Plants for my Dojo Tank

[Stitch051707]

Hello. I was thinking about trying real plants in my loach tank. The tank is 55 gal. and had Dojos and Danios in it. This would be my first time with live plants so I would like something simple to start out with. Do you have any recomendation? I have heard that Dojos like plants that float on the top of the water. What are they called? Is this something that would be good for me to start out with? What are some of the pluses to have live plants?

[soul-hugger]

Hello! I have 2 dojos in a heavily planted 20 gallon, and a new 55 I plan to transfer them into. The dojos don't seem to bother the plants unless they decide they want to dig or rest in the exact location of one of the plants, in which case they do a little redecorating. They never damage the plants; just gently uproot them, where they float to the top. My loaches have a couple favourite spots, and if I put a plant there, it is soon to be uprooted.., however they leave the rest of the plants alone.

There are many benefits to having plants in your tank, some of them being:
-They look beautiful and are fun to care for,
-They provide hiding places, making the fish feel at home,
-They breathe carbon dioxide, while fish breathe oxygen, creating a friendly symbiotic excange,
-They use the fish waste as fertilizer, turning the toxic ammonia and nitrites into relatively harmless nitrates,
-They add to the overall effectiveness of your filtration system, because they provide their own sort of filtration,
and more. You can read about this exchange in any number of aquatic books and websites, where they will outline the basic principles of the nitrogen cycle and explain how both the fish and plants respire. It is really a fascinating process...Nature renewing itself and plants and animals helping eachother.

My next question would be whether you have a hard or soft water aquarium, as plants can be chosen on this basis. If you are creating a biotope, you could look at what part of the world your fishes come from, and find out what kind of plants grow alongside them. I have a soft water aquarium, and I enjoy having Amazon Swords. They are larger when you buy them and have a fairly developed root system. You may want to go for plants which are sold in a pot, as opposed to the bunch plants, which are spindly and held together with an elastic. They will grow roots, too, but I have found it is these that end up floating on the top. The potted ones are easier to bury deep enough that your dojo would have trouble uprooting them. Another option if you want to go with bunch plants is to hold them down with plant anchors until they root. Water Wisteria and Cabomba would be two plants you may want to do this with. The anchors are simple metal wires that wrap around the base of the plants to keep them from floating. Your LFS should have some..don't just use any old wire! There are also a few genuine floating plants to choose from, such as Water Lettuce, but if you can't find any, (I haven't been able to) you can let some Cabomba or a similar plant float on the surface. Jut make sure that if you have other plants that the surface plants aren't blocking all the light.

Good luck!
Soul-Hugger

[Thomas]

My dojo-tank is mostly planted with java moss. Otherwise I have java fern, some Cryptocoryne and Hornwort (Ceratophylum). All that plants have no big claims about the light, and so it looks:



It's easy to handle, I do not use fertilizer or CO2. The Java moss must regularly be shortened. Otherwise I have only the moss and nothing else I'm a little bit in delay

Bye,
Thomas

[wasserscheu]

Sieht sehr schön aus and creates plenty of oxygen, very nice and comfy.

[starsplitter7]

I would use hornwort and anacharis as floating plants. All my Dojos sleep in it. They are cheap, grow well, don't need a lot of light. Some of my other fish eat it. I also have Java moss, but make sure you secure it, so it doesn't clog up your filters.

[soul-hugger]

Come to think about it, my dojos rest in the plants too. They look so comical coiled and suspended in the branches like a snake. I think this is when they get thier best rest. That would be another benefit to having the plants together with your loaches. They rest mostly in my cabomba&water wisteria.; the thinner-leaved plants where there are spaces for them to fit between. They also feed among the floating plants on blood worms and brine shrimp that have become caught there and cannot sink to the bottom. The other fish prefer the food in open areas, so this is perfect. Once your dojo learns to get to know you, he will eat right out of your fingers and even suck on your arm when you are doing aquarium maintenance. Mine started doing that soon after I got them. It is really cute and it tickles with their whiskers. A loach's teeth are farther back in their throat, so it would be hard for them to bite you.

[starsplitter7]

I agree Soul Hugger. I hide blood worms in the plants for my Dojos and eels. They can look for food there while I also put food in the water current for the rest of the fish. I have African Butterflies who also hang out in the plants doing their stealth thing.

[Stitch051707]

Thank you all for the really great information. I'm going to look at my lfs and see what they have.

[starsplitter7]

Be prepared to be able to identify the plants yourself, unless the people at your LFS are good with plants.

If you're not good with plants already, I would look up some pictures of the plants. They are frequently mislabeled too.