Types of aquarium plants

Aquarium plants are a tricky business of a novice. You have to be patient with them. There are a lot of different types of plants out there. Choosing your plants also has similar considerations as choosing your fish. In this post I will try to give you an overview of the things you should consider before buying plants at your local fish store.

Types of aquarium plants
Stem plants: these plants can grow from any piece of their stems which has a node. They have a good ability to absorb nutrients from the water column. This makes them very hardy and can survive until they can grow roots. Roots are still more efficient at absorbing nutrients hence they will grow faster and denser if they are rooted in nutrient- rich substrate.

Ludwigia Repens: A stem plant can grow new branches and roots at every node apart from leaves. thus each node is a potential plant. 

Cryptocorynes are a a family of plants which will come
 under the rosette category they also fall under the rhizomatous category.

Rosette plants: These plants have leaves radiating from the central crown of the plant. They are root plants that is get their nutrition through the roots. They will thrive in nutrient rich substrate. Plants of this type will come under other types discussed below.
Examples: cryptocorynes, apongetons, amazon swords, jungle val,

Rhizomatous plants: Rhizomes are modified stems which grow horizontally and leaves and roots grow from them.
 So long as the rhizome is alive and green it will grow into a plant.As new leaves and plants grow the rhizome also grows. You can cut the rhizome in appropriate places to propagate the plant.
Examples, Java fern, Cryptocorynes, anubias,
Carpet plants: Mosses are the smallest plants you would want because plant smaller than mosses will be algae. They grow prolifically in rich nutrient environments. But they are also very hardy and not very finicky about their water parameters.
Stem plants like baby tears, pearl grass, glossostigma, will grow horizontally in high light and high nutrients. Rosette plants like hair grass, dwarf sagittaria will send out runners and cover the substrate to form a carpet.
Carpet plants are generally high maintenance plants. of the above mentioned I have found dwarf sagitaria to be the most forgiving plant. It has thrived under almost all the conditions I subjected it to. Others may survive but may not thrive without a high tech setup.

Dwarf  Sagittaria carpet.

Floating plants: Many stem plants can be just floated and will do well but floated plants are those which grow on the surface of the water their leaves are open to air while their leaves are under water. Water lettuce, duckweed, frogbit, water hyacinth, water sprite.

Floating plants will not add much to your aquascape but are very useful to control algae issues.

Bulb plants: These are bulb plants. The bulbs so long as they are alive i.e. firm They are flowering plants so they can generate seeds. They also grow vegitatively that is a branch like stem will grow from the bulb and a new plant will grow from its tip. Water lilies when grown in ponds will flower. Tiger Lilly, nuphar japonica, red Lilly are some of the examples.

There are a lot of different types of plants out there which have different requirements. Some need good substrate like root plants some need liquid fertilizers like stem and rhizomatous plants like java ferns and anubias. Many red plants need high light to maintain red color else they turn green. Similarly carpet plants need high light to grow along the substrate in low light they will grow vertically and get long and leggy.

Plants take time to truly establish some may even melt before starting new growth. Many plants will take time to grow flowers or runners to propagate. My apongetons took years to send out flowers and runners until then I was unaware how the propogated. The point being it is a hobby of patience. I advise my friends in the hobby to not indulge in aquacaping until they know the plants they want to use. It is heart breaking to design a beautiful aquascape and see it crash.

Finally you need to lookout for plants may be moonlighting as aquarium plants when they maybe only partially or temporarily aquatic. Such plants will almost always melt away in your aquarium. I have seen pothos plant or as some may know it money plant being sold as aquarium plant. Many aquarium plants can be grown above water such plants will also melt if they are not transitioned properly to underwater conditions.

Setting up a planted tank or an aquascape is same as starting a garden you should first know your plants and how to grow them!

Acclimatizing your new fish

The fish in the local fish store might have travelled hundreds of kilometers, if not thousands which causes the fish to get stressed. This stress makes the fish vulnerable to diseases. It is therefore essential that the fish are properly treated and eased in their new home. This process of acclimitazation  will help you greatly to reduce your fish fatalities.

