Basic Plant Info??

[Jbass88]

I have a small 10g community tank and was wondering if their are any live plants that are low maintenance and can go on the gravel perhaps? I saw a rock with moss on it at a pet store would that be good? My signature has my tank info we are adding 2 corys 1 pleko and a few more glass tetras and the goldfish will be going into a 30g asap.

Thanks!

 

[exhumed07]

for a tank not setp for live plants there is not much u can do. they need semi special lighting and just standard rocks have no neutritional value to the plants. there are some floating plants u may be able to get but lighting again is the issue with those. with the basic setup u have the only thing i could think of that would survive would be java, christmas, tiwan moss. one of those 3 but those are also the kind of plant where if u don't like it, it's nearly impossible to get out of the tank. u may think u got it but left a tiny little piece and it will start growing. i recommend the plant but with caution.

 

[FreshyFresh]

JBass- keep in mind that many aquatic plants don't need to be planted at all, so you can keep them in an aquarium with any type (or no) gravel/substrate. You'll see the term rhizome associated with these types of plants. You don't want to bury the rhizome. Java Fern and types of Anubias are that type of plant. You basically just anchor them to something or weight them down.

The key is proper lighting, be it natural light or not, and proper nutrients.

I'm just learning about plants myself and pretty much learned everything I know so far from the fine folks on this site.

 

[Jbass88]

very good to know i think we are going to wait untill we get a larger tank to do real plants.

 

[exhumed07]

also look into a dirted tank. i'm honestly saying it was one of the best things i've done when it comes to fish keeping. I've failed multiple times dosing with ferts and everything. but with a dirted substrate and good t5ho lighting my plants flourish. it's super simple to do. inch or two of moist potting soil and then an inch or so of gravel to hold the dirt in place, fill the tank a few inches deep with water and do the planting then fill it up the rest of the way and watch the plants grow.

 

[lauraf]

You should be fine to add anubias, java fern and java moss as mentioned above - they do not need special substrate and do well in low light environments.