Habitat - Indoor :: Water Plants for an Aquarium

[stephers]

Hello! My name is Steph and I'm new to this board, altho I have been watching it and on this site ever since I got my RES Lenny 2 yrs ago.

I have a quick question about water plants. I think Lenny is getting tired of plastic plants in his tank..haha...so I am going to look into getting him water plants. However, I don't know the first thing about water plants (ie: what is toxic to them, etc). I was thinking about bamboo, due to it's no-fuss maintainance and easy to take it out when I have to change Lenny's water.

DOes anyone have any suggestions, websites, or info on bamboo and turtles or any other no-fuss water plants I can use? I am a university student, so I don't have time for anything too complicated (which is why I thought bamboo...)

Thanks!!

[SpotsMama]

Check out the Nutrition forum on this site. Since the turtles eat the plants, they are considered food. There are "stickies" at the top of the list that tell things that are safe to put in the tank and things that are not.

Anacharis is a common aquarium plant that can float on the water or grow up from the bottom. It is cheap, turtles like it and it's good for them. There are other plants that turtles like. Do a "search" for plants and see what comes up. Also do a search on "poison" since there have been a couple of threads recently on plants that are dangerous.

Be forewarned: your turtle will probably rip the plant to pieces. I haven't had any luck trying to grow a plant in a pot. Apparently my turtle doesn't like it so he uproots it and tears it into pieces. The stuff that floats on top is better received.

[marisa]

I've got water hyacinth in my RES's tank. I added them in an effort to keep them alive until next summer, but they aren't doing that well. My RES only nibbled on the smallest plants and left the larger ones alone (except for occasionally biting off a piece of the root). They do need a lot of light and warmth to keep going (as well as certain nutrients). Plants like anachris and duckweed are eaten fairly quickly. My turtle has never cared for Amazon Sword plants or plants like Hornwort, though. They can last in the tank much longer (unless they're ripped up for the fun of it).

[missibsu]

Marisa, let me know if you figure out the hyacinth issue. Mine aren't doing well either. I figured with UVB it would be fine, but so far, no luck.

[scripta_elegans]

I have amazon swords, Anacharis, and duckweed in my tank, and all seem to be fine until the turtles eat them. They won't last forever, but they also are good for the turtles to eat. There is a site called liveaquaria.com that has all sorts of live plants that are good to put in the turtle tank. I ordered from them and I have been very happy with the plants. I will probably be trying to give away Anacharis pretty soon! It is flourishing!