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Getting plants to stay down!

spookyspike

spookyspike

Member
Joined
4 Mar 2012
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44
Location
St Helens / Merseyside
Hi All, not sure if this is the right part of the forum but seems appropriate. How do you all get plants to stay put in your aqua scapes? In particular im struggling with monty carlo - it just keeps coming up in clumps. Im planting with tweezers and pushing the roots into the substrate but as soon as i try to lift out it just floats back up... very frustrating!!

Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated.
 
One "tip" is to plant as deep as possible. Don't be afraid to bury f.ex. Monte Carlo so deep, that only a cm. or even only a few mm. of green is above substrate/gravel.
If tank-conditions are suitable for your specific plant, it will quickly stretch and grow.

Another "tip" is to add an "anchor" of some kind. This can be a very small piece of rock or a small pebble, gently tied to the end of stem(s). If handling a potted plant, f.ex. Hemianthus 'cuba', you can cut off the stone-wool, leaving about a cm. of it. When dividing the plant, you use the small piece of remaining rock-wool, that follow each piece of plant, as an anchor. The "anchor-part", ofcourse goes beneath substrate/gravel in all cases. This will hold plant(s) down, untill they develop enough roots to sit by themselves.
 
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Are you planting when the aquarium is full (of water)?

I find it best, especially with carpeting plants, to fill the tank up so that the substrate is nearly covered by water. You can then plant into it without the plants floating away. Cover the plants and substrate with paper or another suitable material. Fill up slowly and remove the paper slowly. The plants should then have remained in the substrate.
 
Thanks Andy and Mick, i initially planted dry for the stem plants, then gently filled so the substate was covered then planted the monte carlo (or so i thought) filled up gently but the fish soon up rooted a lot. So im now working on the tank fully wet. Will give that a try Mick and bury the monte carlo more as I was just pushing in the root, fingers crossed this helps.
 
I have had a few issue in the past with plants uprooting then saw a post on here about using cocktail sticks, I gave it a try and it works really well. As @Mick.Dk said Mc can be pushed really quite deep in the substrate, it will take hold in no time.
Jim
 
To be honest....... most fish (barbs in particular) are a PITA in a new-planted tank.
My advice will allways be, to wait a bit, before adding fish. According to carpeting plants, wait until they have visually started to grow, before adding fish.
 
Thanks guys, I have a pair of severums that seem to enjoy eating the stuff! So no doubt this wont be helping. Hopefully its just a novelty for them and they will pack it in. I would re home them as they look somewhat out of place in the tank, but they are the wife's favourite fish and she wont let me haha
 
Tanks 200L, Not sure on the age of the sevs but they are probably about 4 - 5 inch in size, they are going to outgrow the tank, I know this. At the moment though they have lots of space still. So cant even use that as the excuse to re home. Maybe talk the wife into a bigger tank to accommodate them as they grow!
 
Planting Monte Carlo in a flooded tank works best if you take the plant apart and plant invidual stems. If you have taken it apart you'll notice root comming out the stem at the leaf axil. Take a small sciccor and cut away all leaves below the axil with root and have an empty piece of stem. Don't try to pull it off, because 90% change you'll brake the stem. Take tweezer and put it in the substrate deep enough so only one set of leaves is under the substrate whit that root. Best to take those leaves away, because every leaf under the substrate will rot away, you don't want to much rotting under there. :) This way you can plant invidual stems pretty close together, mostly if all is healthy you'll notice new young growth comming out the substrate within 2 weeks.. Takes a bit more patience and work than planting large clumps, but is less frustrating, with what you already experienced so far. :)
 
spookyspike said:
talk the wife into a bigger tank to accommodate them as they grow!
Click to expand...
That's it - they deserve ... nay demand ... their own tank :lol:

These fish generally like plants ... to sample/eat/rampage ... select the characterization that best suits your individual fish ;)

Note Marcel is an angel of patience :D - I can manage the (mostly) individual stems, but rarely strip leafs ... I like to think of those slowly melting leafs as little boosts of nitrogen ...
... this thought process works better with some plants than others :oops:
but I've always found Micranthemum umbrosum & 'Monte Carlo' to be very obliging :shh:
 
I've used super glue+ aqua soil with small amounts of HC in the past. works fine and the white stains eventually dissapear.
 
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