plant care in an apisto tank

[anewbie]

Small floating plants like duckweed can get sucked into your filter, although if you don’t want a full floating plant mass don’t choose duckweed ! It has it uses but the stuff over takes everything and reproduces so fast.

Red root floaters are pretty and are slower spreading.

Water lettuce is my favourite but doesn’t do well in strong flow in my experience , it has longer, bushier roots so that’s your choice to decide if you like that look or not , or if it’s a good fit to your tank as I know you asked about a power head.

Of course you can use the method recommended above where you make a ‘ring’ to corral your floaters to a specific space with air line tubing or similar to keep them in the space you want them to be.

Depends on condition; the red root floaters in my 5 gallon have to be disposed of about once every 2 weeks (i dispose of 1/2 to keep them from clogging the top). I think i like frogbit the best of the floaters i have used but red root isnt' bad; it does produce a lot of little white flowers...

 

[Blacksheep1]

Yes but compared to duck weed anything is slower spreading ! red roots are a lot more manageable and much easier to remove too imo

 

[anewbie]

Depends on condition; the red root floaters in my 5 gallon have to be disposed of about once every 2 weeks (i dispose of 1/2 to keep them from clogging the top). I think i like frogbit the best of the floaters i have used but red root isnt' bad; it does produce a lot of little white flowers...

Btw here is a picture from the bottom so you can see the difference. The negative (or positive?) of frogbit is it grow much longer roots; The red root floater has well red roots.

And for those who like a little humour:

 

[yukondog]

And for those who like a little humour:

I like the bearded mystery snail. How long has it been growing?

 

[anewbie]

I like the bearded mystery snail. How long has it been growing?

Not sure - probably around a year. The tank has been setup for a bit over a year but not sure when i put the snail in and when it started growing. There are actually three in there - all with long hair and the shrimps seem to tend to them frequently.

 

[Tegra1027]

I got a handful of dwarf water lettuce for my 75 and it didn't do much, I was using a spray bar. I put them in my 10 gallon quarantine tank with a small HOB and they multiplied quickly. After the roots were longer, I put them al back in my 75 gallon. They aren't multiplying too fast because of the water flow and they look cool. I do like the red root floaters merely because they are red, but I have not tried them yet. Keep in mind that all your plants are slow growing and are prone to Algae because of this. So keep your light lower intensity and duration (the floaters will help with this). Gentle flow will help keep the diatoms off, but the dreaded BBA likes high flow. You may want to get yourself a couple Siamese algae eaters when the algae starts. They should be ok with the apistos but I'm fresh in the apisto world so confirm that.

Side note: there are 2 weeks between these pictures and I was just amazed at the growth of my red sword in that time. Holy cow!!!! Also, dont mind the airline tubing. Im struggling to get it to not twist under water.

 

[anewbie]

I got a handful of dwarf water lettuce for my 75 and it didn't do much, I was using a spray bar. I put them in my 10 gallon quarantine tank with a small HOB and they multiplied quickly. After the roots were longer, I put them al back in my 75 gallon. They aren't multiplying too fast because of the water flow and they look cool. I do like the red root floaters merely because they are red, but I have not tried them yet. Keep in mind that all your plants are slow growing and are prone to Algae because of this. So keep your light lower intensity and duration (the floaters will help with this). Gentle flow will help keep the diatoms off, but the dreaded BBA likes high flow. You may want to get yourself a couple Siamese algae eaters when the algae starts. They should be ok with the apistos but I'm fresh in the apisto world so confirm that.

Side note: there are 2 weeks between these pictures and I was just amazed at the growth of my red sword in that time. Holy cow!!!! Also, dont mind the airline tubing. Im struggling to get it to not twist under water. View attachment 11340View attachment 11341

What is the dark blue fish in the bottom picture ?

 

[Tegra1027]

What is the dark blue fish in the bottom picture ?

That's my electric blue Acara.. Breathtaking, right? He's more like a pet lol. Very personable, I have to feed him before the other fish.

 

[anewbie]

That's my electric blue Acara.. Breathtaking, right? He's more like a pet lol. Very personable, I have to feed him before the other fish.

That was my first guess; but the ones I've seen before the yellow is not so pronounced so i thought maybe it was something similar. Nice looking fish.

 

[Mazan]

Sorry I did not see this thread earlier,, but I would like to debunk the myth about Vallisneria needing hard water, I have very soft water and it grows absolutely fine for me, its even spreading in a tank with Uaru and Severum! I started with two small pieces, now its in all my tanks and I have had to throw a lot away. Makes a good background, though the runners tend to appear at the front.

Water lettuce always does well for me as well, whether I use fertilizer or not. I remove large portions of it each week in all of my tanks.

 

[fyrefish]

That's interesting, I've already filled my back up with swords, but I might get some val if I see some healthy stuff. The closest place to me that sells it usually has it dying and turning dark brown in their tanks. I was actually feeling I need more foreground plants, most of my tank is slow growing plants so there is still a decent amount of nutrients in the water column, obviously floaters would be great but it's been difficult to find some near me. Would pearlweed be a good option? I've heard it's one of the only 'carpeting' plants that will survive in sand, with root tabs of course. Apparently it's a speedy grower, and I quite like the bushyness, which looks like it would be a good place for cory fry to hide if I ever get breeding

 

[Mazan]

That's interesting, I've already filled my back up with swords, but I might get some val if I see some healthy stuff. The closest place to me that sells it usually has it dying and turning dark brown in their tanks. I was actually feeling I need more foreground plants, most of my tank is slow growing plants so there is still a decent amount of nutrients in the water column, obviously floaters would be great but it's been difficult to find some near me. Would pearlweed be a good option? I've heard it's one of the only 'carpeting' plants that will survive in sand, with root tabs of course. Apparently it's a speedy grower, and I quite like the bushyness, which looks like it would be a good place for cory fry to hide if I ever get breeding

Yes, I really like pearlweed, I have a lot in my biggest planted tank. It doesn't need root tabs. If the light is strong you can make a carpet, otherwise it tends to grow taller, but you can make some good dense bushes with it. A warning though, it is invasive, very fast growing, and will take over your tank if you let it, it needs trimming regularly and when you trim it the bits get everywhere. If you let it grow too tall the underneath leaves die off and it starts to look stringy, I trim mine each week and it is still spending. Its definitely worth the work though. This is how it looks with regular trimming (just some photos I happened to have...)..I have seen my emperor tetras spawning in the bushes, and a few fry have survived and grown up. I do have water lettuce as well, which probably helps. My substrate is river sand with a little aqua soil mixed in. I use an all in one liquid fertilizer sporadically (very 2-3 weeks).

 

[fyrefish]

That is an amazing looking tank, my goal to have something like that one day. If I have to trim a plant constantly I'd actually be pretty happy, almost all the plants I have kept grow very slow, maybe because of my lighting (which I am looking to upgrade). I haven't actually seen much pearlweed at local fish stores, but I'm sure I can find some online or on gumtree. Will definitely give it a try if I can get it looking anything remotely like yours!