plants in tank

[shirley]

I am an avid perennial gardener, but have never attempted a planted aqaurium. I have a 29 gall. community tank and a 55 gallon severum tank. I was wondering if I used only plants that I can attach to rocks and bogwood, will I still need to fertilize them? As my severums get larger, they will begin to dig, so I was thinking of starting out with anubias, etc., that I can attach to the rocks and wood. As you can see, I have no idea how to begin. Shirley

 

[farm41]

How much light do you have?

 

[tjudy]

I do a lot of on-wood propagating. Yes, you still need to fertilize. If you are raising severums, I would stick to really tough Anubias, and even though might lose new growth to the fish... severums like plants!

 

[shirley]

lighting, etc.

Someone asked what kind of lighting I have - just the flourescents that came with my hoods. I have seen quite a selection in my fish catalogs, however. If I stick to anubias, etc., how do I fertilize them? I prefer a dark walnut colored gravel substrate about 3/4 to 1 inch deep. This seems to show the fish's colors off beautifully. I have several good fish books, all of which have chapters on the planted aquarium, but they all concentrate on massive substrate plantings, which don't interest me. I would like to have a few live plants attached to rocks and bogwood, interspersed with my artificial background plants.

 

[farm41]

The tanks only come with the minimum for showing off the fish. Growing plants takes more light. 1-2 watts per gallon for low light plants like anubias and crypts.