Will my plants survive?

[octopus44]

Yesterday I purchased 4 amazon swords and 5 ludwiga shoots to serve as temporary starting plants for my new planted aquarium.

I currently only have a gravel substrate and 30 watts of light (plus a fair amount of window light) on my 55 gallon tank.

I wont be getting proper substrate and lighting for about 4 weeks. The reason I purchased the plants now instead of waiting is that my car is about to die, and I was afraid that if I did not get them now I would have to order them online and pay a lot more money.

So, my question is will these plants survive just enough to be revived once i have the proper equipment?

P.S. I have fertilized the plants

[Lady Hobbs]

The ludwiga needs bright lights. All plants that have red or oranges to them do. Amazon should also have at least med light. I am currently stealing the hood lights from other tanks and adding to one that has plants. Possibly you could just get a clip on light for not much money.

[Chrona]

Yesterday I purchased 4 amazon swords and 5 ludwiga shoots to serve as temporary starting plants for my new planted aquarium.

I currently only have a gravel substrate and 30 watts of light (plus a fair amount of window light) on my 55 gallon tank.

I wont be getting proper substrate and lighting for about 4 weeks. The reason I purchased the plants now instead of waiting is that my car is about to die, and I was afraid that if I did not get them now I would have to order them online and pay a lot more money.

So, my question is will these plants survive just enough to be revived once i have the proper equipment?

P.S. I have fertilized the plants

What kind of ludwigia? Some are much easier to grow in low light than others. The sword will definitely suffer for a while though. They should be able to make it 4 weeks though. What do you mean by fair amount of window light? Does it get direct sunlight?

Interestingly enough, for future reference, the cheapest place to buy plants is usually online from other forums, like the swap and shop of plantedtank.net. A lot of times, people will send large bundles of fast growing stem plants like hygro for only shipping because they grow like weeds.

[octopus44]

What kind of ludwigia? Some are much easier to grow in low light than others. The sword will definitely suffer for a while though. They should be able to make it 4 weeks though. What do you mean by fair amount of window light? Does it get direct sunlight?

Interestingly enough, for future reference, the cheapest place to buy plants is usually online from other forums, like the swap and shop of plantedtank.net. A lot of times, people will send large bundles of fast growing stem plants like hygro for only shipping because they grow like weeds.

I'm not sure what kind of ludwiga but here is a picture:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h318/absenceofedges/DSC00382.jpg

As far as sunlight, the tank probably gets about an hour of direct sunlight.

plantedtank.net looks like it has some great stuff. Isn't shipping plants still expensive though?

Thanks Chrona

[hungryhound]

I'm not sure what kind of ludwiga but here is a picture:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h318/absenceofedges/DSC00382.jpg

As far as sunlight, the tank probably gets about an hour of direct sunlight.

plantedtank.net looks like it has some great stuff. Isn't shipping plants still expensive though?

Thanks Chrona

Shipping plants isn't that bad on the planted tank. Usually they are shipped priority and the price of shipping is generally included in the overall price. The swap and shop is not a store, but rather hobbiest helping other hobbiest and price gouging rarely happens.

[nanaglen2001]

I got his plant in my tank, but I let it just drift around. (I have to admit it was sheer lazyness why I didnt plant it)

And I found out, it grows much much better, cause its directly under the light. I used to have this plant as a plnted one, with a bit more light (not much) as you have, but it always died away.

Maybe it could be an alternative for you. And when you have more money, the plant will have grown a lot, and you have problems cause you wont find enough space to plant it.

[Chrona]

Kinda looks like ludwigia repens. It should be fine, but the lower leaves may fall off if they get shaded. Shipping for plants is done by priority mail, which is now like 5 bucks or so.

And nanaglen has a good suggestion. Many plants can grow floating, though the stem will grow out all weird.

[Lady Hobbs]

I just ordered several plants from someone on Ebay. I will not mention the name until I find out if he has decent plants, tho. I ordered brine shrimp and Plant Tabbs from him as well plus several plants. The shipping on my whole order was $7.50.

Some of the places online ship overnight and those charge almost as much as shipping fish.

[octopus44]

Thanks nanaglen, floating them is not a bad idea except that the light from the window really only hits the right side of the tank. If I can think of a way to keep them from drifting over to the left side of the tank I may try that.

LadyHobbs: Yeah, I was looking at the shipping rates of online plants store and some of them charge like $30 for shipping. It's ridiculous.