Here is how I acclimate my new fish.  I float the fish bag in the tank for 15-20 min to let the temperature equalize with the tank water. I then add the fish with some bag water in a separate container until the container is half filled with bag water. Then I let the container sit for 5 min to let the fish settle down. Cover the container if the fish appear panicky , restless, swimming around frantically. Once the fish are calm I start adding the tank water to the container using an airline pipe, until the container is full. The airline pipe helps to fill the water without disturbing the fish. Some people add the tank water directly with a jar while some drip the water drop by drop to avoid stressing the fish. I find it a matter of choice and belief. You can choose any way that you prefer. I then let the container sit  for 10-15 mins. After 15 mins I empty half the water from the container and refill it with tank water and again let it sit for 15 min. This process allows to slowly acclimatize the fish to the tank water chemistry. I carry out this filling-emptying-refilling cycle 2-3 times, thus increasing the concentration of tank water in the container. I then net the fish out of the container and directly add them to the tank. This avoids any ammonia built up in the container water to enter the tank.

Follow this acclimatization process each time you move your fish from one tank to another. This is because even though the two tanks may be set up at the same time and with same water source, over the period of time the chemistry of the two tanks will differ.

Also, it is advisable to add your new fish in a quarantine tank before you introduce them to your main tank. This is highly recommended when your main tank has well-settled fish because we don't know if the new fish has any disease which could infect the entire population. It can cause mass fatalities. 

Look out for my next post about setting up quarantine tank!

Looking forward for your comments and suggestions.

Setting up a planted tank.

Along with fish keeping another hobby you can take up is aquascaping. It is quite similar to landscaping your garden. Like a garden we can use ornaments, rocks, wood and plants. Plants can be artificial or live in the aquarium depending on the types of fish we keep. So if you want an aquascape with live plants you need to know how the plants are planted in the aquarium. Like any garden plant, aquarium plants also need to be tended for proper growth and beautiful look of an aquascape.

Setting up a planted tank:

Basic Tank: This tank only uses a substrate and a 7W led bulb for the plants rest is just for aesthetics.

Basic requirements:
1. Substrate
2. Lights
Advanced requirements:
1. Source of CO₂

2. Fertilizers.
3. Ph, NO₃, PH₄, KH tests.

Substrate: Substrate gives the plants support and holds them in place and is also a source of nutrition.

As the plants grow roots into the substrate, it becomes a major source of nutrition for the plant. Just like any land plant. Hence it is important that the substrate we choose be able to provide that nutrition. There are many types of substrates:

Sand/ small gravel can work for stem plants. As they can derive their nutrition from the water column.

Aquarium power soil specialized soil for aquarium plants engineered to supply all the required nutrients to the plants in required amounts. Works with all the plants.

Dirt or garden soil: will provide the plants with the required nutrients but you will need to balance the nutrients as per the needs of the plants and the fish. because unlike the power soil we do not know the composition of the garden soil. it may be rich in phosphates or ammonia. In short it will take some work to get your tank balanced for the plants to grow without causing issues to your fish. I do frequent water changes to remove any excess nutrients leached into the water column to avoid any problems to the fish or other issues like algal bloom.

Driftwood: mainly used for plants that just need something to hold onto and get all their nutrition from the water.

This is how I arrange the substrate in my planted tank: 1 inch layer of garden soil or dirt (make sure it does not have any added chemicals) and a 1 inch top layer of sand or gravel

What I use mainly is a layer of garden soil about 1 inch deep, topped with a layer of sand or fine gravel. Sand and gravel also play important roll in the rooting process of the plant. Coarser gravel will have larger gaps making it difficult for the roots to take hold as a result the plant will be uprooted by a slight nudge by your fish. This constant uprooting will hinder the rooting process. Rooting is important for the plant because even though some plants can also take nutrients from the water roots are still the main source. Without proper rooting the plant will start wilting. So the gravel here plays an important role of holding the plant in place until its roots develop and support the plant themselves.

Lights: Another important thing for your planted tank is lights. Live plants are just like garden plants with respect to light. Most of them grow in shallow waters so they get plenty of sunlight. So our aim should be to emulate nature. Though you can get away with low lights but that will be at the cost of your plants' growth. A general recommendation on the internet is to have 0.5-5 watts per gallon of fluorescent white light. I generally maintain 2-4 watts per gallon in my tanks.

