Various types of plants

There are the tiny, delicate, lovely and hard to obtain hair grass.

Also there are plants that form a lump on their own, such as the broad-leaved, light green amazon sword, the serrated-edged aponogeton undulatum and the very useful plants that will thrive in great heat and even in dim light - the cryptocorynes.

Numerous aquarium plants just float on the surface of the water and are not rooted. They draw their nourishment from the air and the water. The favourites are riccia, azolla and duckweed. They are useful in providing shade in breeding and as oxygenators.

Strong Oxygenators

Vallisneria and Sagittaria are two of the plants that give off more oxygen than most. Vallisneria leaves have a stripe down the centre diving them into three nearly equal stripes of two shades of green. Both plants are normally found in three types, straight, twisted and giant. Anacharis, propagated from cuttings and found in several varieties, especially Elodea, is another strong oxygenator.

Other plants propagated from cuttings are ludwigia and hygrophila. Ludwigia, some species of which have leaves that are tinged with red in the summer and autumn. While hygrophila is similar to the former but comparatively rare and of a very light and pleasant shade of green.

There are also bushy plants, such as myriophyllum, ambulia and cabomba.

Aquatic greens II

Planting effects are more decorative if done in thickets and not in single stems. Obviously, the thickets should not be congested so that the individual stems have enough room to grow. Four to eight in a bunch is reasonable provided that the fish can swim about freely.

The disadvantage of plants taking in oxygen at night, instead of giving it out, is not serious if the aquarium has a large enough air surface. It helps if the aquarium light is kept on for longer periods when greenery is first planted so as to give the plants a better change to take root. This is particularly true in winter when natural growth is slow.

Aquatic greens

Lead weights wrapped round the base are sometimes used to prevent the newly transferred plants from floating to the surface of the water, but they are very liable to damage the plants unless used most carefully. If planting pots or trays are favoured, they should be big enough and deep enough.

Another reminder about these lovely aquatic greens is to keep them wet. If they are allowed to dry even momentarily for example when being transferred or while in the process of being planted, they will suffer for weeks. In fact, they sometimes will shrivel and die. Great care must be taken if for any reason the aquarium is being disinfected. The plants can easily be damaged by being rinsed in water that is too hot or in a disinfectant that is too strong. One quarter grain by weight of potassium permanganate in a gallon of water makes a strong enough solution to wash off most parasites from the leaves.

The need for plants

In an aquarium, plants are not merely for decoration purposes. They serves to complete the scientific balance of the modern aquarium.

Moreover, the majority of community fish have a definite preference for a planted tank where they can find shade, privacy and hiding places when they are feeling out of sorts or are anxious to evade the attentions of a particular fish, be it a bully, a rival or too ardent a suitor. In spawning and rearing of the young, of course, plants play a very definite and important part.

So how do we care of aquarium plants?

First of all, plants in community tank need light. They should be rooted in aquarium sand, but not too deeply. Loam and earth are not necessary for their growth. Loam can breed harmful bacteria unless sterilized. If this is done, loam has little use to the plants; after all, part of the plants' function in a balanced tank is to 'absorb' the droppings of the fish. These fertilizing media being broken up by the plants, simultaneously promoting their own growth while disposing the droppings.

Plants

Plants are often classified as tropical and coldwater but it is proposed here to divide them into aquarium or pond plants. Tropical plants will root in a coldwater tank kept in the normal living-room of a home, especially if an aquarium toplight is functioning. Strictly coldwater plants, on the other hand, are normally considered to be those that will thrive out in the open, winter or summer.

The main distinction of the two categories are that those grown with the aid of artificial heat, eg in a hothouse are for an aquarium while those grown in the open are for pond. It should be noted that although the same plant is often found both indoors and out, the pond one tends to be larger and coarser.

More on breeding I

A temperature that is excessively high forces the growth of the fish and seriously weakens their constitution. It sometimes overdevelops the finnage too.

All along the line, inferior fish should be removed. For example, with fantails, veiltails and Moors; the ones with only single tails instead of the prized forked tails can be detected well before they are fourteen days old and should be taken out. Later as body shapes develop, the poor quality should be ruthlessly sacrificed. By the time three months have passed, the selection should have been completed.

Within two weeks, the fry are past the infusoria stage and will swallow finely powdered dry foods, dried eggs, oatmeal, etc. Nevertheless, take great care not to foul the water. It should be partly changed especially if snails are not able to cope with the work. After a few more days, micro worms, finely sifted Daphnia and not quite such powdered dry food should be introduced to the fish. Within three to four weeks, the last stage of tubifex and chopped white worms can be fed. By this time, the worst danger is over.

In the meantime, the difficulty is now to get the fish to colour. The scales should be transparent so that a good body colour can be seen through them. Opaque coloured scales would result in a dark, uninteresting fish. However if the parents are from good stock, the required temperature maintained, space is ample, plenty of live foods were constantly given and enough sunlight, the fry should colour within eight months. Some will colour within four months. A constant drip flow of water into the aquarium helps enormously. If a year goes by without the colour showing through, then having a good fish is doubtful. The general conditions, including the surrounding colours and their inter-action with sunlight influence the fry development.

The above descriptions apply to coldwater aquarium fish in general.