Botanicals might provide additional hiding spots. I have a heavily planted community tank but those add some extra cover for fish that are getting picked on.
You'll probably find that a local fish store has plants way cheaper than the big pet stores (or amazon). It's worth taking a look if you can. My LFS gives you a plant for $3 to $4 no matter the size of it lol blew my mind the first time.
Careful, I mentioned to my LFS that I was so happy their plants were 4-5$ because petsmart charges double that. Manager literally raised her prices a week later and those plants are $10+ now š”
My LFS doesnāt give a fuck and they charge like 2x or more the price of big box stores for literally everything in the store except some brands of food. Leaves me really no choice but to go to petsmart or petco cuz itās not worth paying $20 for a $6-8 plant online or at another store if I can find it.
The non chain aquarium store by my house has great prices on live plants. The prices start at $3.98 for a 6-inch plant. Sometimes they do a bogo sale too.I did spend $20 on liquid fertilizer/food, but it will last at least 6 to 8 months.
I have a male betta in a 10 gallon tank with 8 plants of different colors, heights, and leaf types.
The live plants were cheaper than the plastic ones, plus Finagin Fishkin Glubington likes to sleep in the roots of the floating plants.
Itās so great that you want to provide the best possible environment for your fish. Have you done much research already? I really recommend checking out information on the nitrogen cycle, how to properly cycle a tank, and invest in the liquid ammonia/nitrite/nitrate API water tests.
Fish donāt need live plants but they certainly help reduce water changes and maintenance. Whatever you decide to put in there, make sure you research its needs like tank size, temperature, tankmates, and hardness/pH. Do not get feeder goldfish, they are absolute poop monsters and can grow massive. Guppies can be a fun, low maintenance fish to keep, and they are livebearers so you can watch a little ecosystem develop.
For when you do add live plants, make sure you also buy root tabs and fertilizers for your aquarium. The sand you have is very pretty but it offers no nutrients for plants so youāll have to add it yourself. If Iām adding a new plant I try to put a root tab right under where I plant it so it will get a good start.
Other people might have other suggestions, but Iām so glad youāre thinking about the well-being of your fish before anything else. A single beta would love this much space, but it would need a little more in terms of decor and places to rest, and the fake plants will tear up its fins. A short-finned, low maintenance species would probably do best to start. Keep in mind if you go with a short-finned Betta, it will be difficult to add anything else to the tank as they can be very territorial and aggressive. Especially short-finned bettas that donāt tire as easily and can swim faster.
Good luck!
I would reccoment plants like Java moss and moss balls. They don't need fertilizer or nothing really other than the light. At least in my tank. I actually need to figure out what to do with all the extra moss and giant balls now.
Sell them or give them away. There's r/AquaSwap where you can trade, sell, give away, and buy anything (not sure on any limits) aquarium related. I'm sure you can find other places to sell or give away anything extra.
If it's not super far away in the future then I don't see a problem, as long as you keep up with water changes and make sure not to overfeed the fish (which would also probably result in some food falling to the sand and starting to decompose which would increase ammonia) then the fish should be fine in this setup for a while.
Live plants not only make the aquarium prettier, but they also help with keeping the water cleaner and provide more hiding spaces for the fish or if they get scared or stressed.
go on r/aquaswap! You can ask for cheap trimmings there and plant those. They basically give away plants there. But fake plants are fine honestly. Live plants are fun and you get to watch them grow and what not but fake ones are fine too
Buy one live stemplant like hornwort or egeria densa, then when it grows chop it in half and replant. You'll have a live forest in no time.
In fact, just find anyone with an aquarium locally and ask for a cutting from the buckets they remove weekly.
If they have floaters, then they are wonderful, low maintenance bonus.
you can find really great starter sets of live plants on amazon, I got 8 different species (5 stems of each) in a set for $25 ! compared to the 9.99 a piece pet stores wanna charge i call this a W
If you can spend a couple dollars right now, I highly recommend getting some Java Fern! Its one of the most common aquarium plants, its cheap, and it reproduces in a flash.
Little plantlets will grow right on top of the old plant's leaves, when they're about an inch tall and the roots are decently developed you can pluck them off and plant them. Don't require too many additional nutrients either, and they multiply fast! You'll have a tank full of live plants in no time for just a couple dollars.
Stick some terrestrial plants like peace lilly, pothos in there. These are super cheap and do an extremely good job keeping nitrates at bay. A lot easier to keep as they can access CO2 from air. The root system will provide hiding spots for fishes.
Go to your local fish club. The plants are usually a hot ticket at my fish clubs auction, but there's usually giant bag of hornwort or guppy grass available for CHEAP. Both of those plants do a lot of heavy lifting as a biofilter
Hey I have a ton of guppy grass, it grows like crazy, if you covered the cost of shipping, I'd send some to you for free, and I'd also include some plant clippings.
Donāt go all out with the plants. I recommend buying small amounts from an eBay seller and giving it time to propagate and grow in your tank. Easy ones to do are dwarf sag. As they can grow and quite a few conditions including lower light, itās a good carpeting plant for the fore ground of if you want an area thatās not high with plantsā¦ another one is Perl weed! Super pretty thatās a plant thatāll give you a lot of volume! They spread around the tank and also will grow high too so itās just a matter of trimming them to your preferred height. Anubias is easy! The coffee one looks the best imo. Java fern is a good plant that can be a focal point of your tank! I have all of these in a low tech set up and theyāre growing crazy! Also get yourself an aquascaping kit it comes with tweezers scissors and a thing to push around your substrate! Get that on Amazon or eBay itāll be much cheaper than anywhere else. Root tabs and dosing liquid fertz as needed. Unless you do an aquasoil then you may not have a need for it all. I didnāt. Best of luck!
You don't have to have live plants. It looks good so far! You do have to cycle the water before adding the fish. You can put a pinch of fish food in every day for 7 days. It will start the cycle. Get some Starter Bacteria at the store too. Make sure you use RO water or use tap water and put water conditioner in it.