Avoid using incandescent bulbs not only will you need higher wattage they will also heat up your system. In smaller tanks or bowls incandescent bulbs can literally cook your fish.

Since we are emulating sunlight the lights need to be kept on for a equivalent period as the sunlight. However keeping the lights on for 12 hours can lead to algal blooms. Hence we need to find a balance here. I recommend to find your sweet spot with a minimum photo period of 6hrs to a maximum of 12 hrs depending on the severity of your algae issue.

My DIY Lighting. In my experience a 2W/gallon of white light, be it fluorescent tube or a CFL or LED. The intensity of light seems to be the only thing that matters,

Other requirements: The above are the basic requirements of a planted tank. A mature well cycled tank can be sustained with the above setup. However it takes time for your tank to reach that point. Besides if you want to keep some high maintenance plants you need to supplement these with fertilizers.

Carbon dioxide CO2:  CO₂ is important for photosynthesis hence for plants growth.  There will be some amount of CO₂ dissolved in the water and will be available for your plants. However this will be well below the prescribed limit. Hence extra CO₂ can be dissolved into the water so that more is available for plants to make food and hence grow faster. Additional CO₂ can be introduced using CO₂ tablets, liquid CO_2, or pressurized gas, you can also do-it-yourself using yeast to produce CO₂ gas and pump it into the tank. High maintenance aquascapes which need constant supply of CO₂ to sustain growth and control algae. For such tanks compressed CO₂ gas from pressurized cylinders with a control valve is recommended . The relation between algae and CO₂ will be discussed in a future post.

Fertilizers: Like garden plants aquarium plants depend on macro nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) and micro nutrients ( magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc etc) macro and micro indicate the amounts to dose. In a basic low tech setup macro nutrients will get added through fish waste and dead plant matter. The concentration again is way below the possible threshold. Hence we can add supplementary fertilizers up to the threshold hold to boost plant growth.

Water chemistry tests: If you are an experienced fish keeper you may be aware of certain tests to ensure certain thresholds of concentrations are met for the well being of your fish. Example test to measure ammonia concentration in the water or ph test as some fish may need acidic or alkaline water while some may need neutral water. In a planted tank if we are using fertilizers we are adding chemicals which also have safety concentrations for the fish. We can't let the fish die for a nice lush green aquatic garden. Some of the important tests will be nitrate test, phosphate test, KH test for CO₂. I will talk about the safety thresholds and dosage of various of fertilizers in detail in a future post until then beginners can rely on the instructions provided on the fertilizers for planted tanks. Caution: Do not use garden fertilizer directly they are very concentrated for the safety thresholds. Unless you know the concentration and can dilute it below the safety thresholds stay clear of garden fertilizer.

So in summary to begin a planted tank just get add the appropriate substrate and a fluorescent bulb with a wattage of about 2 W/gallon, add a decent amount of fish for initial fertilization and finally try to plant a good amount of plants. More plants means any excess nutrients will quickly be utilized by the plants. If you have less plants they won't utilize all the nutrients in your water column leaving it for algae which are a type of plant and you will have a algal bloom. 

Hope the simplicity and basic requirements have inspired your to start your own planted tanks. My set-ups are 5-6 year old now I have seen most of the issues in the planted tanks. I would be happy to help my readers avoid them. So please feel free to ask or share any new insight in the comments.

Quarantine and hospital tanks

Like all living things fish also contract diseases. Some of these diseases will be contagious. Hence you should treat this fish separately. Many in the hobby have a separate tank which serves as a quarantine/hospital tank. Quarantine tanks are also useful to hold new fish before releasing them with other fish in an established tank. This screening helps protect the established inhabitants from potential infections we don't know the new fish might carry.

