Getting into plants

[npbarca]

I just overhauled my display tank to get a more natural look. Tank has 3 severums (one wild), a group of congo tetras, 3 Gymnogeophagus Balzanii, a Festivum, and a pictus cat, pleco etc. I've added plants before (vals and java fern) only to have the severum tear them up (Yes, I know they are herbivorous!). This time around, I added an Amazon sword, Bleheri, Anubias, and some bamboo-ish plant (not lucky bamboo but it has a bamboo like stem). They haven't touched the swords or Anubias, but like the bamboo thing. Strange. My setup is simple, with 2 LED fixtures (one Aqueon modular LED and the other is the national geographic fixture, both with 3 LED's so 6 tubes total) and root tabs. Sand is the substrate. The Swords and Anubias have both doubled in size already. Anyone have thoughts on this, or suggestions for more plants to add?

 

[Zepp914]

Stick with other stem feeders since that is what you have already. I mixed stem and water column feeding plants. It is a pain to do both water dosing and root tabs.

If you have an area far away from your other plants and want a dash of red, you can try a tiger lotus. 2 words of warning. #1 It can out-compete your other root feeders, so keep it away. #2 Only buy an established lotus, do not buy just a bulb without leaves. There are a lot of youtube videos about this. You can try to make it flower or prevent it from doing so entirely. Your call, but it is definitely a cool plant. I have no idea if a severum would eat it or not. The leaves are easily removed and grow back quickly, but if the severum attacks the roots, you will be out $7 or $8.

 

[Becca]

You could add crypts - they're root feeders. Geos will dig, so it can be hard to keep things rooted with them in a tank. Congo tetras will nibble plants. How do I know this? I have a school of like 80 (ok, more like 12) in a Congo river themed tank. Something with teeth nibbles the plants. I can see the little teeth marks in the Anubias. Teleogramma have a very distinctive "wedge shaped" bite, so it's not them. Congo tetras have sharp, jagged little teeth... it's definitely them.

 

[Becca]

you can also add java fern, anubias, bucephalandra... anything you can stick to hardscape that will take root in rock or driftwood - no worries about fish digging those up.