Plants and Aquascaping
Aquascaping is the arranging of wood, rocks, substrate (ground), and plants in an aquarium to create a desired effect. An addition of just a few plants in any aquarium improves the balance of the aquatic environment and lowers the stress within the fish community. Happy plants happy fish.
We offer very nice aquascaping rocks and driftwood, but only in small sizes that can be placed with fish orders – these products are very expensive to ship separately and if large pieces are desired we recommend your local INDEPENDENT aquarium store.
A true planted aquarium uses aquascaping as the center piece of the fish tank as opposed to the fish. A planted aquarium is a hobby within a hobby and requires a good balance of carbon dioxide, algae control, and photosynthesis but the end product is quite rewarding.
There are three primary designs for the planted aquarium: the lush Dutch model, the Zen rock and moss Japanese model pioneered by Takashi Amano (the same shrimp guy), and the jungle model popular in the USA. TropicalLiveFishStore.com offers the plants, wood, and rocks required to start this type of set-up. A good local INDEPENDENT aquarium store will have the proper lighting and, if required, carbon dioxide system.
Our product line for aquarium for aquarium plants is big, but our line of terrarium and paludarium products are limited – but we have a few very nice items!
ONE NOTE ON PLANT SUCCESS: There are two approaches to adding live plants. One approach is to simply add the plant to a common gravel substrate, no special lighting, no CO2, and hope for the best. In this case a few plants, such as anubias, will do fine. In many cases the plants will do fine for a few weeks but begin to fade. There is nothing wrong with this and decaying plants will not cause any problems with the water quality. The second approach is to provide and environment to allow even demanding plants like Rotala wallichi to thrive. This is a true planted tank and will take more advice than we can provide here. Please check out many of the online sources to learn about this underwater garden hobby.
