Blah! Stupid floaty plants!

[Sallermander]

The problem is... My plants do not want to be nice and sit in the sand, I failed when I tried planting them BEFORE adding water, then I just did when upgrading aquarium sizes I planted them then SLOWLY poured in the water, but over half still started floating When my driftwood is done boiling I was thinking of just pinning them down with a few river rocks

 

[Molch]

A couple ways to plant them:

strip off some lower leaves, carefully grab the stem with a pointy pair of tweezers (don't crush it or it will rot) and insert into the substrate. Might not work for very delicate stems though.

You ca also weigh them down with those aquarium lead strips (which do NOT contain any lead btw) onto the substrate until they grow roots down that anchor them.

I wouldn't pin them down with anything heavy: it will just crush the stems, and then they'll rot and float up again. What will keep them in the substrate is healthy root growth, and that takes a bit of time to develop.

Also, when planting those with a rhizome (a sturdy horizontal root from which the finer roots branch), make sure not to bury that rhizome or the plant will die (java fern, Anubias)

 

[jclee]

What kind of plants? And how deep is the substrate? I must admit that I've pretty much given up on rooted plants in my axolotl plants, except for plants like mosses, Anubias sp. and Java Ferns that I can root onto wood or stone. My axolotls seem to uproot them as they snuffle around the tank. I even tried making sand-filled planters of media bags and/or pantyhose, to help Anacharis stay anchored in a salamander-safe way. It only lasted about a month before everything was floating at the top again. I've also used those air-tubing suction cups that are meant to hold the airline in place in a tank. They can hold stems in place (depending on the stems' thickness), but it's not the most attractive solution.

I can't wait to see what other solutions come up in this thread.

 

[Sallermander]

I don't remember their scientific names, one type is water grass, another is Wisteria plants (From those little gel-cups) and another is... I don't remember I think it started with 'An' but I don't think anubias, I got them all from petsmart