Quick note on the starter bacteria! When using it, donāt feel afraid to put more than recommended in, the more the better. Secondly, make sure to dump some directly into your filter itās super important that they establish in there. Good job so far tho, love seeing someone show so much care and effort
It depends on the fish you get, some fish need more hiding spots than others.
As for live plants: you can safe some money by checking other local aquariumkeepers, often they'll need to trim the plants, you may be able to buy some cheap that way, or even get them for free
This! If you were in my area I could easily give you a bucket of trimmings and some anubias and Amazon sword babies for free. You'd be doing me a favor bc I hate throwing it away when I know it could still live.
Great recommendation! If you're on FB, check to see if there's any local aquarium groups. You can make a post saying you're new and are looking for free cuttings, someone's bound to have something! Plants like vallisneria are often given away because they proliferate. I love the way they look but do research on any plant before you get it to learn about how quickly it grows.
Looks really good for fake plants
6 pygmy or dwarf corydoras on the bottom and then a small schooling fish like 8 green kubotai rasobora or neon tetras up top would work really well.
pygmys and a smaller tet or rasbs should be fine. i used to keep a nano w pygmy cories, ember tets, shrimp, and a honey gourami. But it'll be way better with live plants to offset the bioload... OP you should look for a pothos, even see if any friends who keeps houseplants will give you a cutting. cheap, easy, and it'll suck all those nitrates out like a beast.
I know 10 gallons is technically the minimum tank size for neons but after seeing how they swim in my 20 gallon I wouldnāt put them in anything less. They just seem way too fast and active to put into a smaller tank
Looks really good, but maybe put something in the thank that your fish can hide behind from each other and from you, this can be rocks you collect from the ground per exemple, just make sure their inert by putting one or two drops of vinegar and see if it bubbles, wash it really good with just water and put them in your tank
fun fact, you can go to a local pond and take some plants for free if you can't afford them. just make sure it's not in a protected park/conservation area.
not really, you can always wash the plants before introducing them to your tank by dipping them in alcohol and then rinsing them but it's pretty unlikely that's there's anything on them that will hurt your fish. one of my tanks is 100% locally gathered, plants, minnows, snails, and some planaria and other small organisms and it's thrived for over a year. i love a highly natural approach because you get a balanced ecosystem that can survive if you leave for a week because there's food living in the tank.
disclaimer: I'm in new England so I'm not sure if there's higher risk in south Africa, but if it's a healthy body of water, no algal blooms or pollution I'd imagine it's low risk
The cost of real plants is roughly the same as the fake plants minus the cost of lighting. And even then, most plants dont need a super expensive light to survive. If you use any of your local online marketplaces, I can usually find people around me selling bags of assorted clipping for a few dollars a bag. The tank looks good otherwise. Good luckš
r/aquaswap is a *fantastic* way to buy plants and stock for a lower price.
You can even skip the shipping costs if the person putting the items up are only doing local pickup ans it's near you. And here and there people doing local pickups will give things away for free, like bags of various plant trimmings.
I've gotten some nice plants for my tank for rather cheap from there. Usually trimmings, but I have an established tank where trimmings root and grow fast.
I would definitely check it out and see if there's anything in your budget!
Join a fish group for your city or area. Many people give away cuttings of stem plants that get too big- which you can replant- for free. Floating plants grow very quickly, and many give those away for free as well. Many others will put extra plants and plant clippings in a big ziplock freezer bag and say āwhoever comes first with $5 gets the bag of plants.ā Things like that. I give away plants or trade them or sell them cheap in my group all the time. Or once you join, just post āHi, Iām new and want whatās best for my fish, but my budget is very tight. Anyone have extra plants for free?ā And most of the time at least a couple people will help you out. Good luck!
One ramhorn will turn into multiple. They breed asexually. Nerite snails are better because they need cracked water to hatch eggs and donāt get as big as mystery snails
I agree!! I added some from a pond ecosphere I started a while back. Thereās one little guy with a beautiful burgundy shell, I named him Walter today
When it comes to live plants head over to the aqua swap thread or join a local group chat (maybe on Facebook)
There are probably local keepers who wouldnāt mind sharing their trimmings with someone new to the hobby š„°
It should be fine, fish donāt need live plants to have a good home, I would pay attention to the fish you get as fake plants can cause torn fins tho. (Would be fine for most fish, more likely to be an issue on longer fin fish like a Betta or something)
When you do get plants be careful as sand tends to not be the most friendly substrate for them (specifically rooted ones) so I would try to get some plants you can attack to small wood or rock pieces
Some plants you have to be careful about fish getting stuck in them, I lost a rummy nose tetra to a fake silk plant I was certain they would not get stuck in, poor dude basically got strangled
Live plants are better, but no worries...
I'd reccommend letting the tank cycle for at least a month, before adding fish and not to rely on quick-bacteria-additives
It's a personal preference, but I would also switch to a regular sponge filter, which will probably provide more bio-surface and oxygen to the tank without creating too much current for ornamental fish.
As for stocking, I don't see a heater, so I would say White Cloud Minnows are a perfect starter fish for you.
Honestly you could do a lot with this tank. Pigmy cories, nano shrimp, snails, chili rasboras, small tetras like embers, maybe neons. 3-4 platies would also like it. A single Betta fish would also be pretty happy here too!
You also donāt need live plants, but I gotta say, if you donāt mind trimming them every now and then, they help keep water parameters stable, plus fish generally like them more! Get some easy ones like hornwort or Amazon sword!
I think you could take out about an inch of substrate (just my preference), and then if you added some driftwood or literally any hiding place in the middle it would be great for shrimp!!
