corydoras and gravel/sand

[FerocactusLatispinus]

I snapped the perfect photo of all three of my corys just today! Take a peek!

http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii4 ... C11785.jpg

[dw1305]

Hi all,

It makes me wish I had a ton of live aquatic plants, but I've no experience as far as keeping a balance between aquatic plants and fish goes......

Every tank can have plants, there are ways of growing them even in tanks with no substrate or Mbuna etc. Plants have a myriad of advantages for water quality. I developed the "Duckweed Index" as KISS method for planted tanks <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... weed+index>, it does away with all "froth", and just concentrates on the important bits.

I know cacti don't bother with organic nutrients for the most part, and mineral resources are one of their big requirements, but that makes sense that aquatic plants would use vegetative surface area for most nutrient absorption; cacti definitely utilize surface area for sunlight. I raise a ton of different species of several genera of cacti....

I like Cacti as well, probably my favourites are the "furry" barrel cacti like Cephalocereus senilis and some of the epiphytic ones, good flowering ones like Hatiora gaertneri and "interesting" ones like H. salicornioides or Rhipsalis spp..

Cacti growing is quite relevant to how I use aquatic plants as well, I'm always trying to find ways to keep my plant alive, healthy and growing, but growing as slowly as possible (you can think of it as the Cactus, Bonsai or orchid approach). This is partially why I like Anubias, most ferns, and mosses, they have very low nutrient requirements.

cheers Darrel

[FerocactusLatispinus]

I guess my big concern would be getting the plants enough nutrients and light, but I've got plenty of good fluorescent light if I need it. I'm rather hesitant to switch out plastic for live plants, as live plants might carry some parasites/diseases from the water/soil they were in at the store. I really love the look of live plants, and there's no doubt the aquarium inhabitants would get a kick out of it! I'll definitely do some research before I start making changes in the aquatic flora!

The characteristic of cacti I love the most is the form, opacity, texture, and color of the spines; Ferocactus latispinus is my all-time favorite, since it has those deep red, sturdy, annulated, flattened spines. Interestingly, I don't have an F. latispinus yet, but I do have a Ferocactus stainesii spp. pringlei, F. wislizeni, and an Echinocactus grusonii. Cactus flowers are always amazing to see, and one of these days I might get a barrel cactus with edible fruit, E. texensis. The only edibles I have are a few Opuntia ficus indica that have yet to flower and fruit, and a Hylocereus undatus that has really taken off this year; the sautéed cladophylls of those prickly pears sure are great in omlettes!

[JamesFish]

Live plants are more trouble than plastic but the tough ones do fine for me in my quartz gravel. Live plants cause a few more flow problems, they dont always grow the way you want or do what you want but if they work they look much better.

- old shot but as you can see few issues to resolve but am working on it.

[FerocactusLatispinus]

Wow, I've gotta switch out my plastic plants right away!

I think I'll get only the hardiest plants out there. Now, do you plant these bare root in the sand, or do they need little plastic containers or mesh of some kind? Do you need to do a lot of siphoning of detritus or more frequent water changes?

Thanks!