which to get?

[ALFA WOLF]

For the longest time i have been wondering which woudl be bettertthe plastic or real plants the both have their pros and cons.

[guppyart]

what kind of lighting do you have.

[ALFA WOLF]

50 watts of light.

[fishfreaks]

imo plastic and the cloth are easiest to care for, and thats why i like them. someday when the bf has more paitence (hm) we might give it a try! but the live plants like to feed off of nitrates, and they look more natural.

[ALFA WOLF]

some of the plastics look natural but the real deal it hard to beat.

[ijedic]

Originally Posted by ALFA WOLF

For the longest time i have been wondering which woudl be bettertthe plastic or real plants the both have their pros and cons.

The pros of live plants are that they help keep your tank healthy. Having live plants also helps if you have fry (hiding; infusoria). I can't think of any cons.

As for plastic/silk plants, I like them both for my cichlid tank and my tanks that have plant eating snails.

Don't get disscouraged if your first attempt at live plants is not a success. The key is to start off with something easy and work your way up. Java fern or java moss is very undemanding. Floating plants like hornwart, anacharis, duckweed, water lettuce, are all high light plants that would do well in a tank or in your pond. Floating plants are excellent places for goldfish to spawn. Have fun, Shannon

[MyraVan]

Real plants for me. I've always loved plants and have a huge collection of houseplants (which I need to thin out in preparation for moving). I am pretty good at figuring out the needs to the plant and finding a way to providing what they need. So for me there was no question: it was going to be real plants. I have three tanks; all are planted.

[Damon]

Originally Posted by ijedic

The pros of live plants are that they help keep your tank healthy. Having live plants also helps if you have fry (hiding; infusoria). I can't think of any cons.

As for plastic/silk plants, I like them both for my cichlid tank and my tanks that have plant eating snails.

Don't get disscouraged if your first attempt at live plants is not a success. The key is to start off with something easy and work your way up. Java fern or java moss is very undemanding. Floating plants like hornwart, anacharis, duckweed, water lettuce, are all high light plants that would do well in a tank or in your pond. Floating plants are excellent places for goldfish to spawn. Have fun, Shannon

Well said. Always go for silk over plastic though. Plastic plants can harm fins.

[Ownager2004]

I had my tank setup with plastic plants for awhile, but I got so fed up with having to rebury them every gravel vac. I think it actually looked better than my current live plant setup, but I dont expect that to last long

[slidewaysL28E]

You'll love yourself and your tank even more if you go real, just start out with some easy to care for plants (ie. java moss, java fern, wisteria, anacharis, swords, etc) these plants don't require much to care for, i mean java fern and java moss don't even need a substrate to root into just something to attach to, how can you beat that? not to mention they're cheap. Buy a few real plants keep for a few weeks and see how you like them. Im sure you'll be please if you take the proper steps to prepare.

[ALFA WOLF]

Originally Posted by Simpte

Plastic plants can harm fins.

Exactly they can i woke up to ifnd one of my old dragon fish hung up by its gills on a plastic plant. i dont thin it woudl have happened on a rela one since it is more flimsy.

[lalo]

I currently have one tank with both live and plastic plants, the cons for plastic is that you have to clean them more often than live plants (i rinse them every month), plastic plants tend to get some dusty look even if the water is crystal clear (at least in my case) so you have to brush them or pass your fingers to clean them from time to time

[ALFA WOLF]

oh but with real ones they tend to break off and get stuck in filter for some situations.

[ijedic]

Originally Posted by ALFA WOLF

oh but with real ones they tend to break off and get stuck in filter for some situations.

Quit making excuses and get yourself some live plants! Java moss and java fern don't break off. You'll love them! Shannon

[ALFA WOLF]

im not making ecuses it has happened before i have my resons of getting plastics and real. Ivehad my fair share of dead fish from plastics and real ones. manly only 2 fish.

[fishfreaks]

Originally Posted by ALFA WOLF

oh but with real ones they tend to break off and get stuck in filter for some situations.

YESS!! i hate that!!

[Damon]

Stay away from sword plants in the beginning unless you have prepared the tank properly for plants (ie substrate, co2, ferts). The others listed will do fine. Swords are considered heavy root feeders when in actuality this is not true. ALL plants feed from the watercolumn first as they spend less energy this way vs having to move nutrients to various plant locations. Swords are very greedy though and once they have used up all the nutrients in the water column, they will feed in the substrate. If nothing is there, they will eventually die back and maybe off altogether. They also require higher lighting than the ones listed.