Hey guys, I've recently gotten my first tank after many years and decided to try adding real plants, but am unsure of how to properly tend to them, what to look for, and how it'll affect the fish tank.
I have a 30 gallon tank with the following:
50 gallon filter Aquaclear with sponge, soon to replace the carbon with polyfill, and biomax
20 gallon filter Aquaclear with sponge, soon to replace second sponge with carbon, and biomax
1 I think 120 watt Stealth heater
7 fake plants
1 large fake driftwood
black with occasional red gravel
Most of the fake plants are glow in the dark, I tried to recreate an Avatar-ish sort of theme from the movie.
I have the following fish:
4 White Cloud Minnows (may switch them out)
5 Glofish danios (1 inch)
2 Roseline Sharks (about 3 inches)
2 Petricola Catfish (about 1.5 inches)
3 Cherry barbs (all males, just got them yesterday, about 1 inch)
I also intend to get 1 or 2 pairs of German Blue Rams and Gold Rams, that will depend on if I decide to remove the white clouds to prevent overcrowding. Though I feel it may be fine to get the two pairs as is, considering my filters and my weekly 20% water changes. However, I've been told that the rams require softer water and are more sensitive to water changes, thus, I've been told that plants are recommended to make the water softer.
These are my various plant questions:
Do plants really make the water softer?
If so, will my current fish be able to handle the change? I'm not sure how much softer they will make the water.
What sort of plants do you guys recommend to do this task? From what I've been reading around, microswords, amazon swords, anubias... (I think thats what they were called), and java moss seemed to be the most mentioned in the forum, but I'm not sure if they are what i need in particular.
What do I need to look out for in terms of plant care? I'd like hardier, lesser maintenance required plants considering I'm not available for most of the day.
The LFS told me that I don't need to buy anything else other than the plant, no supplements, etc are required as long as they have decent lighting, they should be able to absorb the nutrients from the water itself. Is this true?
I have an actinic bulb on the overhead, I'm not sure how this counts towards the lighting for the plants. Is it fine as it is? How long should I keep the lighting on for throughout the day?
Lastly, I have been considering to attempt breeding the Cherry barbs after getting some females, gold/blue rams, and eventually the petricolas in the future. Currently I know nothing about breeding (I know their breeding conditions, but nothing about how to set the environment to meet their needs), but I would like to know what plants are recommended for breeding (by hiding the eggs, by hiding the fries, etc)
Thanks for any assistance
I have a 30 gallon tank with the following:
50 gallon filter Aquaclear with sponge, soon to replace the carbon with polyfill, and biomax
20 gallon filter Aquaclear with sponge, soon to replace second sponge with carbon, and biomax
1 I think 120 watt Stealth heater
7 fake plants
1 large fake driftwood
black with occasional red gravel
Most of the fake plants are glow in the dark, I tried to recreate an Avatar-ish sort of theme from the movie.
I have the following fish:
4 White Cloud Minnows (may switch them out)
5 Glofish danios (1 inch)
2 Roseline Sharks (about 3 inches)
2 Petricola Catfish (about 1.5 inches)
3 Cherry barbs (all males, just got them yesterday, about 1 inch)
I also intend to get 1 or 2 pairs of German Blue Rams and Gold Rams, that will depend on if I decide to remove the white clouds to prevent overcrowding. Though I feel it may be fine to get the two pairs as is, considering my filters and my weekly 20% water changes. However, I've been told that the rams require softer water and are more sensitive to water changes, thus, I've been told that plants are recommended to make the water softer.
These are my various plant questions:
Do plants really make the water softer?
If so, will my current fish be able to handle the change? I'm not sure how much softer they will make the water.
What sort of plants do you guys recommend to do this task? From what I've been reading around, microswords, amazon swords, anubias... (I think thats what they were called), and java moss seemed to be the most mentioned in the forum, but I'm not sure if they are what i need in particular.
What do I need to look out for in terms of plant care? I'd like hardier, lesser maintenance required plants considering I'm not available for most of the day.
The LFS told me that I don't need to buy anything else other than the plant, no supplements, etc are required as long as they have decent lighting, they should be able to absorb the nutrients from the water itself. Is this true?
I have an actinic bulb on the overhead, I'm not sure how this counts towards the lighting for the plants. Is it fine as it is? How long should I keep the lighting on for throughout the day?
Lastly, I have been considering to attempt breeding the Cherry barbs after getting some females, gold/blue rams, and eventually the petricolas in the future. Currently I know nothing about breeding (I know their breeding conditions, but nothing about how to set the environment to meet their needs), but I would like to know what plants are recommended for breeding (by hiding the eggs, by hiding the fries, etc)
Thanks for any assistance