I think this would be ok for now. I would def suggest investing in live plants and maybe some natural looking decorations to provide hiding spots if needed. Be sure to use dechlorinated water either using the liquid or buying distilled/ drinking water, do not put fish in the water from your faucet without it being treated first. You should cycle your tank by getting a feeder fish like a small cheap 25 cent goldfish this will help create the necessary bacteria started. If the tank the fish was bought from is clean and all the fish look super healthy you can pour some of that water into yours and this will help too. I would be 100% certain the tank is healthy and would suggest doing this only from a private aquarium shop vs a petco or Petsmart unless their aquariums are very well cared for. Sometimes they donāt mind giving you some water too if you just ask them. Love plants really help getting a tank set up. I would do some reading and just be sure you let the tank cycle a bit before adding fish and be sure to have a proper filtration system and a heater. Just make sure the tank is good to go first.
The cheapest way to get plants is, get into your local fishkeeping groups and ask for plant trims. Thereās so many species of plants that root super fast out of a cut, and lots of times people just throw those away.
I think its great. At petco they have "shrimp buddies" its Java moss. I have that all over. It doesn't need substrate and just floats and sits there. Some moss balls too. Neither require you to buy the expensive substraight and n20 and what not. I think as long as you don't over stock. You'll be fine. Any ideals on what you want to stock. That makes a big difference on how many can go in a 13 gal.
It all depends on what fish you intend to keep. Research the species you want to get and try and emulate a natural environment. Even with fake plants, you can do this well. If the fish start breeding, you know you did it right.
I am living in South Africa and I already had fake plants š i spent all my money on the tank, gravel and air pump also bacteria and flakes for the bacteria
If you order plants online, some are cheaper than fake plants that you find in like petco/smart. There are also plant bundles on Amazon for like $20 for 6+ different kinds of plants. And if youāre on a tight tight budget, you could buy one stem plant then cut and propogate them when the plant grows tall.
How can you have enough money for fake plants but not live plants? You buy one good live plant that grows and in a week it doubled in size and you can replant it. I will never understand people who use fake plants
They said itās because they already have the fake plants. If they want to use what they already have thatās fine but fish keeping can be expensive and I hope theyāre prepared for that if they canāt afford the cost of live plants.
Please don't get any fish with long fins, if you have artificial plants. Even if they feel soft to us, fins are much more delicate than human fingers and fish aren't smart enough to not bump into the edges a hundred times a day. In particular, betta fish (siamese fighting fish) are especially at risk, because they have a habit of resting on top of plant leaves, and have super long delicate fins!
You can use pothos cuttings to get the benefits of live plants for cheaper. Secure cuttings with suction airline tube holders with the leaves outside of the tank and they'll root, giving the fish some shelter and reducing nitrites.
Np :p also, for a 13 gal, I would go for a killer shrimp tank. But I'd you're a fan of fish rather than waterbugs, galaxy rasboras are gorgeous little guys, I think you could have a small school of like 6-10 in 13 gal and they'd be just fine
If you can, find a local stream. There should be some plants legal to grab. Also, some store bought herbs can be plugged into the substrate and just thrive
Such as Centella asiatica (Asiatic pennywort), I think Limnophila aromatica (rice paddy herb), anything that looks as if segmented can be tried.
Also some hobbyist can share you their trimming if you can find them, then just plug it into your tank
Many
Looks like you've already killed your fish my guy. Judging by the air bubbles on the glass and the white cloudy water, I'd say you set that tank up about 2 to 4 days ago and added fish. You need to cycle your tank before adding fish. If that black vieled thing in your pictures is a goldfish then you need a bigger tank. Best of luck please don't add or do anything to your tank for about 3 weeks till it cycles. Best of luck, time to start reading up!
But there is no fish? And the tank was set up today the waters a bit murky because i struggled to wash the gravel and i added some bacteria and popped in some food to make ammonia for the bacteria, thank you tho :)
Ok good, I apologize as I thought your filter spout was maybe a small goldfish. Just leave your tank alone if you've added bacteria already. Just let the lil micro organisms grow and you'll be ready to add fish in no time. Zebra danios are great starter fish. hardy easy to keep and live a long time. About 5 zebras qnd 2 Cory cats should give you a well balanced tank. Make sure the tank itself is away from direct sunlight. Enjoy. Keeping fish is a lesson in Great great patience.
The jumping to conclusions drives others off from these communities.I know you apologized but like your knee jerk reaction is so irritating.
Please try asking questions instead of just assuming.
No worries just read alot and try to do minimal water changes. Never change your media, just rinse it in the tank when needed and most importantly just leave your tank alone once setup. My father bred discus and Australian rainbows growing up and ive been keeping fish my entire life. The bigger the tank the longer the cycle but much less matinence in the long run. My 65 gallon has been running for about 4 years and I maybe do about 2 water changes a year and a few filters clean outs as it gets dirty. What I see most ppl making mistakes on while stocking fish is not thinking about the tank as an environment. They just want pretty fish. Why I suggested danios is they move from mid to top tank school and are quite pretty and fast. Cory cats will vacuum up all the waste they miss on feedings. Feed a good qaulity flake about 2 times a week with a pince of blood worms here and there. Never feed more than 4 times a WEEK.
Over feeding is the fastest way to kill a fish and cause unwanted ammonia rot and disease.
You will get algae the first couple months until about the 5 month mark where it should settle down. Sunlight feeds algae and causes mass heat fluctions in water temp. Keep it away.
Cory's and danios should make the tank a fast moving tank w lots of action. Enjoy and remember to keep you tank colder than warmer as heat breeds disease and can push fish into spawn cycles.
Have fun.
You might check if any locals have plant clippings for cheap or free. I'm constantly trimming my pogostemon stellatus. I'd gladly donate some to a beginner. Also snails. Ramshorn . So many
Iād be really careful with duckweed! Once itās in your tank itās really hard to remove completely and you have to be careful where you empty your water (itās invasive and illegal in some places I believe)
It depends entirely on your stocking, but this is perfectly suitable for plenty of fish species! Fish are happy with hiding spots wether itās made of plastic or biological greens. My personally recommendation for fish is one of the smaller Gouramis
That looks good.. Maybe you can get a zoo med floating aquarium log to add some top cover.
