Potted plants - can they introduce disease?

I am looking at adding a few live plants to our 40 gal tank.

I planted a few small Wisteria plants that were "prepackaged" and after a few weeks have not died so they must be taking.

The local fish store sells some potted plants but i am hesitant to add them fearing it may introduce a disease or snails to my tank.

Is this fear justified?

If I am wrong and it is safe to add a potted plant from the store - can i leave the plant in the pot and just bury the pot in the gravel?

Ive never had issues with diseases,but snails is a real possibility.

As for the pot,most will not thrive well if left in there,so its best to remove it from the pot and plant directly in the substrate.What type of plants are you thinking of adding?

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Wisteria, watersprite or rotala. From what i have read these are good starter plants.

They are indeed good starters.It would be best to remove them from the pots,so you can spread them a little,allowing light to reach the whole bunch.Otherwise the stems could start to melt and the plants will float to the top anyway.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

As far as snails go I have stated in other posts that if you end up with a snail infestation get a couple of assassin snails. You won't have any issues with snails after that, guaranteed.

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75 Gallon Planted

Hello jim...

Potted plants from the LFS are fine. I just rinse them in a bucket of my treated water change water. I cut away the plastic pot and remove the "rock wool" that surrounds the plant. Don't want the wool in my tanks. Guess I'm a little fussy about it. I also trim the roots a little if they're real long.

My tanks have been running for several years and I don't like to disturb the substrate by putting the plants into the gravel. So, I use plastic pots with the holes in the bottom to allow for root growth and use organic potting soil topped with pea gravel.

Guess you could say I have potted, planted tanks.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

If you happen to decide to remove them from the pot, just be sure that you remove all of the rock wool from around the plant and roots. The downside of keeping stem plants (the ones you mention) is that when the plant has reached the point where you need to trim it, to stay with the whole pot theme, you'd need a new one for your trimming. If you could find pots the size the store uses it would be better. These will be much easier to hide.