Real vs fake plants

[derkhcroyl]

Hi I am new to this forum and to fishkeeping as well.

I just would like to get anyone's opinion regarding real versus fake plants.

I bought a secondhand tank from TradeMe, an AquaOne AR620. It is a 90L tank.

It came with a couple of tetras (rummynose I think), but unfortunately they died less than a week after I bought.

So now I am trying to learn as fast as possible before I purchase another set of fishes and put a death sentence on them...

Thanks in advance.

[Adrienne]

Most people prefer real plants but the type of real plants you can grow in the tank depends on a number of factors i.e. lighting, fertilisers, substrate. Fake plants certainly have their place in tanks as some fish are destroyers of any live plant. If you go up to Home on the top of this page and click on it, it will take you to the website. Look under plants on this, it gives you a list of plants and the requirements. There are also various articles which are worth a read

[derkhcroyl]

Thanks Adrienne!

[stillnzcookie]

Personally I'm a fan of real plants, both aesthetically and because they form part of the tank's ecosystem. A planted tank helps keep water parameters stable (in my experience), and gives the fish plenty of places to hide. As it makes the fish feel more secure, they are happier and show more natural behaviour. With a tank that has enough plants, it's also possible that, when the fish lay eggs, some of the eggs and fry will survive, rather than them all being eaten by the other fish. Plants also play an important role in the nitrogen cycle, which makes your tank easier to maintain and also makes it possible to keep more fish (although you obviously still should not overcrowd your tank)

The biggest downside to plants is that, when you get an imbalance of light and nutrients, it creates the perfect environment for algae to thrive. Although a tank overrun with algae can look pretty ugly, it's usually harmless for fish, so the good news is that, as long as you can cope with a less-than-pristine tank for a while, you can deal with it by finding the root cause and making changes accordingly. So it can be a gradual process, rather then needing an instant fix. Despite what the pet shops will tell you, you do not need algae-rid products and, in fact, these can turn out to be harmful for your tank, so my recommendation would be to avoid them.

For a low-light tank, my number one plant is java fern - I think it looks really nice and, in my experience, it is virtually indestructible! The other plants I have had the most success with are ambulia and anubias. Ambulia grows fast, and you can just chop it in half and replant the trimmings, so you can fill a tank pretty quickly. Anubias grows slowly but, like java fern, it seems very hardy - I even put mine in a vinegar bath once when it was covered in algae (which I don't recommend, btw), and most of it survived!

[alexyay]

Real plants 100%. The only time I use fake plants is in medication tanks where they can't thrive and need to be sterilized (so it's very impractical). There are several plants that'll pretty much grow under any light and conditions. My list is -

- Hygrophila polysperma

- Indian fern

- Cabomba

- Ambulia

- Hydrocotyle leucocephala

- Stargrass

- Duckweed

- Java moss, Christmas moss, sometimes Riccia moss

Anubias and Java fern are also low light plants, but due to being slow growing they are prone to algae growing on the leaves, which can cause them to die if the algae is too much.

Thriving plants will only benefit the tank and reduce algae. For the ones above you'll likely not have to dose anything. If you're experiencing algae, my typical recommendations are

- Lower light hours

- Replace light tubes if over a year old or a poor quality

- Do WCs!

- ...More WCs (algae often thrives on an abundance of nutrients, for the majority water changes will help)

- Increase planting

- Use emersed plants to help take up extra Nitrates/Phosphates/etc

- Look further into specifics such as exactly what nutrients the algae thrives on, whether you need better quality lights (with good colour/wavelengths), whether you need to increase/decrease flow etc.

[Ira]

My preference lately has been moving towards fake plants.

No leaves and crap clogging powerheads and filter intakes, no limitation on species because they eat plants, no trimming, no worries about plants being dug up, no worries about plants being yanked out by big dumb plecs who don't watch where they're going...

[alexyay]

It definitely depends on the situation. Planting options have been difficult with our larger fish however we've never experienced filter clogging (though the wavemaker does get clogged) and while we can only use certain plants (swords, fast growers like Hygro polysperma etc) the benefit outweights the small amount of maintenance needed. Totally understandable to use fake plants with fish like large plecos, plant eaters like silver dollars etc. Though emersed plants may be used successfully to help with Nitrate reduction.

[KiwiGal77]

I'm just making the swap from silk to real plants. While the silk plants looked nice enough and were easy, I want the aquarium to be as natural as possible and also think plants play an important role in the ecosystem, keeping the tank in a more healthy state.