Rate my plants! PIC heavy! 36K!

[snakester1]

Any feedback appreciated. Planted 6 days ago.

29 gallon tank:

Glo T5-HO 2 bulb 1x 6500K Tropical Light + 1x 12000K Super daylight

Here we go:

Overall tank (next time I'll try to level my camera better!)


Amazon Sword, Java Fern and Microsword Grass. And yes the Java Fern is going to go on a piece of driftwood soon. The rhizome is just buried enough for it to stay there. Java fern, of all these plants, tried my patience the most as I could not seem to tie it to a rock with any luck at all. I also tried small fishing hooks after I clipped the barb off. No luck. So I have a small piece of driftwood now soaking which I plan to try to attach it to!


Side view of the swords. It's been suggested that I may have planted these too close to the side of the tank. I am debating the move.


Cabomba, by far my favorite of the plants I bought. It seems to be doing well. I bet the fish I get (Cardinals and something to go with them) will like hanging out in the shade here.

[snakester1]

Anubias, it has some dark maroon leaves at its base and the other leaves are stretching wide! On this one I managed to expose the rhizome since it stayed put better than the Java Fern!


Finally a couple of the Microsword Grass, Hard to tell if it's doing well or not. I managed to dislodge one and realized how lucky I was to get the roots covered the first time. My plan is to stop fiddling with them and see how it goes.

[Pamela2Heaven]

I think it all looks very nice!

[Pamela2Heaven]

Just realized you are from Conway - I am from Vilonia! I live in TX now, tho. Lived in either Vilonia or Greenbrier for all but the past 12 years~

[mermaidwannabe]

Nice looking plants! And a great complementary layout of rocks on the dark substrate. May I suggest a few more micro-grass clumps in the foreground, and maybe a few marimo mossballs to stand alone on the substrate (no planting necessary)? And another Anubias nana or two (the compact, short type) closer to the front. That would fill out the space more, and increase the visual impact. What you have looks very nice. When are some lucky fish going to make their home there? Tank still cycling?

-- mermaidwannabe

[snakester1]

Just realized you are from Conway - I am from Vilonia! I live in TX now, tho. Lived in either Vilonia or Greenbrier for all but the past 12 years~

That's cool I just drove from San Antonio to Conway yesterday (long drive). And I've lived here since I was 13!

[snakester1]

Mermaid, yes I like those grasses but I am wanting to make sure they do ok before I buy some more. I hope they do.

I haven't yet decided if I like the moss balls. But I do want this to be lushly planted. This is my first time so wasn't sure if it would go jungle on me with the plants I bought or not

The tank is still cycling, I figure another week or so. 12-15 Cardinal Tetras are the only thing I'm set on so far!

PS. if you look close you can see the diotopes that have recently started up!

[Waterfroggy]

Nice! I really like your background, what is it? It looks 3D.

I've been wondering what the name of Cabomba was, thanks!

[Fizgig]

The Anubias you think you have in there (with the mix of dark and green leaves) is actually an Echinodorus species. Likely a Red Rubin Sword.

Your Amazon Sword looks to be in need of nutrients, too.

A neat little setup... Should be fun to watch the progression.

[Lady Hobbs]

As someone else suggested, I would move that sword out away from the walls of the tank some and cut off all the leaves that aren't healthy. They will not come back so no point in leaving them to rob nutrients from the main plant. Don't plant swords too deep and feed with root tabs.

I'd also move the ground cover to the front of the tank since you want to add more plants. I tie java fern to wood with a fishing line. You don't want fish hooks in your tank. For you or the fish!