Thread: easy plants
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Old March 30th, 2010, 04:44 PM   #3
rdebonis
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Brooklyn
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I always had problems with plants because the fish I collect don't react well to bright light and I have to keep the light low to medium intensity. I began to have success with plants when I started to follow advice that was given me by Jeff Bolbach who besides breeding and raising some really beautiful fish has one of the best Fish Rooms I have ever seen. This advice works nicely for me.

Jeff told me to experiment, buy a plant you like and try to grow it. If it does poorly then get a different one. Eventually you will find plants that like your conditions and will grow for you. I use to read all the books and advice columns on plants and only buy the recommended low light plants. Many of them did not survive because there are other factors to growing plants besides light, like water chemistry, temperature etc. In addition, by having some plants do poorly for you, you begin to learn which ones are not good for your conditions and you develop first hand knowledge about many plants and how to grow them. For instance, sometimes the difference between a plant just surviving and a plant that flourishes is merely moving it from one tank to another that may have a slightly different environment or keeping the lights on for an extra hour. Another method I found was to use floating plants like Water Sprite. Many fish that don't like bright light, like Wild Bettas, will hide under the leaves and around the roots of Water Sprite. Water Sprite can also be rooted but for me it does best when it is floating. It grows up toward the light and can actually resemble a Mangrove if not cut back, that is, it develops a heavy canopy of leaves at the top of the water and above it with stems and long roots dropping toward the bottom of the tank and the fish swimming below the leaf canopy. It's actually very attractive and looks very natural.

Good Luck!
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Last edited by rdebonis; March 30th, 2010 at 04:56 PM.
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