# Suggestions for Plants for Lake Tanganyika Tank?



## olliesshop

Does anyone have any suggestions on what plants would be appropriate for my "Lake Tanganyika" tank? Also, where you would order them from? I've ordered some Vallisneria already (from ... www.aquariumplants.com), but was wondering what other plants would be appropriate. I'd like to replace all my fake plants with real ones. BTW, I already am working on getting a whole lot more rocks, probably after Christmas.

THANKS !!!


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## prov356

Depends on what you mean by 'appropriate'. Brichardi don't eat plants and probably won't dig them up, so whatever your lighting, etc will support.

Anubias and java fern can be tied to rocks (should be, actually, not planted) and can most often withstand cichlids.


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## Jowlz

Add swords to the previously mentioned plants. Some varieties will take the high PH also...


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## Fogelhund

Anubias var. Nana, Cryptocorne sp., Brazilian Swords, Java Fern are probably your best bets, in addition to Vallisneria


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## olliesshop

Thank you all !!! 

I just ordered a bunch.


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## dmiller328

Crinium onion plants does well,looks great as a background plant,and usually does not get eaten.Like others said anubias and java fern too.


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## olliesshop

I got my plants in the mail today. They even came through the overnight mail AOK ... It took a couple hours to plant them. I think they look pretty good. We'll see how they grow. I sure like them better than the fake plants I had in there.

Here's what I got:
A bunch of Vallisneria Giagantea ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/va071.htm
Two ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Java_Fern ... /ww574.htm
Two ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Anubias_b ... -12421.htm
Two ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Anubias_b ... /an620.htm
Two ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Hastifoli ... /an520.htm
One ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Frazeri_A ... /an370.htm
Three ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Lanceolot ... /an604.htm
Two ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/Congensis ... /po198.htm
One Giant Mother Amazon Sword ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/xxl675.htm

Here's a picture of the newly planted tank:









I hope I did good in my selection, based on what everyone was suggesting ...


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## Jowlz

Looks excellent!! What are you using for lighting & ferts for the plants?


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## olliesshop

Thanks 

For lighting I have two Coralife 30" banks with two T-5's per bank, including a Coralife ACTINIC and a Coralife 10,000K. I've asked Aquariumplants.com if those are the best lights and how often to replace them. I guess the bulbs lose their intensity over time and should be replaced about every 6-12 months.

For fertilizer I'm going to be using ... "TOTAL (75 pellets)" from ... https://www.aquariumplants.com/ProductD ... tCode=FERT ... I hope it will work. I also bought a special pellet applicator to precisely place the pellets about 1/2" below the rhizome of the plant.

I hope this helps :fish:


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## Jowlz

olliesshop said:


> Thanks
> 
> For lighting I have two Coralife 30" banks with two T-5's per bank, including a Coralife ACTINIC and a Coralife 10,000K. I've asked Aquariumplants.com if those are the best lights and how often to replace them. I guess the bulbs lose their intensity over time and should be replaced about every 6-12 months.
> 
> For fertilizer I'm going to be using ... "TOTAL (75 pellets)" from ... https://www.aquariumplants.com/ProductD ... tCode=FERT ... I hope it will work. I also bought a special pellet applicator to precisely place the pellets about 1/2" below the rhizome of the plant.
> 
> I hope this helps :fish:


Sounds good. I am certainly not a light or fert guru. I am running 10k & Actinic for fish viewing. For the plants I am running 6500k lights. If your plants start to seem like they don't have enough light, you might consider adding a 6500k fixture or bulb. If you do, go easy so you don't start an algea farm. Also, expect some melting from your new plants (vals). Once that is over they will grow back new shoots. Don't worry too much about the melting, it's very common when plants change water conditions.


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## olliesshop

Thanks again ... I'm really enjoying all this. Hopefully I'll be getting some new "shoots" soon !!!


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## olliesshop

Based on Jowlz note as well as other research on the web I've been doing it looks like I should be going with a High Output 6500-6700K lighting fixture (replacing my two Coralife units). My tank is 6 feet long with two 3 foot covers.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what type of light(s) to buy and what is the best place to purchase them? opcorn:

Thanks for any help !!!


