I've been pretty busy lately but wanted to put my 2 bits in on this plant
conversation. Not to try to start an argument here or anything, but I really
don't think it's neccisary to go nuts just to have planted tanks. I've tried
laterite and peat and didn't find either to make a noticable difference on
my plants. I have some tanks with very little gravel and none of them have
huge quantities. The deepest ones are about 3 inches. I have several
different sizes of gravel to sand and unless it's real large, I don't find
that has mattered much either.
Reasonable lighting is important, though you would be amazed at how little
lighting you can get away with on many plants. I find the easiest and least
expensive lights are shop lights. You can get them here for under 10 dollars
for a double fixture hanging light without bulbs. They can be painted or
covered with contact paper if white metal doesn't go with your decor.<g>
For bulbs I just get cool whites usually, though sometimes I try others if
they are on sale.<g> Julie tells me I should pay attention to which bulbs
are working best, but I never think of these things.
Also though alot of books and people will tell you otherwise, I think
sunlight is great! If you can give your tank a bit of filtered sunlight you
will be amazed at how nicely your plants will look, and how much faster they
will grow. Just be careful to not get direct sunlight, especially in the
afternoons, some morning light seems ok but you must be careful not to cook
your fish.
Speaking of cooking fish, I know that plants aren't supposed to like hot
weather, but my tanks are pretty warm in the summer which is the largest
part of the year here. In the winter they may get down to the low 70's but
in the summer they get up into the upper 80's and sometimes even the low
90's. The plants seem to get through it with no ill effects.
I don't add any fertilizers, there's enough fish and snail poop in my tanks
to do the fertilizing. No CO2 either.
As to what plants to grow, I'm not real familiar with native plants in Oz,
but I can list some that should be easy to grow to start out that are from
all over. Val, Amazon swords, Java moss, and hornwort are almost
indestructable plants. For stemmed plants you need the light especially, but
Rotala indica, the bacopas, anachris and giant hygro all do pretty well.
Once you get some plants going the rest seem easier. I have more complete
list of plants and my thoughts about them on my web page at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RhondaWilson/plants.htm if your
interested.
Rhonda
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RhondaWilson/
American Livebearer Association
http://petsforum.com/ala/
Pets Forum Group Inc.
http://petsforum.com