The quarantine tank is a separate closed system in which we treat the fish while it is isolated from your main tank to make sure it is does not infect other fish. The tank is a bare bottom tank with a mature sponge filter and heater. Mature sponge filter is one which has been in an established tank and has developed a robust microbe colony to deal with the ammonia in the quarantine tank right away. Heater helps speed up the lifecycle of disease like ich as they affect the fish only in a certain stage of the life cycle of the germs. Keep the lights dim and make sure the tank is not disturbed. This helps to keep the fish calm. Any undue stress will aggravate its condition. A large enough bucket also serves this purpose being closed from all sides gives a sense of calm to the fish. If you do use a bucket make sure it is at least 5 gallons because in smaller containers the water quality can deteriorate within hours.

Basic Setup for a quarantine tank:- bare bottom tank, heater, sponge filter.

Given that the inhabitants of this tank are sick this tank has to be maintained more meticulously than your regular tank. Even though we are using a mature sponge filter to take care of the impurities I recommend a daily 10% water change. I prefer keeping the filter as a backup. This is important in the quarantine tank especially when you are treating diseased fish. We use various medicines in the quarantine tank for the harmful microbes troubling the fish however it is quite possible that the medicines will decimate the beneficial bacteria in your sponge filter. Also it helps in avoiding a build up of the medicine in the water column as higher concentrations of the medicines may also be toxic for the fish along with the germs. For general quarantine do frequent water changes, maintain stable temperature, some salt, and methylene blue should be added.

Makes-shift Quarantine bucket if  it costly, time-consuming or you do not have space for a dedicated tank

 How long do we keep the fish in the quarantine tank? I would advised that one month to be on the safe side. After that check the fish for any signs of disease, see if they are lively and are readily eating food.  Make sure you have done enough water changes to clear any left over medicinal chemicals in the quarantine system. Once you have ascertained the fish is healthy you can transfer them to the main tank using the same acclimatization method described in the previous post.

While you are treating your sick fish it also advisable to treat your main tank. Add some salt, gradually increase the temperature 2-3℃ over the regular temperature maintained, perform major water change 50-70% clean the gravel and if possible clean the hardscapes like driftwood or other decorations. This will help contain the infection. 

If we maintain good water quality, diseases will be rare unless they are introduced by you in the form of a sick fish or because of your laziness to do regular maintenance. Your tank can buffer impurities and toxic build-up but that does not mean you should stretch to the threshold. Even with the best of filter you should do a regular weekly water change. 

How to choose your fish!

When stocking your tank with fish it is important to consider tank space, bio-load the tank can support, fish compatibility, nature etc.

Space: Many fish in the local fish stores are juvenile. Hence it is important to know how big they will grow. If you have a small tank shark fish, Oscar, flowerhorn will soon outgrow the tank.  Such fish need big tanks for them to live comfortably. 

I had set up a tank of African cichlids. I brought them when they were hardly a few centimeters long taking the word of my local fish store that the won't grow beyond a few inches. Soon one of them grew bigger than others and started harassing the others. Other fish in the tank, terrorized by this one fish, did not grow well and finally died of stress and disease. When I brought them my fish load was  1 inch/2.5 gallons. When they grew up the ratio changed to 1 inch/0.7 gallon. Had I housed the fish in a bigger tank they would have thrived even with the aggression of the alpha fish.

Even if you buy small fish  the number of fish is also important for the space they need to live freely and healthily. The number of fish is called fish load. The prescribed fish load is 1 inch of fish per gallon. While calculating the fish load also take into account the maximum size the fish will grow.

Assortment of Tetras with some other fish. They are in groups of 3-4 hence don't bother other fish.

Bio-load: Another reason for the 1 inch per gallon guideline apart from space is management of fish waste produced in the tank. More the number of fish greater is the waste produced. This will necessitate frequent water changes to remove the waste and maintain water quality. The reason I call 1 inch per gallon a guideline and not rule is two fish fitting the length may produce different quantities of waste. For example 2 adult Guppies each around 1 inch in size  will produce less waste than a 2 inch goldfish.

You are generally prescribed to do a partial water change every week. This is based on the assumption that you tank is stocked  in proportion to the waste processing abilities of the tank. Waste in the tanks is processed by the microbes which colonize your tank. A new tank has few or none of these microbes, that is why you are advised the two week waiting period before adding fish. Though the microbes grow fast they take time to mature enough to manage all the waste. A given colony of these microbes in a given size of tank has a limit to the amount of waste it can process even after maturing. Hence it is advisable to add few fish at a time giving the microbe colony to mature and not over stock your tank. 

