperatures. Both these, and the Java moss and Java fern, require very little light, so are especially suitable for indoor set-ups.

Chris

Tim
The aquaticplants site also has four other anubias plants, numbers 4032, 4033, 4039, and my favourite is the small 3-5cm Anubias nana nana which is number4008.
My little slow growing nana nana has been tied to a piece of driftwood in a heavily shaded area of one of my tanks[under land shelf] for three years and is still doing great.
I use all of the above Anubias and have found that can do well in tanks without any plant lights at all, they seem to be indestructable.

Chris thanks for the tip about the Salvinia natans, Ive never used that one before.
Willow moss is indeed another good plant which I use a lot, and prefer the lush growth to that of the smaller java moss, both do great in shaded set ups though dont they.

thanks for the tips guys.any one use these plants with Triturus speices.
Morg what part of the web site should i go on, is it catalogue.

Mark

(Message edited by Mark_uk on October 07, 2003)

by the way here is a list of plants i like the look of and might use:
cardamine lyrata, elodea, java moss, java fern, lilaeopsis, vesicularia and water sprite

Mark

Mark
Yes go to the catalogue section, click on the plant you like the look of and you will get a description, temperature and light needed etc.

Cardamine lyrata.
If I remember correctly this is a plant that I have considered in the past but needs more lighting than in my set ups?
If you go with this one let me know how it goes though as its a lovely looking plant.
Lilaopsis never tried that either.
Vesicularia is java moss isnt it? and I dont know what water sprite is.

Triturus newts will lay eggs on most of these plants, with my experiences being that the larger crested newt prefer large plants like java fern while the smaller prefer Elodea and other small leaved plants.
As Tim said earlier though, some newts will also lay eggs on thin strips of plastic.

Sorry Mark, my mistake.
Just looked up Cardamine, and it says it needs below average lighting so that one should be fine, in fact I may order some for my new set up.

(Message edited by morg on October 07, 2003)

Morg, Mark.

If you want some, I can send you a small portion of Salvinia to get you started. You will need to email your postal addresses to me, though.

Same for anybody else in the UK. I don't want anything for it but you might consider donating a few quid to Caudata.org

It stops growing at this time of the year but if you get it established now it will take off in the spring.

Chris

Thanks for the suggestion chris but i was only inquiring you see, i want some Triturus and a bigger tank and then i will buy some plants.
thanks anyway.
by the way i forgot to thank Morg

Mark

(Message edited by Mark_uk on October 08, 2003)

Chris
Thanx for that.
Dont you already have my postal address?
I will email it to you anyway, and will send the donation to caudata.org

Mark
Why not send to the aforementioned plant supplier to request a catalogue?
Just recieved one myself and it is much easier than decide on which plants to buy, than when using the web site

This is Ceratophillum. Nice, hardy floating plant.