Artificial plant recommendations

[tolstoy21]

I'm not sure if it is sacrilegious or not to ask this question in this part of the forum, but . . . . . 

Does anyone have any recommendations for nice, realistic-looking, large artificial plants?

I'm looking for something for a tank full of fish that are very hard on real plants.

[Guppysnail]

The silk aquarium plants are about as close to non offensive looking as I found. The stems are plastic unlike fake house plant ones that are wire cover in plastic. They actually sell nice looking sort of realistic silk ones for aquariums but they are a tad pricier than the neon plastic pet store artificial version. 

[Flumpweesel]

The fluval brand ones look pretty good and hold up some cleaning, and don't stain with ick meds.

And I was pretty happy with this to

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:14 AM, Guppysnail said:

The silk aquarium plants are about as close to non offensive looking as I found.

Yeah, specifically make sure you run your hand across the plants.  Just make sure to avoid sharp pointy plastic and try to stick with silk.  Honestly I would nudge you towards getting some anubias or moss balls or something easy like that if you can instead, but I totally understand the use for fake plants in some applications.

[tolstoy21]

On 12/2/2022 at 2:07 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Honestly I would nudge you towards getting some anubias or moss balls or something easy like that if you can instead, but I totally understand the use for fake plants in some

I have a decent amount of anubias barteri I can use, and A METRIC TON OF JAVA FERN, but my problem is three fold . . . 

1) OSCARS!
2) So far they have shredded the java fern and the broken off leaves block the overflow box from working
3) No nice plant cleaners so any plants I put in get gunky looking

I was thinking of some plastic plants because they solve the above and I can take them out and clean them. But, I only want to get some that look somewhat naturalistic. Since this is a display tank in my office, I don't mine spending some money on some decent plants that fit the bill.

Or . . . maybe I just need to beef up my hardscaping skills?

Actually, so far the hardscape looks Ok, but it's a little drab. Was hoping for a splash of green to add some color.

Edited December 2, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Guppysnail]

Just a thought on this. My friend who has a tank of large severums tried Java fern and anubias to no avail. The severums are aquatic lawnmowers. I sent him a crinum. That actual got ignored for a few weeks. Sadly it eventually got mowed down as well but it was not seen as an immediate food source. You never know you might get lucky and the thin leaves tend to not collect stuff the way flatter leaves do. If they do chew it off the leaves are thin enough not to immediately block intakes. 
might be worth a shot. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/2/2022 at 4:51 AM, tolstoy21 said:

Or . . . maybe I just need to beef up my hardscaping skills?

I would be worried about them tearing up or scratching on plastics.

I would try jungle val, micro sword, and potentially something that is similar but doesn't have thick stems.  Usually when fish eat val they just grow short. I can't imagine an Oscar would be able to destroy a micro sword carpet.

Potentially an aquarium lily as well works?

[tolstoy21]

On 12/2/2022 at 2:17 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Usually when fish eat val they just grow short. I can't imagine an Oscar would be able to destroy a micro sword carpet.

They don't actually eat the java fern.

They are just like bulls in a china shop and kind of just wreck it by looking through it for things like snails, or trying to hide behind it.

Anubias barteri might work better. 

[nabokovfan87]

Yeah.  Ferns and Anubias can be knocked off easily.  I would think swords, val, will do slightly better because the root and crown is at the substrate and can anchor itself a little easier than anubias and others.  I am always barely touching a plant and it comes off.  It takes a long time for roots to grow and grab onto the wood.

[tolstoy21]

@nabokovfan87  I think I'm just going to stick to hardscape at this point.  Maybe I can get a splash of color from a vibrant tank mate! I have my eye on a red-shouldered green severum!

On 12/2/2022 at 6:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

can anchor itself a little easier than anubias and others.  I am always barely touching a plant and it comes off.

I zip-tie mine to the wood at this point until they are firmly attached!

Got tired of messing with glue or thread. 

A black zip tie is pretty easy to blend into a tank.

Edited December 2, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Patrick_G]

Can someone post a link to the videos where Cory buys the artificial plants in Germany? Those looked great! 
 

Great thread @tolstoy21, sometimes real plants aren’t a great option. 

[Jungle Fan]

If  you are looking into artificial plants because of Oscars, I would save my money because they'll rearrange your artificial plants just as much as they shred your Java fern. One easy way to have plants and Oscars at the same time: Red Root Floaters, with the added benefit that they are nitrate vacuum cleaners . Hardscape with a few nice big river rocks some nice driftwood stumps and branches, and red root floaters, and your tank will turn heads. 

[tolstoy21]

So turns out it is anubias for the win!

I have barteri, nana and nana petite in with the Oscars for a few days now and so far so good. (Time will tell!)

The plants are all attached to lava rocks, so if they get gunky looking (and they will), I'll just take them out and drop them into the shrimp colony for a good overnight cleaning. Those hungry little scavengers are like a plant detailing crew. Plants look like they just rolled off the lot when they are done!

When I'm 100% done with the scape I'll snap a pic!

Edited December 6, 2022 by tolstoy21