growing hardy plants

[yeeahboy]

i want to plant sword plants and java ferns in my tank.

1. will these grow fine with just gravel 2-3mm

2. i will be adding silver dollars, are these plants fine with this fish

3. i only have 30 watts of light but a 200L tank, will i have to get more light

4. will i have to add some sort of nutrients for the plants to flourish

Any help would be appreciated.

[Cheesejawa]

I think only java ferns will survive in those conditions, especially with the sliver dollars.

By 2-3mm do you mean the gravel size or the height the gravel will be?

Hope thats helps

[Warren]

No, no, no - silver dollars will attack the sword plants big-time. They probably won't touch the Java Fern.

Swords also need fairly high light levels, substrate fertiliser to thrive. CO2 also helps a lot. Because they grow quite slowly (relative to stem plants) the nutrient level in the main water body needs to be very low or the algae will out-compete the plants.

[A-town...]

mmm Ive seen silver dollars get through java

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

on my 200 have 2 twin t5's, use daltons aquatic under fine gravel and flourish excell. mostly have swords and lets just say they going nuts! amazons have started throwing runners and all sorts

[evilknieval69]

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/thinki ... 18044.html

[yeeahboy]

cheers

[Dixon1990]

on my 200 have 2 twin t5's, use daltons aquatic under fine gravel and flourish excell. mostly have swords and lets just say they going nuts! amazons have started throwing runners and all sorts

What types of sword are they? 8)

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

amazon,marble queen,ozelot,red special erm cant remember the name of the other one

[Warren]

Echinodorus bleheri (bleherae)

Echinodorus cordifolius ssp. fluitans

Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen'

Echinodorus grandiflorus ssp. aureus

Echinodorus macrophyllus

Echinodorus osiris

Echinodorus 'Ozelot'

Echinodorus 'Ozelot' (Green)

Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius

Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'

Echinodorus quadricostatus

Echinodorus 'Red Diamond'

Echinodorus 'Red Flame'

Echinodorus 'Red Special'

Echinodorus 'Rosé'

Echinodorus 'Rubin'

Echinodorus schlueteri 'Leopard'

Echinodorus tenellus

Echinodorus uruguayensis

Echinodorus barthii

Egeria densa

Eleocharis parvula

Here's a few I found on 'Tropica' but there's likely to be a few more. In NZ, due to the lack of imports at certain times many species of sword have become quite hybridised and can be difficult to tell apart.

[Dixon1990]

Echinodorus bleheri (bleherae)

Echinodorus cordifolius ssp. fluitans

Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen'

Echinodorus grandiflorus ssp. aureus

Echinodorus macrophyllus

Echinodorus osiris

Echinodorus 'Ozelot'

Echinodorus 'Ozelot' (Green)

Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius

Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'

Echinodorus quadricostatus

Echinodorus 'Red Diamond'

Echinodorus 'Red Flame'

Echinodorus 'Red Special'

Echinodorus 'Rosé'

Echinodorus 'Rubin'

Echinodorus schlueteri 'Leopard'

Echinodorus tenellus

Echinodorus uruguayensis

Echinodorus barthii

Egeria densa

Eleocharis parvula

Here's a few I found on 'Tropica' but there's likely to be a few more. In NZ, due to the lack of imports at certain times many species of sword have become quite hybridised and can be difficult to tell apart.

What did you note all them for Warren? Can some of them be kept with silver dollars?

[yeeahboy]

i heard that if you feed the silver dollars well they wont touch the plants