Plants at LFS

[PaleoShrimp]

I know Cory has said that plants available locally are usually better than getting ones shipped, including from ACO, because they’re already in the local water. I went to the LFS with the best plants in the area the other day for inspiration as I am getting ready to get plants for my first planted tank. This store caters to aquascapers, so I have some questions about plants they had. 
 

They had three sizes of Java Fern: bunches, potted ferns that were twice as much, and “mother plants” that were 4 times as much as the bunches. The mother plants are large, but I’ve never heard of that before or seen Java Fern sold without a pot (see picture). 

mother plant on left, bunches to the right

which is better for a beginner?  Are 4 bunches better than a mother plant for the same price, or two potted?

They also had a lot of Anubias varieties I hadn’t seen before. Are some better for beginners?

Anubias:

Nana

Coffeefolia

Minima

Gold Coin

Petite Nana

Nana Gold

Congensis 
 

Lastly, they were selling vallisneria in bunches. I’m pretty sure Cory has said those do ok if you take them home and plant them in substrate. Will they do ok in pool filter sand, or should I get some that comes in the small basket?  (I’ll be using root tabs)
 

I’m sorry for all the questions, I just want to do my best to get started on the right foot. I’m hoping once I get this tank going I can be on the answering side a little more often 😊

[TheSwissAquarist]

I’d personally go for what best fills out your tank. All of those are good beginner plants, and will make your tank look great! 😁

[Scapexghost]

Personally i dont think size matters too much since most of it is emersed grown and will die off when it converts anyway. Val should do fine in sand. I dont think there is a difficult anubias.

[Lennie]

On 2/7/2023 at 8:30 AM, Plechoeco said:

They also had a lot of Anubias varieties I hadn’t seen before. Are some better for beginners?

Anubias are generally easy and beautiful looking, I bet all are more or less beginner friendly, but plants are all hit or miss, even how easy those can be. So you will have to see how it is doing in your tank, but no co2, no big light requirements and being a rhizome plant makes the anubias really easy and hardy in general. Mine is literally under a dim light and it flowers and gives new leaves every month or so.

What I would like to suggest is, you may wanna google the sizes of those anubias plants and plan what type of a scape and in which location you want to use them. Because some anubias can get big (like broad leaf), meanwhile another remains really small( like anubias nana).

 After that, go for whichever one you like the look of! 

On 2/7/2023 at 8:30 AM, Plechoeco said:

seen Java Fern sold without a pot (see picture). 

They never sell them in pots in where I live and pretty sure they import them from Indonesia. I attach them to woods but they never like it in my water, meanwhile my much hardier to take care of plants do good in my tanks. Plants are really a hit or miss. If you wanna fill a bigger space, you may consider mother ones.

[JettsPapa]

• I'd buy the bunch of Java fern.  Separate it into individual plants and spread them out in the tank.
• As far as I know, all anubias varieties are fairly easy to grow, though like with most plants you will likely have an initial period when they struggle with acclimating to the new conditions.  If anyone disagrees, I don't argue with them.
• Vallisneria will do just fine in sand, and will expand rapidly after it gets acclimated.
• You didn't mention it, but if you want other suggestions crypts are one of my favorite easy plants.  They come in a number of varieties, with different sizes, leaf shapes, colors, etc, and are undemanding plants.  Cryptocoryne wendtii is probably the most common and easy to find (even at chain pet stores), but a good LFS should have other varieties also.

[Ohad]

These are all super slow growers so the internet tend to recommend them for beginners.

But with slow growers comes the dreadful algae haha.

Think about adding a few fast growing stems or floating plants . You can always take these off after the the tank is "plant cycled "

But there is no reason these are the best 

[DebSills]

On 2/7/2023 at 10:10 AM, Ohad said:

Think about adding a few fast growing stems or floating plants

I would definitely concur with this! I had mostly slow growing plants when I set up my first planted tank and took me months of fighting algae before I got some faster growing stems and some floaters which helped balance my tank well. I love the look of java fern, but for whatever reason, I am the only person who doesn't do well with standard java fern...can do windelov like a champ, but...so I personally might stay away from the mother pot until I was positive it grows in my tank

Good luck, can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[PaleoShrimp]

On 2/7/2023 at 6:20 AM, JettsPapa said:

crypts are one of my favorite easy plants

I've seen these and I know Cory talks a lot about them in the ACO Youtube videos, but I wasn't sure if they would do well in the pool filter sand.  What do you think?