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## Jowlz

olliesshop said:


> Based on Jowlz note as well as other research on the web I've been doing it looks like I should be going with a High Output 6500-6700K lighting fixture (replacing my two Coralife units). My tank is 6 feet long with two 3 foot covers.
> 
> Does anyone have any recommendations on what type of light(s) to buy and what is the best place to purchase them? opcorn:
> 
> Thanks for any help !!!


T5 High Output lighting might be overkill without CO2 and dosing ferts. A 24" tank, with the lights close to the top of the tank, 2 T5NO is considered low light which is recommend. 1 T5HO would be the same amount of light. 2 T5HO is considered High light.

That said, I think I have the same Coralife T5NO fixtures on my 125. 2 36" 1 actinic & 1 10k. I have had good luck with them and am perfectly happy viewing my fish (P. Salousi) with them. If I added plants, I would probably add a single cheap T5NO fixture to each side with a 6500k bulb, and play around with the photoperiod for a while.

If you are just plain ready for new lights, I highly recommend looking at Catalina Aquarium lights. They are a US company. They build lights how you want them built. You tell them the number of switches, which bulbs, moonlights, etc. They can even add remote control. Their fixtures are made of extruded metal and in the future I will only buy their lights. I priced similar lights at a big box pet store. After shipping, it was about the same $$ for me to buy from Catalina and get exactly what I wanted. Definitely worth a look....


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## olliesshop

Thanks !!!


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## 24Tropheus

Hope they do well for you but if they do not. Most plants are grown in low pH and soft water for distribution. You can try slowly adapting em to hard alkali water over a couple of weeks. In a spare tank or even lit bucket. Can be a bit of a shock, folk buy plants that are supposed to do well in their conditions and pop em in their tanks and have them shed leaves as they hit the new harder alkali water. A couple of weeks getting em used to your tank water or buying em from someone who has already done this can be well worth the bother/expense. 8)

Could also try Hornwart. But these plants tend to be common only in river inlets to the lake, can be a bit of a balancing act keeping the water good enough for rock dwelling species and yet high nutrient enough for the plants.

Nothing like it for killing fish, adding a big bunch of plants and have em die or shed leaves and pollute the water.

All the best James


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## Jowlz

24Tropheus said:


> Hope they do well for you but if they do not. Most plants are grown in low pH and soft water for distribution. You can try slowly adapting em to hard alkali water over a couple of weeks. In a spare tank or even lit bucket. Can be a bit of a shock, folk buy plants that are supposed to do well in their conditions and pop em in their tanks and have them shed leaves as they hit the new harder alkali water. A couple of weeks getting em used to your tank water or buying em from someone who has already done this can be well worth the bother/expense. 8)
> 
> Could also try Hornwart. But these plants tend to be common only in river inlets to the lake, can be a bit of a balancing act keeping the water good enough for rock dwelling species and yet high nutrient enough for the plants.
> 
> Nothing like it for killing fish, adding a big bunch of plants and have em die or shed leaves and pollute the water.
> 
> All the best James


I'll add to this and go a step further. Lots of plants are also grown emmersed, for faster growth. Add this to water conditions that are softer and more acidic and its quite a shock for the plants......


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## olliesshop

24Tropheus said:


> Hope they do well for you but if they do not. Most plants are grown in low pH and soft water for distribution. You can try slowly adapting em to hard alkali water over a couple of weeks. In a spare tank or even lit bucket. Can be a bit of a shock, folk buy plants that are supposed to do well in their conditions and pop em in their tanks and have them shed leaves as they hit the new harder alkali water. A couple of weeks getting em used to your tank water or buying em from someone who has already done this can be well worth the bother/expense. 8)
> 
> Could also try Hornwart. But these plants tend to be common only in river inlets to the lake, can be a bit of a balancing act keeping the water good enough for rock dwelling species and yet high nutrient enough for the plants.
> 
> Nothing like it for killing fish, adding a big bunch of plants and have em die or shed leaves and pollute the water.
> 
> All the best James


I've been reading up on CO2 injectors, since my pH is 8.0 and kH is 8 (which according to ... http://www.fishfriend.com/aquarium_co2_calculator.html ) my CO2 is 2.4 ppm. I guess this is too low? It looks like it should be in the 15-35ppm range for optimum plant growth. It also looks like the higher the pH the lower the CO2, given the same conditions, bummer since I want a relatively high pH for my Brichardi to simulate Tanganyika. Any suggestions on whether it's worth investing in a CO2 system? It looks like it might bring my CO2 levels into a better ranges and help with potential algae growth too.

