What Plants Can You Recommend For Beginner Aquarists?

What Plants Can You Recommend For Beginner Aquarists?
What Plants Can You Recommend For Beginner Aquarists?

Video: What Plants Can You Recommend For Beginner Aquarists?

Video: What Plants Can You Recommend For Beginner Aquarists?
Video: My Top 10 Easy Beginner Aquarium Plants 2024, March
Anonim

Hundreds of species of aquarium plants are kept today by amateurs, but you need to start with the simplest ones. The simplest plants for novice aquarists will be Vallisneria rooting in the ground (except for the giant one), hygrophils, ferns of the genus Ceratopteris (in common use, "water cabbage"), kabombs, ludwigia and others, as well as riccia and salvinia plants floating on the water surface. With the acquisition of experience, you can gradually become familiar with Cryptocorynes (about 60 species), Echinodorus (47 species), Aponogetones (42 species), Anubias, etc. In any case, there should not be more than 10 plant species per 1 m of the length of the aquarium.

Freshwater aquarium with plants and discus, photo photography fish pixabay
Freshwater aquarium with plants and discus, photo photography fish pixabay

When choosing plants, first of all, attention is paid to the development and condition of their organs. The root system should be white or yellow, firm, free of mucus and rot. Stems and leaves are desirable without curvature, mosaic color and disheveled hair. At first, you should not buy too small, old plants (especially after flowering) and seeds. The optimal size of the bush is 1/3 of the adult form. Often, market traders under the guise of aquarium sell domestic marsh plants (they practically do not grow in the aquarium and, moreover, are carriers of diseases and fish pests), lawn grass or ornamental indoor plants.

One should also beware of egg-pods, water lilies and other nymphs obtained by cutting the uterine tuber into several parts. Such plants live only due to the remnants of nutrients in the pruning of the rhizome, which, moreover, decomposing, spoils the water and destroys the inhabitants of the aquarium.

Plants are usually placed in a new aquarium 3-5 days after re-filling. Preferably it has a second bottom through which the water is conditioned. The thickness of the soil layer is normally 5-7 cm.

Before planting in the aquarium, the plants should be thoroughly rinsed with warm (40 ° C) water. If necessary, they are disinfected in solutions of potassium permanganate - 10 mg / l 30 min., 3% hydrogen peroxide - 5 min., Alum - 5 g / l 10 min., Methylene blue - 0.5 g / l 10 min., Antibiotics (eritsiklin) - 70 mg / l - day, ozone - 3 mg / l - 10 -20 min, chelated complex of copper sulfate or zinc -. 100 cm 3 /100 l at 16 g / day.

Peristle (Myriophillum), photo photograph aquarium plants pixabay
Peristle (Myriophillum), photo photograph aquarium plants pixabay

Peristle (Myriophillum)

Defective leaves are removed, the roots are straightened and trimmed (their length should be less than or equal to the height of the soil layer), thickened bushes are thinned out. The bush is broken down carefully, only in strong plants, taking into account the fact that the offspring will have at least three leaves (Thai fern and bolbitis do not tolerate frequent division of rhizomes). For better rooting, the root area of kabombs, limnophiles and pinnacles is twisted into a ring and pinned. Additional fixation of plants is carried out with medium-sized rolled pebbles or splits of snag, where Anubias, Javanese moss, African ferns, etc. like to settle.

For lighting, it is best to use fluorescent lamps with a spectrum close to daylight. The lamps are placed in a special lamp on top of the aquarium, placing them along the surface every 10 cm.

What is the optimal light period for the normal development of plants in an aquarium?
What is the optimal light period for the normal development of plants in an aquarium?

Related article What is the optimal light period for the normal development of plants in the aquarium?

At first, the lamps must be turned on half-heartedly, and only when the plants are strong enough can you gradually turn on all the lamps at full power. This usually takes at least 2-3 months. If you turn on all the lamps at once, and even for a long time, then the plants damaged during transplantation and transportation will quickly become overgrown with algae.

The optimal daylight hours for a tropical aquarium is 12 hours. It doesn't matter if the plants one day are left without light - nothing bad will happen to them.

"Aquarium. Aquatic Plants ". V. Mikhailov

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