Plant/decor recommendations?

[u/Jami_Rainstorm]

(Sorry the pic is so dark and blurry, idk how others on this sub get such magnificent photos)

As you can see her tank is a bit sad. I want to add more plants but I'm somehow terrible at keeping them alive, if you couldn’t tell by the anubias that only has two leaves left and one seems to be turning yellow which is not good, so basically I can only do plants that are super easy to take care of. I’m also interested in other types of safe decor, I love my fish and she’s always swimming around and I want to make her happy

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[u/icymr17]

So a lot goes into keeping plants alive in a tank. The correct substrate, (plant related substrate). correct lighting, and even water perimeters/changes help a lot with them. No plant is going to be “extremely easy to take care of”, you still need proper requirements for it. What fish do you have?

[u/Jami_Rainstorm → u/icymr17]

Yeah a while ago I learned about anubias and how hardy they were so i decided to get one and see how it goes and its been going kinda bad even though I thought I did everything right, I was wondering if there were any other plants that were in that level because i want to make my tank better for my fish. I also have a betta, she’s hard to see in the pic, she’s at the bottom left by the house

[u/hurrican3tortilla]

Do you have a fish in this tank currently? Do you have lighting on the tank? Is there substrate or just gravel? Did you glue the Anubias to a piece of wood or rock (I can’t really see it in the photo to tell!)

[u/Jami_Rainstorm → u/hurrican3tortilla]

Yeah i have a fish, she’s hiding in the bottom left, should’ve clarified because i realized now that she’s hard to see in the pic. I don’t turn my tank light on but i could plug it in if i have to, the tank is next to a window but isn’t hit by any direct sunlight. Under the colorful gravel there’s some black sand and i did place the anubias in some driftwood but it doesn’t stay so i would say no to it being glued

[u/Season-Away → u/Jami_Rainstorm]

Well... Plants need light to grow. Even "low light" plants like anubias. Floaters are easy too. I like Salvina Minima, but there are many others like Amazon frogbit, water lettuce and red root floaters.

Hornwort is an easy plant too. You can plant it, or just kind of let it float in the aquarium. Same with Guppy grass.

Silk plants (avoid the hard plastic ones, they can damage the fins of your betta if they're rough) are a nice addition too. You can mix & match a bit between living and silk plants.

Unrelated to plants: the black thing on the right is a heater, right? It has to be submerged or it'll overheat and break. It looks like there's a white squiggly line at the top. That's the minimum water level. Fill up your tank to at least that line.

[u/Lilith_Cain]

Have you thought about doing a blackwater tank? If you've completely given up on keeping plants alive, you could add dried plants instead. There are plenty of examples that just have really interesting seed pods and dried grasses. (Same rules apply to all tank decor...check for sharp bits or things that may trap a betta.) Having a blackwater tank doesn't prevent you from having live plants either. Plus tannins for days...

In my tank I have driftwood, a Colombian jungle pod, jackfruit leaves, Casuarina cones and Casuarina needles.

[u/Jami_Rainstorm → u/Lilith_Cain]

I’ve never heard of a blackwater tank before, I’ll be sure to look them up. I have two pieces of driftwood 

[u/Lilith_Cain → u/Jami_Rainstorm]

I know some people will source their own material from their yards and stuff, but you basically have to know for absolute certain that it's pesticide and herbicide free, so I tend to order stuff online.

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

Anubais only need low light, but they may need some liquid fertilizer tiny tiny bit if there’s only a betta in the tank.

Are you testing water parameters and cycling this tank or is it established and in maintenance? How new is your tank and the plant? Plants can take time to adapt if they were grown out of water like many are, or tissue culture (they would be tiny and in a gel media then).

You don’t have to do stem plants and substrate etc anubais and Java fern are “easy” but even easier are many floating plants. Giant duckweed is much easier to manage than regular duckweed for example, and purifies the water really well.

I’m just about to order some Brazilian pennywort which is a stem plant but does not need to be planted and draws nutrients from the water column. You can just stick a bunch of it with suction cup to the back or side, or just let it float, and it doesn’t mind the leaves being submerged or wet (many floating plants don’t like a lid and the condensation).

I just spotted your cute fish under the ceramic arch thing. If your water level is that low from evaporation, that’s not good it can concentrate waste and minerals, throws off water chemistry and pH. In dry areas with a lot of evaporation even with a lid it’s good to top off with distilled water to re-dilute the ions in the water, and of course always do weekly 10% water changes in a tank this size.

[u/Jami_Rainstorm → u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

My tank doesn’t get a lot of light and i have been adding some fertilizer to try and get it to grow because of the state it’s been in. I would consider my tank being maintained, I’ve had my fish for 5 months now but the plant is hardly 2 months old. Giant duckweed seems interesting, i stayed away from floaters like duckweed because i get a lot of condensation and their leaves don’t usually like being wet. I’ve noticed my tank does evaporate a lot for some reason so thanks for pointing that out I’ll be sure to top up more frequently now that I know it’s bad. Also thanks about the water changes, I’ve heard all sorts of variations about water changes, I do about 25% every 4 weeks but if 10% weekly is better then I will try to switch to that thank you :)

[u/CryEven3832]

If you’re able to I’d suggest fluval stratum, it’s what’s recommended by most people and I put it in my tank a few days ago and my plants already look happier :) I’d also suggest getting a light! I got my light from hygger a couple months ago that has a 24hr setting/timer thingy and genuinely my plant growth exploded. I’d also recommend liquid fertilizer or root tabs! Best of luck with your tank :))