To begin with, a plant tank has to be thought out in a more complete manner than a standard fish tank. Sure, there are probably financial and size restrictions already in place, and maybe a spousal restriction or two such as "If you bring home another aquarium I'M OUTTA HERE!". But a plant tank is a special accomplishment worth the trouble it may bring.
The size of the tank is not important. I've seen many ten gallon aquariums decorated with plants and doing very well. What is important is the pre-planning and understanding what the plants you have chosen need to survive. Let's start with a clean ten gallon aquarium. The first thing to decide is, "What kind of plants do I want to try?" So, make a list of plants after paging through an aquarium book with a decent list of aquatic plants, ie. Aquarium Atlas by Baensch or one of the aquatic plant books. Try to match up some plants with similar requirements, except maybe the lighting. Keep in mind that plants which need more light can be placed directly under the lights. Here is what you might consider for a ten gallon aquarium:
A.) Sagittaria, dwarf varieties such as S. pursilla, S. graminea, perhaps 10 to start. This should give excellent foreground appeal.
B.) Limnophila aquatics or sessiliflora, about 12 stems. Either species will do well as a background or side planting.
C.) Hygro. polysperma, 3 bunches planted stem by stem. Use this plant to set off a piece of driftwood or rock and mix with the background plants.
D.) Aponogeton crispus planted either as a group of two or three or mixed in with the background plants to provide contrast.
The plants listed above will do quite well together and do not require special care. However, the more special care you give the better the results.
Before buying plants take stock of your equipment. Here is a list which you might consider before bringing home the plants.
1.) A fine aquarium gravel (the smallest red flint avaflable.) Enough for 2 1/2 to 3 inches of substrate. Ten gallon aquariums look funny with 4 inches of substrate that is normally used for a plant tank.
2.) A suitable substrate fertilizer to place under the substrate. I would suggest a new product called "Substrate Gold" manufactured here in the Twin Cities, however, someone may cry "conflict of interest" so I won't mention it. (Ed: Check out Karl's page at http://www.aquatics.net/schoeler-enterprises/.)
3.) A fluorescent hood and maybe an incandescent hood to go along with it. Use a glass cover for your tank to cut down on evaporation.
4.) A small motor-driven external filter, any brand/type should do.
5.) A top of the line submersible heater: DON'T spare the bucks on this; 50 watts should do.
6.) A black plastic garbage bag for any body parts you lose when you bring all this into the house unannounced. It also makes a great background for the tank.
Now set it all up. The moment the water clears, plant it. If you see where you could have used a few more plants, go ahead and get them. The object is to fill a plant tank to the point that the plants will actually starve out the algae before it begins to grow. Since Hygrophila sp. is such a great nitrate digester, I'd suggest two or three types to begin with.
A daylight fluorescent tube and a couple of 15 watt incandescent lights should work as well as anything in the two hoods. You could invest in a better fluorescent tube and forget the second hood.
The fish you select should be compatible with plants. Many of the smaller schooling fish look terrific in this setup. Three or four "Ottos" (otocjnclus sp.) and a couple of Corydoras should fill it out nicely. It is important to add the Otocinclus first. Do not feed them anything for several days so that they get used to finding food on the plant leaves. When you begin adding other fish do it slowly and feed very sparingly.
After a few weeks you should see considerable growth and the decision will have to be made -- Maybe one of my other tanks should have plants!
("On Plants" will appear as a regular column in the Aqua News during 1994)