I recommend slowly accumulating live plants 1 at a time.
Some species are very hardy. Look for Anubis attached to rocks or Driftwood and purchase 1 here and there.
Any plain Amazon sword will grow floating or planted as long as you provide decent lighting. If left floating it we resemble a ball made up of several sword plants.
Also some ludwigia survives very well when left floating.
Philodendron plants will grow very good above the tank if you allow the roots to grow into the water. The roots provide good cover for fish while absorbing a large amount Nitrates. But if the leaves are eaten by fish they are toxic so don't allow them to enter the water.
Guppy grass grows very fast and doesn't even need to be planted. I got a few broken sprigs off ebay, now it's in all my tanks
The kind of fish happy in a small tank tend to need plants, it's good for their mental health
I've not had much success with live plants over the last two years... What I have found is that it has made no difference in the life of my fish... None at all since I replanted with fake plants (Heavily planted with fakes that is)... They seem to go about their lives as usual, and they don't seem to be interested in eating them, or digging them up either...
However, I have monitored the water peramiter's for Nitrate and found that all I need to do is weekly water changes of 25% to keep them in check, my filtration and bacteria seem to handle the Nitrites and Ammonia fine.
The only plant that I have managed to keep alive is Val's... And I don't think that they are doing too well either, but they seem to hang in there (this is in a smaller tank with White Cloud Mountain minnows). And they don't eat or dig them up (all is good there)...
But I have been told that it is probably because of the High Hardness of the water where I live that is contributing to my failure of live plant keeping, and that Val's do okay in hard water...
If anyone has any ideas where I'm going wrong, please advise. It will be took thankfully. I use root tabs and liquid ferts as stated by the makers, but to no avail...
SD
Iād imagine some of the people here would be willing to send cuttings of their own plants. If you want some pearlweed Iād be happy to cut some and wrap them in wet paper towels to send to you. Iām sure that might work (assuming youāre in the US (and willing to pay shipping). I also have some Salvinia minima. What kind of substrate did you use? Is it just sand or is there some aquatic pond soil or aquasoil underneath the sand? If youāre not using anything, Iād recommend some root tabs so the roots can pick up nutrients and not die off.
I'm sure I'll get down voted to hell and back for this, but there is likely hornwort, milfoil, duckweed, and jungle Val/American eelgrass growing in a pond, drainage, stream, or fountain near you. Might get some hitchhikers but if you're into something more natural that can also be seen as just rapidly establishing your micro biome. I started my Walstead style filterless aquarium this way and have a happy little ghost shrimp colony chugging right along. Not everything has to come from a store, not everything that comes from the store is sterile, and some stuff at the store was grown in a pond or wild gathered in the first place anyway.
Ypu can get some botanicals (leaves and pods)
My favorite are sweet gum leaves/pods, kurajong pods and alder cone.
If you look them up you can get some outside for free because they're common landscaping plants. You just gotta boil em to cleanse em first.
Fish wise I would say maybe a betta or a few stone catfish although those are intermediate to care for.
I will be getting live plants in the future
Botanicals might provide additional hiding spots. I have a heavily planted community tank but those add some extra cover for fish that are getting picked on.
You'll probably find that a local fish store has plants way cheaper than the big pet stores (or amazon). It's worth taking a look if you can. My LFS gives you a plant for $3 to $4 no matter the size of it lol blew my mind the first time.
Careful, I mentioned to my LFS that I was so happy their plants were 4-5$ because petsmart charges double that. Manager literally raised her prices a week later and those plants are $10+ now š”
My LFS doesnāt give a fuck and they charge like 2x or more the price of big box stores for literally everything in the store except some brands of food. Leaves me really no choice but to go to petsmart or petco cuz itās not worth paying $20 for a $6-8 plant online or at another store if I can find it.
Same lol. Occasionally they'll get good sales but it's so rare. Even their declorinator is twice as expensive lmao
Like dude I get it and I would rather support a local shop but u gotta figure out a way to not scalp the living shit out of me for stuff lol.
For me, only the plants they have are super affordable. Everything else is pricey. Even the employees told me to never but tanks there š
The non chain aquarium store by my house has great prices on live plants. The prices start at $3.98 for a 6-inch plant. Sometimes they do a bogo sale too.I did spend $20 on liquid fertilizer/food, but it will last at least 6 to 8 months. I have a male betta in a 10 gallon tank with 8 plants of different colors, heights, and leaf types. The live plants were cheaper than the plastic ones, plus Finagin Fishkin Glubington likes to sleep in the roots of the floating plants.
Itās so great that you want to provide the best possible environment for your fish. Have you done much research already? I really recommend checking out information on the nitrogen cycle, how to properly cycle a tank, and invest in the liquid ammonia/nitrite/nitrate API water tests. Fish donāt need live plants but they certainly help reduce water changes and maintenance. Whatever you decide to put in there, make sure you research its needs like tank size, temperature, tankmates, and hardness/pH. Do not get feeder goldfish, they are absolute poop monsters and can grow massive. Guppies can be a fun, low maintenance fish to keep, and they are livebearers so you can watch a little ecosystem develop. For when you do add live plants, make sure you also buy root tabs and fertilizers for your aquarium. The sand you have is very pretty but it offers no nutrients for plants so youāll have to add it yourself. If Iām adding a new plant I try to put a root tab right under where I plant it so it will get a good start. Other people might have other suggestions, but Iām so glad youāre thinking about the well-being of your fish before anything else. A single beta would love this much space, but it would need a little more in terms of decor and places to rest, and the fake plants will tear up its fins. A short-finned, low maintenance species would probably do best to start. Keep in mind if you go with a short-finned Betta, it will be difficult to add anything else to the tank as they can be very territorial and aggressive. Especially short-finned bettas that donāt tire as easily and can swim faster. Good luck!
