The Puffer Forum

So some of you might have seen in my tank that I LOVE ANACHARIS

but

there's a big problem

i feel that it dies really fast (mabye it's my fault)

it sheds alot all the damn leaf i have to scoop out all the time

when ti's bunched together it dies even quicker

when i take em apart i have to plant them one by one, and sometimes they're not really stable, IT COMES OUT OF THE GRAVEL and i have to plant it again

but

i think my Dwarf puffers really love it
they like sleeping on it
burrying them self in it
explore in it
they just absolutely love it

compare to the other plants i've got em from like Pet co they like the Anacharis the most

but when i take them apart and plant them one by one

it looks retarded


SOOOOOOO i just really have no idea if i should keep on getting them

or switch everything to fake plants and mabye some java moss

does any one use Anacharis like i do?

Anacharis does best in cooler temps. Very popular in ponds because of that. I just group no more than 3-4 strands together with a lead weight and have never had a problem.

gracias, hmm well my temp is like 79-80 is that too cold?

like they're awesome to have JUST THAT kinda annoying sometimes

and now that since i've took em all apart

it's driving me nuts

how beneficial is it to the water or the fish having real plants?

The bebefits of live plants are they they uptake nitrate and carbon dioxide keeping it lower than you could without and they put out oxygen.

But any benefits can quickly be outweighed if the plants themselves are not healthy and are continually rotting and dying, increasing polution rather than decreasing it.

Planted tanks can be tricky unless you either stick to insanly easy to keep plants suitable to your conditions, or you go all out and tailor your lighting, heating, fertilizing, substrate, etc to your plants. There isn't much of an inbetween IMO.

hmmmm so if i take out the plant, i should put in those tube things that pump oxygen in my water?

cause i'm kinda tired of getting real plants, they all kinda add up

i've probably spent almost 80 bucks on plants now, and i've only had the tank for mabye not even 2 months

SOOOOO

i think i'm gona just go all out on fake plants except mabye if isee some cute live plants

cause they are really hard to take care of like you said the lighting heating, fertilizing BLAHBLAHBLAH

I never had much luck with anacharis, planted seperately or in groups. I've been keeping planted tanks for over 5 years and still don't have a sprig of it anywhere.

First, how much light do you have? You can try something else, say hygrophelia, which is a nice looking, cheaper stem plant. If you have more light, say 3 watts per gallon, you could go with rotala indica, that stuff grows like crazy.

Or just get crypts, anubias and java ferns instead. Less pruning, tougher plants.. but they don't use up nutrients as fast as the stem plants.

Where are you located too? Often people will send you their cuttings to help you get started, I've done that many times.

You can take them out no problem. Fake plants do splendidly under any conditions!

Adding an airstone is completely optional as well as long as you have a decent filter for your tank.

Myaj thanks for the suggestion, i'm located in
CA SF but it's okay i think i'm really just gonna go Fake LOL i'm sick and tired of the plants leafs LOL but after i go fake mabye i'll get soem java moss cause i hear DPs really like those

Sounds good! Live plants are a great thing to have but can be very frustrating if you don't find the right type for your setup.

Yah, I just got some java moss last night and my DP's are loving it so far! When I first put it in, they kept staring and probing at it, all curious. It was cute!

oh man i really want some java moss now DAMN IT lol, pet co sucks they don' sell it, i finally found some at this Brians Fish World but he's like I RAN OUT, but oh well anyway i just got back from Pet Co and they got in some really nice fresh looking Anacharis so being the shop o holic that i am i bought some more LOL

I also heard that the DP's like to lay their eggs in the java moss =)

and that is exaclty why i wanna get java moss LOLoh man they love the new anachars i got em and i also got em some sword plants

you could try hornwort

If you've got anacharis do not use Flourish Excel. All the leaves will fall off and clog the filter.

My anacharis was thriving up until the point I added the Flourish Excel. Now I have none.

MP