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Plant choice

It's a great question! I'm looking for a plant to put in my tank. I tend to look in the journal sections and on websites where the plants can be sorted in to foreground and mid ground etc. I also look at the Tropica site to see what the requirements are like if they have the plant I want.


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Tropica is an excellent resource as they have some "plant handling" videos that show transition from (often) emerse growth to submerse growth over 60 - 90 days, video includes preparation of plants from pots, planting, then trimming

E tenellus
Note there may also be "plant handling" videos embedded in various Layouts

Also look at the "Inspiration" Layouts
Layout 53 by Mark Evans

If you've little experience with planted tanks, start with a hardscape you like, then add plants, beginning with loads of "easy" plants & a few "medium" & "advanced"
As the scape grows in & you gain experience/confidence etc, transition to more difficult plants.

Note Tropica also has a 90 Day App you can download
 
I tend to see whats available for sale and then see how it would fit. My problem is i'm new to plants so want more than looks good. I've bought a few in vitro plants and as they grow move the ones i'm not as keen on to my other tank and spread the ones I love and are doing well out.
 
willzs said:
Cheers guys I'll have a look at those. What do you think about buying a mixed box from somewhere online?
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Hi Willzs, I would not bother with mixed box's You don't know what plants you will get and whether they will suit the scape or the size of your tank.
If you are buying from a LFS some do a deal if you buy 5 plants you get money off. or just order on line.

I order from here https://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/ Been happy every time with the plant quality and service :thumbup:
 
Sounds like a challenge...the mixed box challenge...create a scape around the random selection of plants in a box. Can they also be kept alive and thriving?
Really though, like Roy says they're not a good idea.
And like Alto says you can draw inspiration from other layouts. In fact when you're just starting out it's a good idea to pick a layout you particularly like and copy it. It'll end up different and be your own interpretation anyway.
Observing nature, terrestrial landscapes etc, is also a source of inspiration for many naturescapes. Learning something about plant communities and how they occur in nature can also be very helpful too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_community
 
I probably go with what I like and if it's a difficult category one look for something like it in the "easy"category sounds like a cop out o_O.Now and again I will try something deemed as a difficult plant but rarely. My opinion on the mixed boxes is I would find their appeal for say a gigantic tank and you wanted a few more plants to fill it out. Not to say they won't be value for money though,but just like to know what I purchase
 
Now is a good time to look at nature for inspiration,leaves off trees,mosses rampant with all this rain,like Troi says gives ideas.I first read of Amano doing this in the Amazon ,story is there would all the landscape all about and he would just be as interested in branches exposed by the dry season or random boulders exposed by water levels,things people may just ignore but can give insight into how your planted aquarium could look
 
Hi all,
willzs said:
So this may sound like an odd question but how do most people decide on their plants?
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Go to the other tanks, find out what I have a lot of, break some bits off and put it in the new tank. It isn't very exciting but it works well.

I should think 90% of the new plants I've got (usually via members here) I've either managed to kill off fairly quickly, or they've been fast growing and I've got fed up with replanting them.

cheers Darrel
 
willzs said:
So this may sound like an odd question but how do most people decide on their plants?
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The question aint so odd, but is bit oddly put.. Who are the most people??

For the most advanced experienced aquascapers the answer is simple, they do it with knowing the plants and how they look when matured. And how well they cope with trimming. :)

As long as you don't know this it's only guessing and going with the looks and the description given by the nurseries. Or what is seen in other scapes and try to replicate that.. Given descriptions of the plants properties are not always very acurate and mainly very circumstanciel. For maybe more than 80% of the regular plant species available i count myself to the not knowers. :)

So i decide with a great deal of luck if choosing a plant beside the 30 i already know so far in the condition i gave them till now..
 
Thinking about it, Darrel's and Marcel's comments strike a cord with me...I learnt from trial and error, and the help of the few books and journals that were around when I first started many decades ago as a small child.
So I guess the advice is experiment and have fun...keep those plants that do well and replace those that don't...and so on...
 
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