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In This Chapter Looking at plant types Transporting plants Chapter 16 Live Plants for <strong>Freshwater</strong> Aquariums Recognizing plant problems Experimenting with planting techniques Live plants are one of the most overlooked but truly wonderful aspects of the aquarium hobby. Plants come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and densities. Living plants offer a unique and natural beauty that cannot be achieved with artificial substitutes. All you need to enjoy live aquatic plants are proper water conditions, good lighting, and a little patience. Take time to bring your fish a step closer to their natural environment with live plants, and they will love you for it! Live plants are a lot of fun, look cool, and help boost your image as a serious hobbyist. What better reasons can you think of to keep them in your aquarium? Actually, there are a lot of other good reasons to keep live plants, as you will learn in this chapter. Unfortunately, many small fish shops don’t carry live plants, and even if they do, they may have limited stock. If your local dealer does not have the plants you are looking for, ask about special orders. Many aquatic shops have access to live plants but only order them on demand because of limited tank space. The Internet can save you, too! You can find an entire aquatic forest just by cruising the cyber highway for an hour or so. Here are a couple Web sites to get you started:
206 Part III: Water, Chemicals, and Plants www.aquariumplants.com www.freshwateraquariumplants.com If you don’t have a computer, borrow your neighbor’s for a while (tell her you’re doing international biological research). What Live Plants Do for Your Aquarium You can use live plants to enhance the natural look of your freshwater aquarium, and they can be very beneficial and beautiful at the same time. Plants can produce a calming affect (both for you and your fish) and help maintain a natural, biological balance in your aquarium. Don’t get us wrong. Many hobbyists aquascape their aquariums with artificial plants and are perfectly happy with the outcome. Then again, many hobbyists use plastic plants because they don’t have the knowledge to maintain live aquatic plants successfully, or don’t have the time to care for them. Certain species of fish destroy any live plants you may put into your tank, so in certain situations artificial plants are much more beneficial than the real McCoy. Artificial plants are only slightly less costly than live plants, so don’t let cost alone affect your decision. If you really want live plants but are on a limited budget, just start out with a few and add them when you are able to grab a bit of aquatic “mad money.” (See Chapter 17 for a lot more on plant species.) If you do choose to use artificial plants, try not to get too carried away in the color department. Plastic plants are manufactured in every color under the sun. If your tank ends up with shocking pink plants on one side, black in the front, and red and green striped ones in the back, your fish may think they’ve crash-landed at Woodstock. They may die from sheer fright or become colorblind (okay, just kidding). Even though they pose no real physical danger, loudly colored plants can keep your fish from spawning on a continual basis and may cause them to hide in the corners of your aquarium. A well-planted aquarium: Offers good shelter for pregnant females who want to escape from aggressive mates Supplies shade and cooler temperatures during the warmer months Helps protect small and shy fish from bullying tankmates Provides a safe refuge for all your delicate and long-finned fish that may otherwise end up on the aquatic lunch menu
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Platys are colorful, friendly fish
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Freshwater

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