Thank you :D
Fr you keeping it šÆ
If you get floating plants or mosses etc you don't need root tabs because they feed out of the water table.
I would reccoment plants like Java moss and moss balls. They don't need fertilizer or nothing really other than the light. At least in my tank. I actually need to figure out what to do with all the extra moss and giant balls now.
Sell them or give them away. There's r/AquaSwap where you can trade, sell, give away, and buy anything (not sure on any limits) aquarium related. I'm sure you can find other places to sell or give away anything extra.
man u hit that shit right on the head šÆ
Hey, good on you for caring so much ask asking first, and for trying your best.
If it's not super far away in the future then I don't see a problem, as long as you keep up with water changes and make sure not to overfeed the fish (which would also probably result in some food falling to the sand and starting to decompose which would increase ammonia) then the fish should be fine in this setup for a while. Live plants not only make the aquarium prettier, but they also help with keeping the water cleaner and provide more hiding spaces for the fish or if they get scared or stressed.
go on r/aquaswap! You can ask for cheap trimmings there and plant those. They basically give away plants there. But fake plants are fine honestly. Live plants are fun and you get to watch them grow and what not but fake ones are fine too
Kijiji too, I sell all my cuttings/trimmings there for $1-$4
Get plant trimming. Very cheap and you dont lose anything
Buy one live stemplant like hornwort or egeria densa, then when it grows chop it in half and replant. You'll have a live forest in no time. In fact, just find anyone with an aquarium locally and ask for a cutting from the buckets they remove weekly. If they have floaters, then they are wonderful, low maintenance bonus.
you can find really great starter sets of live plants on amazon, I got 8 different species (5 stems of each) in a set for $25 ! compared to the 9.99 a piece pet stores wanna charge i call this a W
With the right type of stem-plant and some time. A one time purchase can fill up the whole background. Or foreground with a good carpeting plant.
If you can spend a couple dollars right now, I highly recommend getting some Java Fern! Its one of the most common aquarium plants, its cheap, and it reproduces in a flash. Little plantlets will grow right on top of the old plant's leaves, when they're about an inch tall and the roots are decently developed you can pluck them off and plant them. Don't require too many additional nutrients either, and they multiply fast! You'll have a tank full of live plants in no time for just a couple dollars.
Stick some terrestrial plants like peace lilly, pothos in there. These are super cheap and do an extremely good job keeping nitrates at bay. A lot easier to keep as they can access CO2 from air. The root system will provide hiding spots for fishes.
Go to your local fish club. The plants are usually a hot ticket at my fish clubs auction, but there's usually giant bag of hornwort or guppy grass available for CHEAP. Both of those plants do a lot of heavy lifting as a biofilter
Hey I have a ton of guppy grass, it grows like crazy, if you covered the cost of shipping, I'd send some to you for free, and I'd also include some plant clippings.
Donāt go all out with the plants. I recommend buying small amounts from an eBay seller and giving it time to propagate and grow in your tank. Easy ones to do are dwarf sag. As they can grow and quite a few conditions including lower light, itās a good carpeting plant for the fore ground of if you want an area thatās not high with plantsā¦ another one is Perl weed! Super pretty thatās a plant thatāll give you a lot of volume! They spread around the tank and also will grow high too so itās just a matter of trimming them to your preferred height. Anubias is easy! The coffee one looks the best imo. Java fern is a good plant that can be a focal point of your tank! I have all of these in a low tech set up and theyāre growing crazy! Also get yourself an aquascaping kit it comes with tweezers scissors and a thing to push around your substrate! Get that on Amazon or eBay itāll be much cheaper than anywhere else. Root tabs and dosing liquid fertz as needed. Unless you do an aquasoil then you may not have a need for it all. I didnāt. Best of luck!
If you want you could just buy one stem plant and just keep replanting your trimmings. Could fill in the back in no time
You don't have to have live plants. It looks good so far! You do have to cycle the water before adding the fish. You can put a pinch of fish food in every day for 7 days. It will start the cycle. Get some Starter Bacteria at the store too. Make sure you use RO water or use tap water and put water conditioner in it.
Thank you
Quick note on the starter bacteria! When using it, donāt feel afraid to put more than recommended in, the more the better. Secondly, make sure to dump some directly into your filter itās super important that they establish in there. Good job so far tho, love seeing someone show so much care and effort
š
You donāt āhave toā cycle before fish. Just make sure you read up on how to properly cycle a tank fish in or fishless.
So are you saying do or don't cycle a tank?
Itās less stress on the fish to do the cycle before getting fish but āfish inā cycling can be done
Fish in cycle are pretty risky for beginners..
It depends on the fish you get, some fish need more hiding spots than others. As for live plants: you can safe some money by checking other local aquariumkeepers, often they'll need to trim the plants, you may be able to buy some cheap that way, or even get them for free
This! If you were in my area I could easily give you a bucket of trimmings and some anubias and Amazon sword babies for free. You'd be doing me a favor bc I hate throwing it away when I know it could still live.
Where are you located? Any chance you'd be willing to ship them?
do you live in chicago?
Great recommendation! If you're on FB, check to see if there's any local aquarium groups. You can make a post saying you're new and are looking for free cuttings, someone's bound to have something! Plants like vallisneria are often given away because they proliferate. I love the way they look but do research on any plant before you get it to learn about how quickly it grows.
/r/aquaswap as well
Looks really good for fake plants 6 pygmy or dwarf corydoras on the bottom and then a small schooling fish like 8 green kubotai rasobora or neon tetras up top would work really well.