Oh, BTW I bought some new lights yesterday and WOW do they light up the tank better. I have two Coralife - 36" banks with 2 High Output T-5's per bank (10000K and 6700K each). I hope this was the right decision for my plants. It looks like it was, based on the advice from this forum and what else I could find on the web. Now I'm worried, thought about algae and CO2 levels.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks !!!


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## DJRansome

The plants you have chosen should not require (and possibly will not even benefit much) from CO2. And they prefer low light with the exception of the sword. So what you can do is see how much algae you get and if you get too much just remove one bulb at a time until you hit a good balance.

Also liquid carbon like Flourish Excel can help with both plant growth in lieu of CO2 and algae control.

I agree the sword may lose all it's leaves and regrow new immersed leaves. You can tell if the current leaves are emmersed...when you do a water change and lower the water to half? Emmersed leaves will stand up out of the water and immersed leaves will float down with the water.


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## olliesshop

Thanks for the advice !!!  It's good news I may not need a CO2 injector, they seem to be rather expensive and require a lot of upkeep. I'll wait a month or two and see how their doing and go from there, since they've only been in the tank a week.

:fish:


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## olliesshop

BTW, I just bought some Flourish Excel (2 liters, which should last a while) ... we'll see how it works. Thanks again for the advice !!!


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## prov356

Seems like you're moving toward what's called a 'high tech planted tank'. It can be done, I suppose, with tanganyikcans, but not common. You might want to just go low tech and keep plants that do well with moderate lighting, no CO2, or dosing needed. Not all planted tanks need be high tech. With high tech planted tanks, the focus is more on the plants, and then the tank would have a moderate load of smaller fish.

Anyway, I'd consider just going with the equipment, lighting that you have and getting some nerite snails to deal with the inevitable algae. If you want to do a high tech planted tank, then make that a separate project. You may also want to consider scaling back on the lighting as someone previously suggested. Check out the Low tech forum here.


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## olliesshop

prov356 said:


> Seems like you're moving toward what's called a 'high tech planted tank'. It can be done, I suppose, with tanganyikcans, but not common. You might want to just go low tech and keep plants that do well with moderate lighting, no CO2, or dosing needed. Not all planted tanks need be high tech. With high tech planted tanks, the focus is more on the plants, and then the tank would have a moderate load of smaller fish.
> 
> Anyway, I'd consider just going with the equipment, lighting that you have and getting some nerite snails to deal with the inevitable algae. If you want to do a high tech planted tank, then make that a separate project. You may also want to consider scaling back on the lighting as someone previously suggested. Check out the Low tech forum here.


I clearly want the focus to be on the fish ... although I would like the plants to survive, if possible. So it sounds like the low tech approach is better, with maybe some Nerite Snails or backing off on some of the bulbs/lighting? Would the snails survive Brichardi? Or would they get eaten?

Thanks again ... this is such a great site !!!


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## prov356

> Would the snails survive Brichardi? Or would they get eaten?


I have them in with my pulcher daffodils and they are ignored. I haven't ever seen any tanganyikans go after them, but I'm sure there may be some that would.


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## olliesshop

How many do you think I should get for my 125 gallon? Since they sound like a good idea and they aren't that expensive.

Also, I was think about getting Fiddler Crabs since they get rid of algae too. I wonder if the Brichardi would bother them? ... http://www.aquariumplants.com/The_new_A ... /ateam.htm

Thanks.


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## olliesshop

After more research it appears Fiddler Crabs are not a good idea, since they aren't really meant to live in fresh water and will only live about a month ... oh well ... back to the Nerite Snails then !!!


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## prov356

I use about a dozen in 6 feet and they do fine. A lot depends on the algae growth. You can find them on Aquabid for about $1 each. Get the olive nerites, cheap and long lived. I had zebra's for a while, but they cost more and don't live as long. At least they didn't for me.


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## olliesshop

Thanks again !!! I just ordered 20 snails and some Algae wafers, since I don't have any algae yet, plus my Plecos should like them.

I'm really enjoying all this. I sounds like the Nerite Snails will be fun to watch and help keep the tank clean too ... cool !!!

