Qualified plant killer

[Doug Sykes]

Hi, this group was recommended to me by Darren at fishkeepers at Lasswade.
I'm a total amateur at fish keeping, got a 140 litre tank from a friend, so thought I'd see what I could do.
I have a cold water tank with danio, platy, rainbow shiner, catfish and a few snails.
I had tried live plants before, but I had no proper substrate, aqua soil or fertiliser. Yes I made a lot of rookie mistakes.
I'm trying to rectify, I've got aqua soil in bags, plenty of sand, and my in tank plants seem to be doing better. But I wanted a few plants to grow out of the top of the tank. I got three bacopa monnieri. Every time I take them out the tank, they shrivel up overnight. So I've kept them in the water for a week.
One seems to be doing fine. Two of them......well......their roots seem to be good, but nothing else left of them.
I'm using fertiliser.
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Hufsa]

Huh, those dont look like Bacopa to me..
Regardless of which plant it actually is, usually the easiest way to get plants transitioned to growing emersed (out of water) when they are currently growing submersed (in water), is to let them climb out at their own pace.
This means letting the plant be right near the surface, and then as the plant grows taller it will sense that its now out of the water and adjust its leaf structure accordingly. Its much easier to do it this way, I would try that if I were you.
My first thought was that these are Anubias plants, but im not 100% sure, the roots are throwing me off a little bit. Those are not the easiest to transition to above water, so if this is the case then I would definitely recommend the "plant does it" method.

 

[Doug Sykes]

Thanks, hufsa, told you I wasn't good with plants lol. Looked at the wrong labels, yeah it's Anubias heterophylla.
Your idea sounds good, but my tank has a fixed solid lid. There's small holes on the back panel, my plan was to have them growing out of those holes, like the hole in the foreground.
The two that are in the worst state have been fully submerged, floating near the bottom (not in substrate) for the last week, haven't looked at them much lately, been too busy, then found them withered away today. The leaves had basically lost their green, they were down to the veins only. These fell off as soon as I touched them.
I take it the shock of coming straight out of the water is too much, hence your suggestion of letting the plant grow out of its own accord?

 

[Kaliilo]

I love the idea of emmersed plants but like you im a novice at planted tanks so I started at the bottom. Fast growing stem plants and ive been getting used to looking after them immersed. My Hygrophilia have already decided they want to be emmersed and are growing out of the water like @Hufsa suggested. Usually I like to dive straight in to an idea and make it all perfect straight away but if reading this forum has taught me anything its start slowly, start at the bottom and wait. Things usually establish a balance for themselves.
Basically im saying it may be an idea to start with the easy aquatic plants first and then once they are established and you feel comfortable you could start tinkering with other plants. I get it though....I look at @Myrtle tanks with all her beautiful emmersed plants and I want them NOW! Alas I have a lot of learning to do before my tanks look like that. Experience and patience are key in this hobby ive found

 

[Kaliilo]

Also, it might help the more experienced people who can help you if you add your tank setup including what fertiliser you're using as otherwise its just guesswork for them. I would assume they want tank size, substrate, light, co2?, fertiliser type and how often

 

[Doug Sykes]

Thanks kaliilo, I bought plants online from Amazon, Lincolnshire plants, 100 mixed stem and crown. When they arrived I put them into a bucket of tank water and kept a light on them. Just a desk lamp. When I came to plant them a few days later, they weren't in the best of health. I definitely don't have 100 now.
I then added plants I bought from Fishkeeper, definitely doing better, certainly the fully submerged, into substrate, plants. I'll post a picture of my tank, and the labels from the plants from Fishkeeper.
The tank is about 140litre (measuring dimensions of tank).
I had gravel substrate, which I left in. Been in about six months, so figured it would have good bacteria from my fish I added tetra active substrate 5kg, the gravel substrate on top, capped with 20kg unipac sand. Plants green micro lift fertiliser 5ml twice a week (only in the last week though since buying the plants labeled in the photos).
Lighting is build into the lid. An led light (fluvial) and a flourecent strip light (13 watt).

