Can I keep plants in a tank for awhile without planting them?? And, if so, will they require anything special??

I want to make some of my tanks fully planted but it seems like it would be easier to just do the whole tank at the one time and then fill it with water but the problem is the cost of the plants in my area. So I was wondering if it was possible to simply leave the floating in the water until I have enough to do the whole tank.

Also, if I can how long can they last like that??

__________________
10gal fry tank planted with Wisteria, Java Moss, Anuabis and Anacharis
35gal Sponge Bob tank with live bearing tropicals (daughters tank)
15gal planted with Swords, Java Fern, Wisteria and Red Rubin housing 10 fry and 2 bladder snails
55 gal with Oscar (future planted tank with angels and flowerhorns)
55 gal Community tank (platys, mollys, guppys, glass catfish, angels, phantom tetra, red eye tetra and swordtails)

I've left a number of plants floating for a few days with no problem. I guess it depends on the plant and how long you want to be like that.

__________________
55gallon
Light - 6500K CFL, 23wattsx5 5hr/day
Substrate - Red Mexican Clay, Sphagnum Peat moss, Eco-Complete
Misc- Pressurized CO2, EI Dose KNO3, KH2PO4, CSM-B
Plants -Limnophila Aromatica, Stargrass, Dwarf Hair Grass, Christmas Moss, Baby Tears (HM), Dwarf Baby Tears(HC), Rotala Rotundifolia, Ludwigia Glandulosa, Riccia Fluitans

It all depends on the plants, some like floating others don't. My favorite plants are ones like anubais and moss that can be attached to driftwood or small stones and moved around any time you like.

The members on here some times sell plants and i use e-bay.

I was hoping to float them for probably a few weeks to a month. When I get around to doing this with one of my 55gals then it's going to take a lot of plants. More then I can buy at one time. I have thought about ebay but they seem to have a small selection. I have purchased from there before but for a big purchase like that I think I would prefer to go local. Or at least same continent. I have seen some on here too but have yet to actually get to them fast enough or know enough about them to buy them from here. Maybe next time. For my 55gal Cichlid I was thinking about going with Amazon swords. But not sure if I want to add anything else or not. Probably something to make a background out of.

__________________
10gal fry tank planted with Wisteria, Java Moss, Anuabis and Anacharis
35gal Sponge Bob tank with live bearing tropicals (daughters tank)
15gal planted with Swords, Java Fern, Wisteria and Red Rubin housing 10 fry and 2 bladder snails
55 gal with Oscar (future planted tank with angels and flowerhorns)
55 gal Community tank (platys, mollys, guppys, glass catfish, angels, phantom tetra, red eye tetra and swordtails)

Lots of people who are into planted tanks plant every thing at once in the begining but I like getting one plant a a time anyway as it keeps me entertained for longer. You just need a basic idea of how you want the tank to look in the end. It depends on the substrate you use also because some of them get the water cloudy every time you mess with it so planting over a long time isn't so good.

yes, you can keep them floating

__________________
"http://freshwater-aquarium-passion.blogspot.com" - for people with passion for aquariums