BTW, my Brichardi are doing very well and are very "perky". I fed them their first big dose of Daphnia yesterday and they went crazy !!! They ventured up high in the tank, where they normally won't go, and all eight of them came out in the open to get their fill. Now I'm trying to maximize my yield of Daphnia so I can feed them more often.

All the best :fish:


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## olliesshop

Hi all ... I've been having trouble with my Vallisneria Gigantea melting/dying ... I think it's because my pH is too high for them (8.1-8.2), which I thought was about right for my Neolamprologus Brichardi. I've asked the question on www.plantedtank.net and they were suggesting adding CO2 to my tank to boost it to 30ppm, which would lower my pH to about 7.0. This seems way too low for my Neolamprologus Brichardi. Does everyone agree ... or am I being too concerned?

BTW, all my other plants are doing great (Amazon Sword, Various Anubias and a Java Fern). So far, my choice is not to add CO2 and keep the pH higher and just forget about the Vallisneria. It sure is a lot simpler and less expensive too.

I'd love everyone's input !!!  opcorn:


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## DJRansome

I'd keep the focus on the fish and leave the pH.

I also had trouble with vallisneria (contortionist) and have pretty much abandoned it. But my thought was that it grows very fast and needs a lot of fertilizer. If I did not keep the fertilizer balance perfect, it suffered and I ended up with cyanobacteria.

I traded in the valls for a medium-speed-growing plant like red rubin swords and it has worked out much better.

Fogelhund has no trouble with jungle vals...don't know if that is the same plant.


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## olliesshop

Thanks for the reply ... yeah I think I'll focus on the fish, which is clearly the right answer for us Cichlid fans !!! BTW, my Amazon Sword is doing great and keeps on sending out new shoots I have to plant. So I think I'll be OK without the Vallisneria, if it comes down to it.

Thanks again !!!


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## olliesshop

BTW ... it's been a year with my tank and plants and I wanted to give you an idea of what they look like now. They really seem to be thriving in this relatively low CO2 environment. Here's a video of the plants and the fish ... 




I hope this helps and all the best to everyone !!!


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## MandyBlue

Looks great!


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## MandyBlue

Looks great!


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## skurj

Looks nice

Love to hear what your plant list is.

I just started a tang tank, and i added some java moss and an anubias nana but i'd like a little more green.


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## cwmorrow

24Tropheus said:


> Could also try Hornwart. But these plants tend to be common only in river inlets to the lake,


Hornwort is native to Tanganyika near river inlets?


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## olliesshop

Thanks ... I must be doing something right, since the plants generally are healthy and keep on growing.

All the best to Everyone !!!


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## whiskeyriver

Very nice! I envy you. I would kill that whole tank of plants in a heartbeat, I'm sure of it.


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## olliesshop

First of all, sorry for the late reply, I've been having some computer problems. Also, thank you for all the compliments, I really love the plants too. They are a decent amount of work, though. I put in liquid fertilizer every day. I also put in pellet fertilizer in every month.

Here's the list of plants I have in my tank (mostly). They are supposed to be plants that do well and low CO2 environments like late Tanganyika. Most of them are forms of Anubias.

Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Anubias barteri var. nana 'narrow leaf'
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Hastifolia (Anubias hastifolia)
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Frazeri (Anubias 'Frazeri')
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Lanceolota (Anubias lanceolota)
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Congensis (Anubias Ã¢â‚¬ËœCongensisÃ¢â‚¬â„¢)
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Amazon Sword "Giant Mother Plant" (Echinodorus bleheri) Pot (20"-24+")

I bought all of the plants from http://www.AquariumPlants.com


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## pistolpete

two things I wanted to mention: Valisneria does really well in alkaline tanks, but does not tolerate regular dosing with flourish Excel. hard to tell, but it looks to me like you burried the roots on your java fern. These should be free floating in the water.


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## olliesshop

So that's why my Valisneria is not doing well ... but that's OK since my other plants seem to be doing well enough to make up the difference. Especially the "Amazon Sword".

With regard to the Java Fern, I'm trying to figure out which one that is. I have a plant about 2/3's of the way over from the left about half way back with "rippled" leaves is that the Java Fern? Those roots are buried and it's surviving, but not growing. If it's the plants I have on either end then about over half of those roots are exposed, since they keep on growing out of them. Any help on identifying them would be appreciated, since I'm clearly not an expert in this area.

All the best to everyone ...


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