 

[Kaliilo]

Hopefully someone with experience will chime in and help you, like I said im a novice myself. There are a lot of very experienced plant people here though so Ill expect you'll get some good advice soon

 

[Myrtle]

The simplest way to get emergent growth (other than the way @Hufsa describes) is to use houseplants. Plenty will grow well with their roots in water, just like hydroponic growing. Some easy ones are Tradescantia (Wandering Jew), Spathyphyllum (Peace Lily) so long as the plant's crown stays above water and Pothos (Devil's Ivy).

 

[Doug Sykes]

Hopefully someone with experience will chime in and help you, like I said im a novice myself. There are a lot of very experienced plant people here though so Ill expect you'll get some good advice soon

I appreciate your help. I think that often you can get as much help from another beginner as you can get from experienced/successful folk, as you are still making the mistakes now, or only recently corrected mistakes, rather than after years of success, you can easily forget the simple, daft, mistakes you made when you started.
I've done some really simple things wrong (like cleaning the tank filter in tap water, destroying the good bacteria) but I've already passed the right way onto another friend, so she's correcting that mistake with her tank.
Any rookie mistakes you've made, I'd love to hear them, maybe find out I'm doing other things wrong, and correct them.
Thanks again

 

[Doug Sykes]

The simplest way to get emergent growth (other than the way @Hufsa describes) is to use houseplants. Plenty will grow well with their roots in water, just like hydroponic growing. Some easy ones are Tradescantia (Wandering Jew), Spathyphyllum (Peace Lily) so long as the plant's crown stays above water and Pothos (Devil's Ivy).

Thanks. That was actually my first thought, after watching YouTube videos. But the anubias was suggested, so went with that. But, it seems they prefer starting in water and working their own way out. Not ideal for my tank design.
I also have a cat that's very interested in the fish (hopefully not for lunch, lol, but he does like watching them) so leaving the tank open (small back section can be lifted off) isn't an option. He's already figured out his paw fits through the hole, so he dips into the tank and drinks off his paw. Daft cat, hes got fresh water in his bowl.
So, blocking off those holes with plants is a double strategy. Make the tank more attractive, and stop my cat drinking out the tank.
Any idea if those plants are cat safe?
I'm afraid my knowledge of plants is close to zero, as you might have noticed, lol

 

[Kaliilo]

I also have a cat that thinks my tanks are his own personal fountain lol. I know some people use house plants like Peace Lilies with just their roots immersed. I think MD fish tanks has done that a few times. That may be quicker than waiting for an anubias to grow as they take ages. Check the forum, I have seen a few threads on emmersed growth and houseplants with just roots in.

ETA: my page hadnt updated and I hadnt seen that Myrtle had already suggested this

 

[Doug Sykes]

I also have a cat that thinks my tanks are his own personal fountain lol. I know some people use house plants like Peace Lilies with just their roots immersed. I think MD fish tanks has done that a few times. That may be quicker than waiting for an anubias to grow as they take ages. Check the forum, I have seen a few threads on emmersed growth and houseplants with just roots in.

ETA: my page hadnt updated and I hadnt seen that Myrtle had already suggested this

Thanks, I've watched MD a lot, it's where I found out a lot of my mistakes (no aqua soil, etc) and I'd love to have his problem of too much plant growth. But my knowledge of plants is so limited, (they usually have green leaves is about as far as it goes lol) that the names go right over my head. But sounds like house plants is the way to go for me.
Put the ones I have into the bottom of my tank. But I believe they need to go very shallow, so only the roots are in the sand

 

[Kaliilo]

Thanks, I've watched MD a lot, it's where I found out a lot of my mistakes (no aqua soil, etc) and I'd love to have his problem of too much plant growth. But my knowledge of plants is so limited, (they usually have green leaves is about as far as it goes lol) that the names go right over my head. But sounds like house plants is the way to go for me.
Put the ones I have into the bottom of my tank. But I believe they need to go very shallow, so only the roots are in the sand

Apparently he has golden water so dont beat yourself up. With epiphtye plants like anubias they seem to do a bit better stuck on hardscape, I didnt take the chance of planting and instead stuck all mine onto stuff, they are doing well in my low tech hard water tank