Plants... real or fake which is best?

[aaronthezooman]

Really I'm looking for plant suggestions for fbt tank. Its a 55gal, 2/3 water 1/3 land. I'm looking at drawf Lillie's, java ferns and anubias Nana for the water portion. I'm using sand in the water portion. And few different types of substrate for the land. The way filtration is setup it pulls the water thru this substrate then its flows thru a mechanical filter then released. For the land I'd like to use some type of plant that will do well with its roots being 3/4 submerged in water Thats not harmful to my fbt's as well as grow live moss.. Any plant suggestions for both the water and land sides would be greatly appreciated.

[Fbt123]

It depends on what you want really. Fake plants =less maintenance etc., but live plants look a lot better and will be more rewarding once they've all grown in and the tank looks very natural. Also some live plants dont look that natural

[Fbt123]

Also java moss would be good for being 3/4 underwater i think

[aaronthezooman]

OK yea, I think I'm gonna do anubias for the land as well as moss and a mixture of java ferns, anubias and money wart in the water... Next questions.

1) is it easy to grow live moss, and keep it healthy?

2) what type of moss should I use? A mixture or certain type?

[Fbt123]

1. Yes it is, but it has to be humid and wet most of the time for it to thrive

2. Carpet moss maybe..tbh im not too sure on specific mosses, maybe google it or make a new thread in the plants section

[deranged chipmunk]

Live plants are always better IMHO. They help keep the humidity stable, they look better, and they help provide extra oxygen within the tank for the animals.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of species of plants you can keep. A lot depends on the look you want to achieve. Not really sure what you mean by a plant that does well with 3/4 of it's roots in water.

Are you looking to keep it a biotope (all plants from their native habitat)? A woodland design? A rainforest design?


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Fbt123]

Btw Bill is like the plant and phib expert on here. Hes very helpful and has helped me lots of times with my viv

[aaronthezooman]

Lol I have to say I love your handle. ok with the way my filtration system setup I have a divider that has slits cut in it, Thats divides open water from land at about the 1/3 mark, then the actual mechanical filter sits in the back corner of the tank. Where the water comes out it cascades into a formed river that flows to the divider and let's into the open water part. because of that land part will have constant water in it about a inch down. So Thats why I asked what plants could I plant on land that could stand having its roots 3/4 submerged. I got the idea to plant that section from my pond. I have a bog filter setup on my pond. Which pulls the water thru the dirt, gravel and roots and returns it back to the open water, completely and naturally filtered. My only prob is I'm not sure what plants to use on the inside for my tank. In the pond I use umbrella plans cat tails, papyrus, amazon swords and money warts. I knw the money warts and swords would do well, just wanted to get advice from experienced fbt owners.

[deranged chipmunk]

If I am understanding this correctly, you are going to use a divider of some sort to separate land and aquatic sections, and this divider will have slots in it to allow drainage water from the substrate to join the water that is in the aquatic section? If that is the plan, it won't work because the water level will equalize and you will have a swamp of a terrestrial section. There's no way to have say, 4" on one side, but 1" on the other if there is an opening between the two. Like I said, the water will equalize it's water on each side.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela