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I have a question for you aquaponic gurus out there. I have a 15 gallon tank I am going to be moving a Masked Julie into. It will have a few big rocks/stone caves in it however I do not intend on planting it. After either one of the AC streams or maybe a YT video, Cory was talking about growing plants on the tank. I am thinking I might like to give this a try. However I would like to tame the root system to become my background. As such, I would like something like a small shrub that might give a denser, more woody root system than the typical plant. 

Any of you have experience or knowledge of a low laying shrub that wouldn't mind its roots in water all the time and won't poison a fish?

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This is some sort of Alternanthera. It has cool roots and grows out the top (big stem and white roots, ignore the duckweek).

580110168_PlantsatwaterlineNovember62020.jpg.83ea717d2ee4394eef98f6baa83a5c35.jpg

Grows out of the top nicely.

440255219_PlantsgrowingoutthetopNovember62020.jpg.76885029bb9ca32f512e89a7228ef9de.jpg

I just started some red mangroves in the big tank, but nothing to report on these yet.

 

 

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I think mangroves will likely end up being the way I go, with maybe a peace lily or something similar in the center. The mangroves are definitely the root type I want. Suppose only being a 15 gallon tank, it should only take a couple years to fill in....

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I've done a bit of digging and consideration. Seems most plants, shrubs and what have you will grow aquaponics style. The hard part is getting them to survive the transition from terrestrial roots to aquatic. In most cases, its easier using cuttings that are rooted submerged then moved to the tank. 

For my purposes,  I think the route I am going tontakr instead will be a pair of mangroves and some anubias that have been grown for terrariums or paludariums. 

That should give me the nice woody roots over time, while filling in with the anubias' roots, but also give me a nice, low leaf covering above the tank.

On 11/14/2020 at 7:41 PM, Wisnasky-tank said:

Dose @Cory carry mangroves?

According to a podcast of his on YT I happened across while scouring the far reaches of the internet researching aquaponics and emergent plants, once upon a time they did. Don't know why they quit, but I'd bet a penny on it being customers killing them becoming an issue.

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