 

Thank you all for you advice!  My local club just announced that the next meeting will be at this store.  So my plan is to take all this info to the meeting and see what people are selling in the auction and then whatever more I need, I can go right into the store afterwards.  From this advice, I think my plan will be to get the vallisneria and another stem plant (whatever is in the auction or what the store has) and a few varieties of Anubis and java fern.  Then I can have the fast growers combat the algae while I can see which of the slow growers are doing well in my water/parameters.  Once I know that, I can add more of what does well.

[JettsPapa]

On 2/7/2023 at 7:16 PM, Plechoeco said:

I've seen these and I know Cory talks a lot about them in the ACO Youtube videos, but I wasn't sure if they would do well in the pool filter sand.  What do you think?

 

Thank you all for you advice!  My local club just announced that the next meeting will be at this store.  So my plan is to take all this info to the meeting and see what people are selling in the auction and then whatever more I need, I can go right into the store afterwards.  From this advice, I think my plan will be to get the vallisneria and another stem plant (whatever is in the auction or what the store has) and a few varieties of Anubis and java fern.  Then I can have the fast growers combat the algae while I can see which of the slow growers are doing well in my water/parameters.  Once I know that, I can add more of what does well.

All 10 of my tanks have either pool filter sand or Black Diamond sandblasting sand, and crypts do very well.  I have Cryptocoryne wendtii, Cryptocoryne spiralis, Cryptocoryne usteriana (my current favorite), Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia, and one or two that I bought in a group of "mixed crypts" that I haven't identified.  The spiralis is the only one that doesn't send out runners to make new plants.

I have recently started breaking down my smaller tanks and re-doing them with a layer of dry cow manure capped with 2" of sand (I got the idea from Father Fish videos).  They really do well in those tanks.

[Teabone3]

Quick question, what is that white material that's in each of the pots, covering the roots? My java ferns have released baby ferns and id like to pot them but have no idea where to begin. I did notice the little plastic black pots on amazon but dont know what would keep the roots together

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 2/10/2023 at 5:54 AM, Teabone3 said:

Quick question, what is that white material that's in each of the pots, covering the roots? My java ferns have released baby ferns and id like to pot them but have no idea where to begin. I did notice the little plastic black pots on amazon but dont know what would keep the roots together

It’s called rock wool, and you can just plant the baby ferns in the substrate if you can’t be bothered with the hassle of potting. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:30 PM, Plechoeco said:

They also had a lot of Anubias varieties I hadn’t seen before. Are some better for beginners?

Anubias:

Nana

Coffeefolia

Minima

Gold Coin

Petite Nana

Nana Gold

Congensis 

Anubias Nana is the quintessential "basic" anubias for me.  It's the right size, it looks nice, it's simple and easy. 
My 2nd choice would be the coffeefolia (larger, fancy leaves, but it's just as easy)

The nice thing about Nana size is that it's easier to tuck into the shade spots compared to bigger leaves.  Bigger leaves means more of a surface for algae as well, but that isn't necessarily going to be an issue.  Just something to note when you get into bigger plants that need more energy to grow.
 

On 2/6/2023 at 9:30 PM, Plechoeco said:

They had three sizes of Java Fern: bunches, potted ferns that were twice as much, and “mother plants” that were 4 times as much as the bunches. The mother plants are large, but I’ve never heard of that before or seen Java Fern sold without a pot (see picture). 

I would get the one that looks converted / growing in the right form.  I don't think price matters or size matters nearly as much.  If you want to fill a spot, then maybe it matters to get the bigger ones.  Potted = outside source, meaning you're paying for import costs and shipping.  the ones with weights are very likely from the shop themselves.

On 2/6/2023 at 9:30 PM, Plechoeco said:

Lastly, they were selling vallisneria in bunches. I’m pretty sure Cory has said those do ok if you take them home and plant them in substrate. Will they do ok in pool filter sand, or should I get some that comes in the small basket?  (I’ll be using root tabs)

Yes, I can confirm val will do just fine in sand.  Root tabs once a month, let it do it's thing.  It's a great plant for sand because it sends runners and sand is very conducive to that type of a propagation.