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Off brand vs branded plants... Differences?

JamieB

JamieB

Member
Joined
27 Dec 2013
Messages
273
Hi all

Are plants all the same? I'd imagine something like Tropica would be better quality plants than say a no name from eBay but by how much? Reason being, I'm looking to get Anubias nana petite, now my regular shop sells this at 13.25 but eBay has it for less than half this.

So, how much different would these be? It's the same with the moss I'm looking at
 
There shouldn't be a lot of difference between the quality of plants. Although buying from people such as Tropica maybe more reliable. Either way if you can provide what the plants need they will reward you with a good display once they recover. Anubias is a very hardy plant so the seller on eBay may not necessarily have poor quality plants. Alternatively, you can start a thread on the sales/swap/wanted section of the forum, maybe a member on here might have some they are willing to sell.
 
Most gardeners have the luxury of visiting a garden centre to look at plants before they buy them. Mail order doesn't give you that luxury so there is always the chance of it being something of a lottery, even with well known brands if they are not kept well or packaged properly by the retailer. All you can do to try and lessen the odds is to buy a trusted brand from a reputable dealer...check out the list of sponsors.
However, I've also brought off brand from eBay and so far its been OK. I just check out the sellers profile and feedback, and purchase from a UK dealers.
 
Hi Jamie,

Good question.

Rather than branded vs unbranded I think it's probably more useful to look at where the plants come from and what condition they're in, how long they've been stored, and under what conditions. Whether a plant is branded or not does not matter if the plant isn't transported stored appropriately. Like Troi says, best to see before you buy if possible.

Many online suppliers, including UK, will import from Asia. These are often grown outside and are exposed to more pests and disease. For this reason they're usually treated with pesticides that will likely kill any shrimp you have. Some are also grown submersed, which makes it trickier for them to adapt to aquarium conditions when compared with emerged (out of water) plants.

Tropica are widely regarded as a premium brand and you will often pay for this, although some retailers offer good deals. The quality control is very high and if you buy them fresh it's hard to beat on quality.

With regards your example it may be worth taking a gamble with online, especially as Anubias travels so well and is incredibly hardy. If it were a rare and delicate stem plant then I would think twice.

Cheers,
George
 
Completely agree with George. A year ago, I had the chance to visit one of the fish shops shops in Spain with the lowest prices for plants... it was quite deceiving to see bunches of stems floating here and there in tanks that didn't have the best conditions for having plants. Nevertheless I could not resist to bring back home some plants: 3 pots that melted in a few days in my tank. Then I knew similar experiences from other Spanish hobbyist... I mean, you can fail once, but frequent problems means that plants do get to the shop (and to you) on the best conditions.
Now I just buy whatever I can find (Tropica/Anubias/other brands... even self-produced plants in LFS) but always to reliable shops, this is the guarantee for good turnover of the plants, good storage conditions, good advice, etc.
Additionally I think that in most cases plants on the internet are not that cheap. They are usually easy/common plants, not that high number of stems are included, you have high chances of not receiving the material in the best conditions... so, not for me. For a gel format plant you will pay a bit more double but there is a lot of material to be used and top quality.

Jordi
 
Thanks all for the fantastic info, I think I'll take a punt and try some eBay plants out then. Hopefully they're snail free :p
 
I dip mine in Esha Gastropex...it'll get rid of a bunch of 'orrible nasties...apparently...
  • Combats infusoria blooms.
  • Clears cloudy water caused by bacterial blooms (common in new aquarium setups). Bacterial blooms can be dangerous to fish (high levels of organic pollution).
  • Combats Hydra. Freshwater Hydra anchor to any submerged surface in your aquarium and can rapidly regenerate to epidemic proportions
 
Just to add, I recently got 5 pots of invitro anubias from ed at freshwatershrimp. In low tech they are identical in size to tropica petite which share the tank. At least 20 plants to a pot!!! Up at the surface they have grown slightly larger. Best value anubias I've ever had but did take a few weeks to 'transform' and root.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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