You may consider adding hardier fish like Guppies, platys, and mollies before going for the more difficult to keep fish like neon tetra, cardinal tetra, harlequin rasbora, etc. This way the tank won't sit empty, they fish will aid the microbes to grow faster and they can survive the initial beating of ammonia spike.( This is if you can't wait I do not advise it)

Compatibility: There are many beautiful fish you will want to keep but you have check their compatibility first. Some fish attack other fish because they may be territorial, or aggressive or just naughty. Many cichlids, breeding pairs of fish can be very territorial, a male fighter fish will be aggressive towards other males or veil-tail fish he perceives as a competition for mating, Oscars will eat any fish that fits in their mouth, tiger barbs, some tetras can be very restless and naughty when alone and will harass other fish by nipping their fins.

Personally I prefer one species in one 10 gallon tank. If I do keep multiple species make sure of their nature and ways to neutralize their aggression. For example I always keep tetras in schools of 5-6 this ensures they are engrossed in each other and don't bother other fish. I keep my tanks heavily planted to provide ample hiding space. 

Small tank with single species of dwarf rainbow fish.

Goals: Finally have clear goals with your aquarium and choose you fish accordingly. If you want pet-like interactive fish go for the larger cichlids like flowerhorn, Oscars but they will need more meticulous pet-like maintenance too. Besides this cost of the aquarium and it's equipment will increase too.

If you wish to aquascape the tank go for smaller fish. Fish like koi, goldfish, pleco, and silver dollar will eat the live plants. While larger fish like cichlids have a tendency to move the substrate around causing the uprooting of the plants. Tetras, rasboras, dwarf chichlids, small barbs, bettas, rainbows, angelfish, discus, platys, fancy Guppies, and mollies are ideal for planted tanks.

If you wish for a low maintenance tank keep the fish load low and keep hardy fish like Guppies, mollies, platys  etc.

Some closing thoughts- be responsible while choosing your fish. Make sure you don't bite more than you can chew with a large fish or huge fish load unless you have the infrastructure and bandwidth to support them. They are living creatures and you assume the responsibility of their life when you buy them. 

Feel free to share you thoughts and queries in the comments. Let me know about your experience with your fish their compatibility, aggression, and ways you dealt with the issues. Any comments, tips to improve the blog, topics for future posts are also welcome!

Setting up a fish tank.

Setting up a fish tank seems very simple - buy a tank, fill it with water and add fish to it. However it takes a lot of patience and more than a couple of weeks to set up a tank. There are many factors to consider while setting up your fish tank. Type of fish, tank size, water type and quality, tank size, lighting, filter, heater, substrate, tank decorations -  all these factors play a crucial role in setting up a tank successfully. Let's see how these affect your tank set up.

Fish and tank selection: Choosing the tank for the fish is like choosing your home. There are a lot of similar considerations like how many fish you want to house, how big the fish can get, space required per fish etc. Make sure you know how big the fish grow. Many fish stores are ignorant of the size as they sell the juvenile fish which are only a few centimeters in size. I have brought home many fish on their word and the fish grew huge which left me with only bad choices - parting with my pets or watching them suffer in a cramped tank. You may think there is another option - getting a larger tank, but that never happens because you will fall short of space or not afford a bigger tank or not have the bandwidth to maintain a larger tank. So be very meticulous about the fish and tank size before committing. Tank sizes have a few other pros and cons apart from fish size. Larger tanks are easier to maintain. Large volume of water can buffer greater waste before it becomes toxic. However they also need larger equipment and space. You can't keep all the varieties of fish you want because of compatibility. Smaller tanks on there other hand gives you the flexibility of keeping different types of fish. But smaller your tanks, greater is its maintenance. For example, if you have a one-5 gallon tank you will have to do daily partial water changes to maintain water quality while a 10-50 gallons tank will need weekly water change. 

Water: The normal tap water is treated with chlorine and chloramines at your local water purification plant. These chemicals are highly toxic for fish. Hence, this water needs to be treated with a neutralizing agent or aged for 3-4 days (at least 1 day if you can't wait for 3-4 days). This aging and treating of water must be done meticulously because this is a major cause of fish death in new tanks. 

