# plants in sand



## Jeepguy (Mar 19, 2008)

I am in the process of builiding my new tank to house malawi fish (yellow labs and ?) it is a 40G breeder. I want a nice gournd cover and then some taller ones, that will actually root in the sand, any ideas? I will be using LED lighting, yes LED.


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## Laurel (Jun 17, 2007)

If it's high output LED lighting(like that designed for reef tanks) it should be fine.

Vallisneria does well in sand, but you'll want to put fertilizer spikes or something near the roots. IIRC, there is a short/ground-cover type val as well. They apparently don't taste bad, but the fish leave them alone more or less because they're incredibly tough/fibrous. Most plants that root in sand require enriched substrates, as well as lower-pH environments. Your mbuna are also likely to dig up ground cover if it's getting in the way of their excavation.

You could also do low-light plants like java fern or anubias that don't root in sand.


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## Jeepguy (Mar 19, 2008)

My heart is not set on Malawi fish, I think I would rather have nice rooted plants. The LED's would be reef quality. I had built a set up on a nano reef many years ago, and with the new LED's wow, they will be nice. Can anyone recomend a colorful chiclid that will do well with plants, and not outgrow a 40G breeder, tuff requirments I know.


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## Laurel (Jun 17, 2007)

I'd look into apistogrammas, german blue rams(smaller and more finicky) or bolivian rams(larger and hardier), I'm partial to Bolivian Golden Rams, I think they look less like drag queens.

Apistogramma Caucatoides(i'm sure i spelled that wrong)
http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1437









German Blue Ram
http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=421









Golden Ram (the ones I've seen in person are much more striking than this)
http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=420









These would be happy in the 40g breeder with a shoal of tetras or something, maybe a bn pleco or 2, some driftwood, a few rocks, etc, but they need a least a little sand to root around in.

I was planning on a planted SA tank before I decided against it(due to my tap water parameters and the cost of a CO2 system), and that's exactly what I was going to do. Amazon swords are beautiful and grow well in the sand, and there's something called microswords that are a beautiful groundcover.
http://www.AquariumPlants.com/product_p/mi080.htm

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. 

Your best bet to make a pair is to start with 5 and let whoever pairs up kill the other 3, or pull the other 3 out if you're able to tell they're not the "in" crowd.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I've had great success with many Africans, including mbuna and plants. My substrate is also sand, and no I don't use any fertilizers.

The plants I've had success with include Brazilian swords, many Cryptocorne species, Giant Vallisneria, various Aponogeton species, and of course Anubias and Java Fern.


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