# Live or fake plants?



## Oscarr19 (Jun 24, 2011)

Will be using PFS as a substrate and i don't want to waste money on real plants so that my fish can uproot them. Don't really like floating plants either. Theres always the option of fake plants that look real underwater but something about live plants i really like. I'll have 15 Saulosi in a 40G btw. So how do you guys use plants? Real or fake?


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## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

I have always used live plants and refuse to even consider fake plants, but that's just me. I've had aquariums for 60 years and never had a fake plant. For me, part of the enjoyment of keeping fish is watching live plants grow and even flower.


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## Oscarr19 (Jun 24, 2011)

But do your cichlids uproot them?


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## ClearMud (Nov 6, 2010)

cichlids will uproot fake ones too.


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## Oscarr19 (Jun 24, 2011)

yes but uprooting fake ones wont damage or kill them as opposed to real ones. Hmm i'm starting to think to go with just a stone filled aquarium.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Saulosi might uproot. You could go with java fern on rocks, but my mbuna eat that too. Fake plants look fine when clean but they get dirty.

Just rocks and sand works excellently for Rift Lake Africans.


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## Oscarr19 (Jun 24, 2011)

Think i might go without plants but it might look plain. Might have to go about it with trial and error.


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## pistolpete (Dec 28, 2009)

Java fern and Anubias can both be tied to tank decorations. Onion plants quickly form a robust root network that will anchor them well. Try one of each to see if they make it, before spending a bunch of money on more. An amazon sword planted in a clay pot will work too, but may not tolerate alkaline conditions.


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## Oscarr19 (Jun 24, 2011)

Ya I probably will try I guess it'll be more trial and error. Thanks for the help everyone.


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## bluebirdnanny (Jul 18, 2011)

The real plants help use the toxins from the food and poop. They also help with the oxygen content of the water. The root/base can be secured with rocks making it less likely they get uprooted. Now eaten is a different story. :fish: :drooling:

I have a mix in mine but prefer the real. Lower tech is more natural and my fish love it. =D>


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Several workarounds will help with the plants but as you say, much will be trial and error. A plant squeezed between a wall and a rock at the base may not get uprooted. Planted in a small fiber pot with small pebbles covering the area close around will make the fish less likely to dig it out until it can really get rooted, then the pebbles can be moved. The right plants in the right place is the challenge.


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## car0linab0y (Aug 10, 2009)

you could always use potted plants... :thumb:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

All my fish eat the potted plants, and the Haps/peacocks excavate the soil from the pots (to the bottom) constantly.

I still have a planted tank, but replanting and refilling pots is required.


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## Emmett (Dec 21, 2010)

trust me go with live plants, i had fake plants for a couple of years and i switched to live two years ago, its so much better. Fake plants get algae and gross on them and they can be some times cost more. You also know there fake since they look really fake some times. I don't have any up-rooting problems and if you do tie them down


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