Next major cause of fish death in your new tank will be ammonia poisoning. Ammonia enters the tank water through the waste produced by your fish . As the concentration of ammonia increases it becomes toxic for the fish. Ammonia concentration can be reduced by daily water changes or establishment of microbial culture in the tank which will convert the ammonia into nitrates. Nitrates are are less toxic and can be reduced by weekly water change.

Filtration: Once you have the right quality of water you have to make sure that the quality is maintained. This is done by filtration. Filtration is of two types - mechanical filtration to remove floating and suspended materials from the water column and biological filtration to remove the toxins that build up in the water over time. There are many types of filter which provide both types of filtration. Simplest of them are sponge filters. As the water passes through the sponge it filters out the suspended particles. The pores of the sponge are ideal sites for the microbes to establish. Once established these cultures will absorb the ammonia from the water and convert it to nitrates. This culture will develop in a week or two. This is one of the reasons it is advised to introduce the fish in the tank only after one-two weeks. Other types of filters are power filters, hang on filters, over head filters, external filters etc. For beginners with a small tank (10-20 gallons), I recommend  sponge filters.

Heating: It is important to maintain the tank temperature especially in the winters. I try to maintain minimum 28℃ in my tanks. Heating prevents diseases causing germs to die. However, I have read constant high temperatures will shorten the life span of the fish. So look up the ideal temperature of the fish you keep make and sure all types of fish in you tank are compatible to that temperature.

Substrate: Adding pebbles, gravel for decoration is a good idea. Apart from the aesthetics, it serves as a good site for the beneficial bacteria we talked about in the filtration section above. For planted tanks you will get specialized substrate which contains nutrients for the plants. The substrate will also also trap the fish waste at the floor of the tank which can otherwise remain floating due to the swimming of the fish.

Lighting: It is important that you create an environment as natural as possible for your fish. This is important for the fish health and well-being. In nature your fish experience 12 hrs of light. I use a timer on my tanks. I use fluorescent light as they come close to natural light. I try to maintain 2 watts per gallon on my tanks. This is because all my tanks are planted. For fish-only tanks, the wattage/gallon may be lower. Avoid incandescent lights as they may heat up the water and they are energy consuming. You may adjust the lighting duration and intensity as per your tank requirement for example if you have algae issue you may reduce the intensity or duration to control algae. 

Other decorations: Once you have good water, heater, filter with proper aeration your tank is set! If you wish to add artificial decorations, you need to keep some things I mind. Make sure the decorations do not have any sharp edges as the fish have a tendency to rub against them especially if the suffering from diseases like Ich. The decorations should be easily removable for cleaning as they are active spots for the germs to grow. Decorations are necessary for some fish (for example african cichlids) need hiding spots to feel safe else they will constantly be under stress, while some fish need cave-like structures to breed. So decorate accordingly taking into account the needs of the fish whose home your tank is going to be!

I have tried to cover the basics of a tank setup. Let me know if you have any question or wish me to discuss any fish related topics in future posts in the comments!

    

Aquahobby and Me!

      I started fish keeping 12 years ago. Being a novice I was more interested in keeping big fish and other accessories and decorations. Armed with all the useless accessories and incorrect information from my ill-informed local fish shop I brought home gold fish, shark catfish, and angels.
       Setting up the tank, being very proud of it I encountered my first pitfall. "New tank syndrome". It killed most of my fish. It was the beginning of  a streak of fish dying due to diseases, temperature, water changes, sick fish from local fish shops (lfs). It was a difficult and a painful part of the hobby I hope all amateurs could skip this part. I will try to consolidate all my learnings in subsequent articles.
        Once I was able to successfully keep fish I moved to live plants to give the fish a more natural set up instead of tacky, artificial decorations. Having live plants in the tank has many benefits to combat many of the above mentioned issues in fish keeping.
Once you are able to get your plants to establish properly you can play with them to make beautiful aquascapes.
         Then I ventured in fish breeding. I started breeding live bearers. I have also started keeping invertebrates like shrimps and snails.
        I hope to help all beginners out there with the knowledge of my experience through this blog!