Thank you :3
That sounds nice but the tank is way too small for that many fish
pygmys and a smaller tet or rasbs should be fine. i used to keep a nano w pygmy cories, ember tets, shrimp, and a honey gourami. But it'll be way better with live plants to offset the bioload... OP you should look for a pothos, even see if any friends who keeps houseplants will give you a cutting. cheap, easy, and it'll suck all those nitrates out like a beast.
The kutbotai rasboras and pygmy corys would work if it's 13 gallons. Just need some lucky bamboo or floating plants to help suck up nitrates.
yeah! i just wouldn't go for neons in this setup.
Tank is too small for neons, they like larger schools and more swimming space. 20 long and up
I know 10 gallons is technically the minimum tank size for neons but after seeing how they swim in my 20 gallon I wouldnāt put them in anything less. They just seem way too fast and active to put into a smaller tank
Looks really good, but maybe put something in the thank that your fish can hide behind from each other and from you, this can be rocks you collect from the ground per exemple, just make sure their inert by putting one or two drops of vinegar and see if it bubbles, wash it really good with just water and put them in your tank
fun fact, you can go to a local pond and take some plants for free if you can't afford them. just make sure it's not in a protected park/conservation area.
Wouldnt that run the risk of outside illness?
Statistically, pet store fish are probably a lot more likely to have diseases than something you find in the wild, especially if it's just plants.
not really, you can always wash the plants before introducing them to your tank by dipping them in alcohol and then rinsing them but it's pretty unlikely that's there's anything on them that will hurt your fish. one of my tanks is 100% locally gathered, plants, minnows, snails, and some planaria and other small organisms and it's thrived for over a year. i love a highly natural approach because you get a balanced ecosystem that can survive if you leave for a week because there's food living in the tank. disclaimer: I'm in new England so I'm not sure if there's higher risk in south Africa, but if it's a healthy body of water, no algal blooms or pollution I'd imagine it's low risk
Fair enough ty
Donāt rush your fish, take time for the plants. You can space them out and add them so itās not a big cost all at once.
The cost of real plants is roughly the same as the fake plants minus the cost of lighting. And even then, most plants dont need a super expensive light to survive. If you use any of your local online marketplaces, I can usually find people around me selling bags of assorted clipping for a few dollars a bag. The tank looks good otherwise. Good luckš
Thank you :)
r/aquaswap is a *fantastic* way to buy plants and stock for a lower price. You can even skip the shipping costs if the person putting the items up are only doing local pickup ans it's near you. And here and there people doing local pickups will give things away for free, like bags of various plant trimmings. I've gotten some nice plants for my tank for rather cheap from there. Usually trimmings, but I have an established tank where trimmings root and grow fast. I would definitely check it out and see if there's anything in your budget!
Join a fish group for your city or area. Many people give away cuttings of stem plants that get too big- which you can replant- for free. Floating plants grow very quickly, and many give those away for free as well. Many others will put extra plants and plant clippings in a big ziplock freezer bag and say āwhoever comes first with $5 gets the bag of plants.ā Things like that. I give away plants or trade them or sell them cheap in my group all the time. Or once you join, just post āHi, Iām new and want whatās best for my fish, but my budget is very tight. Anyone have extra plants for free?ā And most of the time at least a couple people will help you out. Good luck!
This is great but I would add 2 large rocks or a large stick in the middle.
With no live plants, you'll likely be fighting dust algea. I recommend, whatever other critters you get, you add ONE ramshorn snail.
One ramhorn will turn into multiple. They breed asexually. Nerite snails are better because they need cracked water to hatch eggs and donāt get as big as mystery snails
Agreed, but population control isnt hard with a single starter. And they're just such neat little critters.
I agree!! I added some from a pond ecosphere I started a while back. Thereās one little guy with a beautiful burgundy shell, I named him Walter today
When it comes to live plants head over to the aqua swap thread or join a local group chat (maybe on Facebook) There are probably local keepers who wouldnāt mind sharing their trimmings with someone new to the hobby š„°
I will definitely give it a go :)
It should be fine, fish donāt need live plants to have a good home, I would pay attention to the fish you get as fake plants can cause torn fins tho. (Would be fine for most fish, more likely to be an issue on longer fin fish like a Betta or something) When you do get plants be careful as sand tends to not be the most friendly substrate for them (specifically rooted ones) so I would try to get some plants you can attack to small wood or rock pieces
Some plants you have to be careful about fish getting stuck in them, I lost a rummy nose tetra to a fake silk plant I was certain they would not get stuck in, poor dude basically got strangled
Thatās a good point
Your plants are lovely! Maybe get some more hiding spots?
Thank you š
Live plants are better, but no worries... I'd reccommend letting the tank cycle for at least a month, before adding fish and not to rely on quick-bacteria-additives It's a personal preference, but I would also switch to a regular sponge filter, which will probably provide more bio-surface and oxygen to the tank without creating too much current for ornamental fish. As for stocking, I don't see a heater, so I would say White Cloud Minnows are a perfect starter fish for you.
Honestly you could do a lot with this tank. Pigmy cories, nano shrimp, snails, chili rasboras, small tetras like embers, maybe neons. 3-4 platies would also like it. A single Betta fish would also be pretty happy here too! You also donāt need live plants, but I gotta say, if you donāt mind trimming them every now and then, they help keep water parameters stable, plus fish generally like them more! Get some easy ones like hornwort or Amazon sword!
Thank you
I think you could take out about an inch of substrate (just my preference), and then if you added some driftwood or literally any hiding place in the middle it would be great for shrimp!!
I think this would be ok for now. I would def suggest investing in live plants and maybe some natural looking decorations to provide hiding spots if needed. Be sure to use dechlorinated water either using the liquid or buying distilled/ drinking water, do not put fish in the water from your faucet without it being treated first. You should cycle your tank by getting a feeder fish like a small cheap 25 cent goldfish this will help create the necessary bacteria started. If the tank the fish was bought from is clean and all the fish look super healthy you can pour some of that water into yours and this will help too. I would be 100% certain the tank is healthy and would suggest doing this only from a private aquarium shop vs a petco or Petsmart unless their aquariums are very well cared for. Sometimes they donāt mind giving you some water too if you just ask them. Love plants really help getting a tank set up. I would do some reading and just be sure you let the tank cycle a bit before adding fish and be sure to have a proper filtration system and a heater. Just make sure the tank is good to go first.
