Hello from Wisconsin

[sairving]

Hi Everyone!  

Last year when the pandemic started and we were all stuck at home, I decided to setup a fish tank.  The last time I had fish was during highschool.  

The first tank I had last year was a 3 gallon planted tank for with a Betta.  It was an adventure to say the least.  Mostly, I had issues keeping it balanced and grew algae. 

After the holidays, I switched to a 5.5 gallon.  This tank has not had the algae problems of the other tank.  I still have problems growing plants but I've figured out what does and doesn't do well. If it's "easy" the plant will probably melted or not grow. Looking at you java moss and java fern.  We have extremely hard well water.  I'm looking forward to learning from everyone.  

This is Louie (no idea why the picture is displaying upside down).  There is a nerite snail as well.  I'm trying to grow a crpyt again.  There was a lot more anubias in the tank.  I added a new one that looked healthy but it had rhizome rot and 2 weeks later all anubias was dead.  

 

 

[lefty o]

welcome to the forum.

[GameCzar]

Welcome!    
I'm in a similar situation to you, although we don't have well water we DO have hard city water.  Plants have been a challenge for us too.   Java moss is doing fine, but we haven't had ANY luck with java ferns.   We started with a regular java fern that didn't do well, and also tried a Windelov java moss in the co-op planter with root tabs and its almost completely dead within a couple of weeks. 

We have an annubias coffeefolia that is doing really well, and we are going to give Amazon swords a try.

One way to deal with the city or well water issue is to buy cheap gallons of distilled water.    It's still a lot more expensive than tap water, but it might help?  You'd probably need a couple of gallons when you did your water changes.

[sairving]

On 6/11/2021 at 8:42 AM, GameCzar said:

Welcome!    
I'm in a similar situation to you, although we don't have well water we DO have hard city water.  Plants have been a challenge for us too.   Java moss is doing fine, but we haven't had ANY luck with java ferns.   We started with a regular java fern that didn't do well, and also tried a Windelov java moss in the co-op planter with root tabs and its almost completely dead within a couple of weeks. 

We have an annubias coffeefolia that is doing really well, and we are going to give Amazon swords a try.

One way to deal with the city or well water issue is to buy cheap gallons of distilled water.    It's still a lot more expensive than tap water, but it might help?  You'd probably need a couple of gallons when you did your water changes.

I've thought about trying bottled water or getting water from my local fish store before.  My weekly water changes are around 50%.  What usually happens is I go to my local fish store, buy a plant, and see if it makes it.  My most successful plant was a tiger lotus, but I made the mistake of not checking how big it would grow.  I had to trade it in after about 3 weeks.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Stephanie I

[CalmedByFish]

Welcome.

 

[Colu]

Welcome to the forum

[KaitieG]

Hello!

I'm a fellow Wisconsinite!  I also have extremely hard, high PH well water--I've had some good successes with plants, but NOT Java Fern!  I did finally get some Java Moss from a local club, and that did a lot better than my first 2 tries!  Not sure where you're local to, but I've found that the club auctions and Facebook/Craigslist can be really good plant sources because the plants are already living in Wisconsin water!  Also had better luck with shrimp that way! 

Now that the club auctions (in Madison anyway) have moved back to in-person, I don't have good access like I did when they were online so that I knew what/if I won an auction before I had to drive to pick it up, but if you're close to a club, they might be a great source for you to check out!

[sairving]

On 6/13/2021 at 10:02 PM, KaitieG said:

Hello!

I'm a fellow Wisconsinite!  I also have extremely hard, high PH well water--I've had some good successes with plants, but NOT Java Fern!  I did finally get some Java Moss from a local club, and that did a lot better than my first 2 tries!  Not sure where you're local to, but I've found that the club auctions and Facebook/Craigslist can be really good plant sources because the plants are already living in Wisconsin water!  Also had better luck with shrimp that way! 

Now that the club auctions (in Madison anyway) have moved back to in-person, I don't have good access like I did when they were online so that I knew what/if I won an auction before I had to drive to pick it up, but if you're close to a club, they might be a great source for you to check out!

 I'm in Southeast WI.  A few weeks ago I joined the Milwaukee Aquarium Society Facebook page to see what's going on locally.  I think they've moved back to in person auctions as well.  Since I'm not that far from Aquatics Unlimited, I tend to get most of my plants from them.  Been looking for anubias nana petite and neither Aquatics Unlimited or Fish Factory have any.  Figure its some weird pandemic thing.  I will probably go to the next swap or auction in search of plants.

Java moss did not go well.  It took me 2 weeks to get all the melted moss removed.  Bacopa carolinia and moneywort had a hard time.  Crypts are hit or miss.  Dwarf hairgrass grows but is an algae magnet.  Anubias does well along with bulb plants. 

 My tank is like a science experiment some days. 

[KaitieG]

On 6/13/2021 at 11:24 PM, Stephanie I said:

 I'm in Southeast WI.  A few weeks ago I joined the Milwaukee Aquarium Society Facebook page to see what's going on locally.  I think they've moved back to in person auctions as well.  Since I'm not that far from Aquatics Unlimited, I tend to get most of my plants from them.  Been looking for anubias nana petite and neither Aquatics Unlimited or Fish Factory have any.  Figure its some weird pandemic thing.  I will probably go to the next swap or auction in search of plants.

Java moss did not go well.  It took me 2 weeks to get all the melted moss removed.  Bacopa carolinia and moneywort had a hard time.  Crypts are hit or miss.  Dwarf hairgrass grows but is an algae magnet.  Anubias does well along with bulb plants. 

 My tank is like a science experiment some days. 

That's nice that you're in a part of the state with some decent LFS options!  I'm South-Central, and Madison's only LFS (which was still an hour's drive) is closing in a couple weeks.  Anubias are what does the best for me too, though I've also had really good luck with Amazon swords and crypts.  There were several things I'd tried growing from either Co-op specimins or the LFS that neve took off but that have done really well from the club auction or local sellers on Facebook like hornwort, java moss, and val.