Wild plants in T. Grans. tank? Please help!

[sde]

Hi everyone,


I was wondering if it is ok to put wild caught plants in a tank for my T. granulosa?
Plants like duckweed, pondweed, watercress, and the like. If you have any opinion on the topic pleas post, I need info fast! If you have any suggestions on good plants to put in please say, and include the common name if possible but if not that's fine as well.


I need info fast please I'm starting the tank today! any info helps! -Seth

 

[AeonMapa]

It should be safe, although you might want to sterilize the plants first. Although as long as there are no amphibians in the area, i doubt there would be any risk. Also be watchful of hitch hikers like snails and such

 

[sde]

but there are amphibians in the area! does this change your opinion? Lots of amphibians and invasive dirty bullfrogs, however I probably wouldn't get them from where they are. -Seth

 

[Chinadog]

The plants you mention should be fine, you could also use water Hyacinth, water lettuce, Milfoil, Java ferns, Vallisneria etc. There's always a risk with anything you collect from the wild but I fed my newt larvae lots of wild caught live food and they were fine. In the past I've used Watercress that is sold to use in salads so I think that should be safe!

 

[Kaysie]

If your Taricha is wild caught, chances are it wouldn't catch anything novel from wild plants.

A quick dip in some salt water or potassium permanganate wouldn't hurt though.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Avoid the duckweed unless really don't mind removing a few hanfuls everyday but it does clean the water very well. I would stick with very hardy and easy plants to grow like elodea and brazilian pennywort.

 

[Chinadog]

Yes avoid duckweed if you possibly can, it's a nightmare to get rid of once it gets a foot hold! Its somehow colonised all my tanks apart from my catfish tank and that's only because they eat it, believe it or not!

 

[sde]

Thank you everyone for your replies!


Kaysie, is sea salt ok?

Thank you very much for the suggestions Chinadog!

Thanks for the suggestion Coastal grooving!

And thank you AeonMaoa for the info!

Thank you guys very much, it is much appreciated!

Also! I am making a new setup and have the sand and water in but it is so cloudy ( from the sediment in the sand ) that I cant see anything in there. I have left it for almost 2 days and it still hasn't cleared up! is there a way to speed up the process? -Seth

 

[Chinadog]

Did you wash the sand before you put it in the tank? You need to swill it round and round in a bucket of water and then pour off the dirty water, then do it again until the water runs off clean. I always use kiddie's play sand because it's pre washed and only needs a couple of swills in the bucket, If you start out with other types of sand it can take hours and hours to get it clean enough to use in an aquarium! Also other types of sand may contain traces of iron or other things that might be harmful to your pets.

 

[sde]

I did swill it a few times but not till it ran clean. I thought that that was just because of the sediment. I really don't want to have to start all over again. Could I just rum my filter to get the stuff out. Its a submersible filter. Will it ruin it? Any info helps! -Seth

 

[Kaysie]

Using your filter to remove sand will quite possibly destroy your motor.

Sea salt is fine. You're just going to dip and rinse.

 

[sde]

Thank you very much!!! -Seth

 

[Chinadog]

Yes, running sand through an internal filter will destroy the shaft and rotor very quickly! If you meant running the filter to remove the suspended sediment in the water it would take forever and still might cause wear on the pump. I think the best thing to do would be to remove the sand and wash it properly or swap it for play sand or pool filter sand, these are much cleaner to start off with and need next to no washing before use.

 

[sde]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

I decided to ditch the sand because after a long time trying to rinse it and such it wasn't getting better. So I decided to just use a little in some bottles and put the plants in that, I think it will work well. pretty much everything is setup now but I want to let it cycle so now it a waiting game. :happy: -Seth

 

[sde]

Just got some plants from a nearby marsh.

I am not sure what species? I have done a ton of research trying to find out but I just don't know, the closest I can find is Pacific water parsley but I don't think its that. The leaves look different on this one. I also got something that looks like maybe a duckweed kind of thing but it is bigger. I will dip in salt water first to be sure that nothing is going to infect my newts. I will also check for snails and the like and discard them if there is any. I collected about 5 of the first and 10-15 of the second ( they are much smaller and there roots are kind of entwined ). Thanks again all for the advice! also if it interests anyone I heard a lot of otters! About 4-5 I think, I may film them if I get the chance. Thanks again!!! . -Seth

 

[sde]

So now I have the plants planted and my setup is all done. Now I have to let it cycle. I got some duckweed like plants and I don't know if they will survive because the roots are all entangled and I cant really plant them so I just set them on the sand. Oh I used some tubs to but the sand in for the plants. Thanks again everyone for the help, it is really appreciated! :happy: -Seth

 

[Kaysie]

When I think 'duckweed', I think floating plants. You say you put these on sand? Then it's not duckweed-like.

 

[Chinadog]

Seth, Duckweed is the stuff that's stuck to those Bullfrogs in the picture you posted in the Caudata caption thread

 

[sde]

Yes I know what duckweed looks like. There was a lot of duckweed were I got the plants from but didn't get any. These plants are like duckweed like but larger they grow into the ground and don't float on the surface. These plants have layers on the leaf like stacked kind of. Not duckweed, I don't want duckweed. -Seth