Plants?

[Conniemarie]

I am getting a 45 gallon aquarium this weekend and need to know what plants are best- real or fake?
I know I have to cycle the tank...

[angelcraze2]

You don't have to cycle the tank for plants! Go for it!

What types of fish are planning for?

Plants that I find easy or good for my fish are:

Amazon sword and rosette swords (for color)
Chain sword, tenellus or dwarf sag for carpetting
Vallisneria
Stargrass (carpetting or bushes)
Crypts (wendtii is a good one, red for color)
Rotala rotundifolia
Ludwigia (mini sp. for color)
Hygros
Aponogetons

I don't use ferts or co2, but use dirt for a substrate. So there are others, but these are fairly simple to grow.

Plants that I like but find more difficult to grow:
Helferi
Staurogyne
Reneikii
Rice patty herb
Pogostemon erectus
The list goes on.....

This is my personal preference, but I tend to plant the tanks according to the fish I'm keeping in them. For ex. Angelfish love amazon swords.

[mermaidwannabe]

I like to combine real and artificial plants in my tanks. The silk ones look so life-like, when blended naturally into the aquascape among living plants, it can be very difficult to tell that they're fake.

Several things to consider with live plants:

Are your tank inhabitants plant eaters?
How much light will you have in the tank?
What kind of look are you going for?

Some low-light, low fert plants that do well include Java Ferns and Anubias, Amazon Swords and some Crypts.

Others require very high, intense light, which may bring on algaes, including diatoms.

Most algaes can be controlled with regular tank maintenance, Nerite snails and Amano shrimp.

Live plants will require some pruning, eventually. Dead or dying foliage should be regularly removed. If they do really well, they can overcrowd and may have to be divided.

If you want maintenance-free plants, natural looking fakes will do the trick.

The advantage of having live plants is that they can soak up and reduce nitrates in your tank.

Artificials can provide colors in you tank that you might not be able to have with live plants, depending on conditions. Some living plants do come in reds and golds and other interesting colors, but may not be suitable for you tanks. Fake plants will get around that.

It's really a matter of personal taste. I don't mind combining the two. It enhances the look, and can offer more visual variety and diversity than live plants alone. Fish and snails won't eat the silks.

Hope this helps.

[Conniemarie]

Which cost less? Lol

[SueD]

I'd say live plants are the best value for the money. You can get a potted crypt Wendtii, for example, which may be anywhere from $4 - $8, but within the pot are 4-5 plants that can be separated and spread out. Some of the easier stem plants like hygro difformis or hygro angustifolia will grow relatively fast and can then be topped off, with the tops replanted for additional plants.

Java ferns which have a rhizome and should be tied or glued to some driftwood or rock repopulate by growing baby plants on the ends of mature established leaves. These can be removed and positioned elsewhere. Anubias also have a rhizome which should be tied/glued as java fern. The rhizome will grow lengthwise and can be cut to form two or more plants for repositioning.

And many plants will send out runners to form more plants.

[AmazonJoe]

Plus live plants benefit water quality fake ones just sit there and collect algae...while live plants actually compete against algae...so yea live plants for the win :)

[OnTheFly]

Get at least a few live plants and try your hand at it. Then decide for yourself. I was scared by local live plant prices until I priced plastic.

[mermaidwannabe]

Plastic plants look fake and are tacky, but good quality silk ones (which are really polyester and not real silk) can look very natural and life like. Plastic plants have the additional drawback in that they can have stiff, sharp edges that can injure fish, whereas the silks usually don't. They are much softer and more pliable.

Yes, the better ones can be expensive, but so can some of the larger live plants, depending on where you buy them.

With the rhizome plants, such as Anubias and Java Ferns, never bury the rhizomes in the substrate. It's okay for their roots to be anchored there, but the rhizomes should sit on or above the substrate, usually tied to driftwood some other stable, sturdy surface within the tank. If tied with transparent fishing line, the tie-downs can be invisible, especially if done in such a way that the plants' leaves hide them from view. As they grow, they will eventually cover whatever you tie them to, and the tie-downs and bases won't be seen, anymore.

There are definite advantages to living plants, but if you're skittish in the beginning, maybe just try one or two of the easier ones, and if you want more plants to fill in, go with the silkies until you gain more confidence and experience with living plants.

[Slaphppy7]

Live plants > artificial plants, from a totally biological aspect...live plants provide many benefits to the ecology of a tank.

[angelcraze2]

I think the mix of the two is a good idea for low light tanks where you might not be able to get the colour you want from your plants. The live plants benefit the tank and inhabitants, the artificial ones provide colour or texture to your scape. But artificial plants in a med/high light tank collect algae like crazy and you'll probably end up taking them out.

That being said, I have so many plants now, I don't know what to do with the off-cuts and some plants propagate very quickly, like ones that reproduce via runners (chainsword, dwarf sag, vallisneria, crypts). You buy one type, if it does well you'll have many in no time. I feel in the long run, my money was better spent buying live plants.