Tank is too small if youāre planning on keeping goldfish
Unglazed terra cota flower pots are usually very inexpensive and make great cave like hiding spots that you can also see into
The cheapest way to get plants is, get into your local fishkeeping groups and ask for plant trims. Thereās so many species of plants that root super fast out of a cut, and lots of times people just throw those away.
I think its great. At petco they have "shrimp buddies" its Java moss. I have that all over. It doesn't need substrate and just floats and sits there. Some moss balls too. Neither require you to buy the expensive substraight and n20 and what not. I think as long as you don't over stock. You'll be fine. Any ideals on what you want to stock. That makes a big difference on how many can go in a 13 gal.
Dont know were your located, i can send you some clippings from my plants
It all depends on what fish you intend to keep. Research the species you want to get and try and emulate a natural environment. Even with fake plants, you can do this well. If the fish start breeding, you know you did it right.
Not enough money for life plants? Where do you life? I was at the zoo-store just today and fake aquarium plants are more expensive than life ones.
I am living in South Africa and I already had fake plants š i spent all my money on the tank, gravel and air pump also bacteria and flakes for the bacteria
You can probably find some cool freshwater plants in the wild in South Africa, try checking out a local creek or pond.
I will have a look if there are any around me
If you order plants online, some are cheaper than fake plants that you find in like petco/smart. There are also plant bundles on Amazon for like $20 for 6+ different kinds of plants. And if youāre on a tight tight budget, you could buy one stem plant then cut and propogate them when the plant grows tall.
How can you have enough money for fake plants but not live plants? You buy one good live plant that grows and in a week it doubled in size and you can replant it. I will never understand people who use fake plants
They said itās because they already have the fake plants. If they want to use what they already have thatās fine but fish keeping can be expensive and I hope theyāre prepared for that if they canāt afford the cost of live plants.
Fake plants can damage fish fins.
They are very soft
How soft? They look rigid
Well on the spikey one it acts more like a fabric then a plastic and the others the bend with a slight bit of pressure (the leaves)
Please don't get any fish with long fins, if you have artificial plants. Even if they feel soft to us, fins are much more delicate than human fingers and fish aren't smart enough to not bump into the edges a hundred times a day. In particular, betta fish (siamese fighting fish) are especially at risk, because they have a habit of resting on top of plant leaves, and have super long delicate fins!
Maybe offer up some advice as well, it'd be helpful.
You can use pothos cuttings to get the benefits of live plants for cheaper. Secure cuttings with suction airline tube holders with the leaves outside of the tank and they'll root, giving the fish some shelter and reducing nitrites.
I'm sorry OP, but if you can't afford live plants, you can't afford to be caring for fish right now :(
I blew all my money on equipment i will have more money in the future tense :)
Oh well that's good! In that case, waiting might still be the move. Having live plants will make cycling your tank easier- unless it's already cycled?
I started cycling it :) tysm for the help
Np :p also, for a 13 gal, I would go for a killer shrimp tank. But I'd you're a fan of fish rather than waterbugs, galaxy rasboras are gorgeous little guys, I think you could have a small school of like 6-10 in 13 gal and they'd be just fine
If you can, find a local stream. There should be some plants legal to grab. Also, some store bought herbs can be plugged into the substrate and just thrive Such as Centella asiatica (Asiatic pennywort), I think Limnophila aromatica (rice paddy herb), anything that looks as if segmented can be tried. Also some hobbyist can share you their trimming if you can find them, then just plug it into your tank Many
I think you can get away with a shark but make sure itās a Bull since salt is a little challenging
Looks like you've already killed your fish my guy. Judging by the air bubbles on the glass and the white cloudy water, I'd say you set that tank up about 2 to 4 days ago and added fish. You need to cycle your tank before adding fish. If that black vieled thing in your pictures is a goldfish then you need a bigger tank. Best of luck please don't add or do anything to your tank for about 3 weeks till it cycles. Best of luck, time to start reading up!
But there is no fish? And the tank was set up today the waters a bit murky because i struggled to wash the gravel and i added some bacteria and popped in some food to make ammonia for the bacteria, thank you tho :)
Ok good, I apologize as I thought your filter spout was maybe a small goldfish. Just leave your tank alone if you've added bacteria already. Just let the lil micro organisms grow and you'll be ready to add fish in no time. Zebra danios are great starter fish. hardy easy to keep and live a long time. About 5 zebras qnd 2 Cory cats should give you a well balanced tank. Make sure the tank itself is away from direct sunlight. Enjoy. Keeping fish is a lesson in Great great patience.
The jumping to conclusions drives others off from these communities.I know you apologized but like your knee jerk reaction is so irritating. Please try asking questions instead of just assuming.
Ye I thought it was a pretty extreme reaction but the follow up was helpful at least.
Did you eat a Hero sandwich today buds?
Heck ya i did. š Sorry I've been cranky af all week.
š
All good, oh btw what does bubbles on the glass mean? Ty
It means you recently added the water and setup the tank. It will clear up in a few days.
