# Help me pick some plants?? Please ?



## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

My local pet stores aren't very helpful as far as plants are concerned so I was hoping you lovely people might be able to help me a bit.. 
My tank:
Ten gallons
Filtered with great choice 10/20 internal power filter(came with my tank)
Just normal aquarium gravel
(I have liquid fertilizer for the two plants I do have) 
Two of these 10 watt bulbs








Also not sure what these plants are







Or of they're healthy(I have two) 
Also do plants affect your bio load? Thank you for any help!


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

I think that plant is some sort of "sword" plant although it could be a crypt as well. If it is a sword you will probably want to get some sort of root tab, as they require nutrients from the substrate.

Plants help clean the water, assuming they are healthy that is.

With a small tank and low lighting your plant options are fairly limited, you could try java fern. Just make sure you tie it down to something, as you will kill it if you bury the ... mind blanking here.. rooty tissue at the bottom.


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

You may be right, I recently found out that buying the petsmart 'plant in a tube' may have been a rookie mistake.. 
What are those tabs you speak of and where can I find them? I already have a fake driftwood type plant that I would tie any plants down too. Thank you for the reply !!!


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

And if I have root tabs will I still need to add liquid fertilizer ? 


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

If it is a sword plant, no you wont need the liquid ferts as well. However if you add more plants you may need the liquid ferts again.

Yes avoid plants in a tube theres multiple reasons for this, one being that some of them aren't even aquatic and will just die and pollute your water.


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

Yeah my very first aquatic plant from there turned to mush in less that a week... Not sure if I did something wrong or if it was just the plant ... It was very pretty though






not sure how well you can see it on the left in between the volcano and mountain 


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

Thanks for the info though 


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## DarwinAhoy (Mar 13, 2013)

Definitely a swordplant. It's really young, but looks somewhat like 'bleheri'. Will get LARGE, so not a great choice for such a small tank. A nice grouping of Anubias or java fern would work a bit better, as long as the rhizome is not buried. Or as long as the nutrients are right, Cryptocoryne can do very well, and stay a very modest size.


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

From what I'm seeing of the plant in the picture, it looks very red. Red on a plant generally indicates high needs.

Lets go with Darwins ID of echinodorus bleheri. It's a pretty common plant so it makes sense.

Anubias and Crypts can get just as large as the E. Bleheri depending on species. Look for a name that says small such as petite or nana. Parva is also one that stays small.


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

Any care tips on the suggested plants?? Petsmart/petco didn't really offer much help .... At all 


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

Anubias are pretty easy.. as mentioned you just cant bury the rhizome(thats the word I was looking for earlier. Rooty tissue thing.) Dose once a week with Liquid ferts and you are pretty much good to go. Jave fern is the same.

Crypts are one numerous plants that tend to die off when introduced into a tank but they will grow back. Just plant them in the substrate taking care not to damage the roots and again with liquid ferts once a week you should be fine.


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

Hmm.... Okay thanks! Do is it fine to keep the two I have until they start getting big? Like as background plants? And I should get root tabs for them?


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

Yeah it's fine to keep the swords, and yes get root tabs for them.


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

Are any of the grass type plants okay with my set up??


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

Or Kyoto ??


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## Fuzz (Jan 27, 2012)

dwarf sagittaria is pretty easy, but it doesn't really stay all that short. you can "mow" it like grass with scissors, but then the cut leaves will decay, look ugly, and create a mess...even when the new leaves come in. 

dwarf hairgrass is supposed to be somewhat easy, but i've never had success with it or glosso. dwarf baby tears is one of the most difficult carpet plants. stargrass needs high light to keep it low and carpet-like.

in short, I don't think that there's a decent carpet plant out there for you. 

If you buy Crypt Parva and get it to propagate, you can split it up and eventually have a carpet effect, but crypts don't really seem to thrive unless there's CO2 present(in my experience). 

The picture in the original post is a sword. Since it was in one of those tubes, my guess is "Amazon" sword because that's the main one that comes in the tubes...And yes, the tubes are a bad idea. And most chain stores won't have a clue how to handle plants unless there happens to be an employee that has personal experience with it. They're trained to "stock the shelves" and serve customers. That's about it.

You can try the "liquid CO2" stuff made by API or Seachem, but it doesn't even get close to the results from actual CO2 that is properly injected to the tank.


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## Dreamer (Mar 15, 2013)

I ended up going with Anubis, a crypt and micro sword.also a floating moss ball which I'm still not so sure I like. I realize there all from different regions but so are my fish(at least I think lol) maybe my next tank will be more 'all natural' this one I was just going by what should be easy and which ones I thought were pretty. Thank you all for your help!! Do any of these need root tabs? 


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