What Plants can I Float?

[The Fish]

Hi. I recently got a shipment of plants from Aquarium Co-op but I have less than 1 inch of substrate in the 20 gal I want to plant. Would it be ok if I floated some plants for a day or two while I get the substrate for the first tank. I am currently floating pearl weed, bacopa carolinia, water wisteria, and water sprite. Can I also float Crypt Wendtii and Crypt Lutea for a couple days while I get substrate?

 

Also, any suggestions for hardy plants I should try next?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi there. You can absolutely float plants- a lot of people float cuttings (like bacopa) until they have roots and THEN plant them. 

I have a tank that is slim on substrate- you can keep plants like Anubias and glue them to pieces of wood or decoration as they aren't the types of plants that you cover roots with substrate. I personally use suction airline holders and a bit of airline to tie the various sorts of Anubias and then suction cup them along the aquarium walls where I want them to sit. It's kinda fun because sometimes you want to move a plant and these are really the only sorts of plants you can move without disturbing substrate a lot!

[Odd Duck]

On 9/5/2021 at 8:05 PM, The Fish said:

Hi. I recently got a shipment of plants from Aquarium Co-op but I have less than 1 inch of substrate in the 20 gal I want to plant. Would it be ok if I floated some plants for a day or two while I get the substrate for the first tank. I am currently floating pearl weed, bacopa carolinia, water wisteria, and water sprite. Can I also float Crypt Wendtii and Crypt Lutea for a couple days while I get substrate?

 

Also, any suggestions for hardy plants I should try next?

You can float pretty much ANY plant for just a couple days.  I’ve got some big Amazon swords I just found (can be hard to find tall ones when you need them so I grabbed early when I found them).  They will be floating for at least a week until their intended tank gets redone.  Not ideal, but should be safe enough.  I’ve floated Crypts for a couple weeks at a time when I had to.  Ticked them off, but they survived.

I don’t make it a routine, but for Crypts that dislike their roots being disturbed, it’s better to float them a while than plant them, disrupt them, then plant them again just a short time later.  If they aren’t going into their intended spot for months, I would plant them in a temporary container in sand with root tabs.  Sand is easier on the roots to get them back out than gravel, less messy than dirt, and use the root tabs to encourage root growth.

There’s loads of plants that like floating, all those you mentioned, for instance, are fine with it.  Most any plant that is epiphytic, and any water column feeders, don’t usually mind floating at all.  They may grow a little wonky if left floating long enough (for instance Anubias and Buces will grow leaves in every direction instead of just upward facing), but they eventually sort out once attached to something.  Most stem/bunch plants will usually tolerate floating very well, but may not have the shape you want if floated too long.

[Guppysnail]

I have less than 1 inch of inert gravel in all my tanks. I use suction cups to affix plants to walls and floor. I use plant weights or affix to decorations. I like red plants floating sometimes as they darken in color for me being closer to the light. My plants do good. I hope that helps 😁