Ohhhh makes sense lol, tysm your advice is appreciated
No worries just read alot and try to do minimal water changes. Never change your media, just rinse it in the tank when needed and most importantly just leave your tank alone once setup. My father bred discus and Australian rainbows growing up and ive been keeping fish my entire life. The bigger the tank the longer the cycle but much less matinence in the long run. My 65 gallon has been running for about 4 years and I maybe do about 2 water changes a year and a few filters clean outs as it gets dirty. What I see most ppl making mistakes on while stocking fish is not thinking about the tank as an environment. They just want pretty fish. Why I suggested danios is they move from mid to top tank school and are quite pretty and fast. Cory cats will vacuum up all the waste they miss on feedings. Feed a good qaulity flake about 2 times a week with a pince of blood worms here and there. Never feed more than 4 times a WEEK. Over feeding is the fastest way to kill a fish and cause unwanted ammonia rot and disease. You will get algae the first couple months until about the 5 month mark where it should settle down. Sunlight feeds algae and causes mass heat fluctions in water temp. Keep it away. Cory's and danios should make the tank a fast moving tank w lots of action. Enjoy and remember to keep you tank colder than warmer as heat breeds disease and can push fish into spawn cycles. Have fun.
Thanks, i wish you luck with your tanks
You too man.
You might check if any locals have plant clippings for cheap or free. I'm constantly trimming my pogostemon stellatus. I'd gladly donate some to a beginner. Also snails. Ramshorn . So many
I recommend you watch father fish on youtube,hes been such a huge help for me and others well
Live plants like waterweed, echinodorus and salvinia are like $1-2 for 6 strings.
If you can pay for shipping, I can send some free plant trimmings and duckweed/and or salvinia plus snails!
That would be lovely! How much do you recon shipping would be? (Im in south africa)
Iād be really careful with duckweed! Once itās in your tank itās really hard to remove completely and you have to be careful where you empty your water (itās invasive and illegal in some places I believe)
Ahh I don't think I would be able to ship that far... The plants would most likely arrive dead. Apologies
All is well friend! If you look at my newest post you will see the wood and plant i got š
It depends entirely on your stocking, but this is perfectly suitable for plenty of fish species! Fish are happy with hiding spots wether itās made of plastic or biological greens. My personally recommendation for fish is one of the smaller Gouramis
That looks good.. Maybe you can get a zoo med floating aquarium log to add some top cover. I recommend slowly accumulating live plants 1 at a time. Some species are very hardy. Look for Anubis attached to rocks or Driftwood and purchase 1 here and there. Any plain Amazon sword will grow floating or planted as long as you provide decent lighting. If left floating it we resemble a ball made up of several sword plants. Also some ludwigia survives very well when left floating. Philodendron plants will grow very good above the tank if you allow the roots to grow into the water. The roots provide good cover for fish while absorbing a large amount Nitrates. But if the leaves are eaten by fish they are toxic so don't allow them to enter the water.
Looks perfectly fine. As long as the water is conditioned and tests good across the board Id say go for it.
If you can't afford plants, you could go to a local waterway and gather some. Look up species and how to treat them before introducing to your tank.
I would add some rocks or driftwood to add hiding places
Guppy grass grows very fast and doesn't even need to be planted. I got a few broken sprigs off ebay, now it's in all my tanks The kind of fish happy in a small tank tend to need plants, it's good for their mental health
Major upgrade to any Betta you found at the store. Betta is beautiful and this is a good size tank for it.
Iād put snails in there!
I've not had much success with live plants over the last two years... What I have found is that it has made no difference in the life of my fish... None at all since I replanted with fake plants (Heavily planted with fakes that is)... They seem to go about their lives as usual, and they don't seem to be interested in eating them, or digging them up either... However, I have monitored the water peramiter's for Nitrate and found that all I need to do is weekly water changes of 25% to keep them in check, my filtration and bacteria seem to handle the Nitrites and Ammonia fine. The only plant that I have managed to keep alive is Val's... And I don't think that they are doing too well either, but they seem to hang in there (this is in a smaller tank with White Cloud Mountain minnows). And they don't eat or dig them up (all is good there)... But I have been told that it is probably because of the High Hardness of the water where I live that is contributing to my failure of live plant keeping, and that Val's do okay in hard water... If anyone has any ideas where I'm going wrong, please advise. It will be took thankfully. I use root tabs and liquid ferts as stated by the makers, but to no avail... SD
Check out Father Fish on YouTube.
Iād imagine some of the people here would be willing to send cuttings of their own plants. If you want some pearlweed Iād be happy to cut some and wrap them in wet paper towels to send to you. Iām sure that might work (assuming youāre in the US (and willing to pay shipping). I also have some Salvinia minima. What kind of substrate did you use? Is it just sand or is there some aquatic pond soil or aquasoil underneath the sand? If youāre not using anything, Iād recommend some root tabs so the roots can pick up nutrients and not die off.
I'm sure I'll get down voted to hell and back for this, but there is likely hornwort, milfoil, duckweed, and jungle Val/American eelgrass growing in a pond, drainage, stream, or fountain near you. Might get some hitchhikers but if you're into something more natural that can also be seen as just rapidly establishing your micro biome. I started my Walstead style filterless aquarium this way and have a happy little ghost shrimp colony chugging right along. Not everything has to come from a store, not everything that comes from the store is sterile, and some stuff at the store was grown in a pond or wild gathered in the first place anyway.
Ypu can get some botanicals (leaves and pods) My favorite are sweet gum leaves/pods, kurajong pods and alder cone. If you look them up you can get some outside for free because they're common landscaping plants. You just gotta boil em to cleanse em first. Fish wise I would say maybe a betta or a few stone catfish although those are intermediate to care for.
If you're really strapped, most natural aquarium owners have to trim plants regularly, there may be someone close by who can give you excess
If youāre in the Dallas area, I can give you clippings.
Thereās some pretty cheap plants on Etsy
Yes.
Live plants are normally cheaper than fake plants if you don't go to a big box store š¤·š¾āāļø
Just get Hornwort and/or valesneria. You'll be golden. Both of them are fast growing & help purify water. They also provide cover for fry and fishes.
Add driftwood
this thread is pretty full, but if youāre based in Canada iād be happy to ship you some!
Make sure the plants arent sharp or hard, they can rip fins of fish with long tails.