What are the best kind of fake plants?

Jamie

Jamie

AC Members
Jul 27, 2003
271
0
0
47
TX
Visit site
I have moved for the 4th time within two years and finally will be staying here in Corpus for at least 4. I am now getting around to setting the tank up. I have done the whole planted tank bit, and much to my dismay, despite a great amount of effort(and money), I was not successful. I definately like the look of plants and I'm drawn to the idea of nice fake plants...ie....they can't die if they've never lived ;) . It seems that many people are happy with the silk variety. I mainly want what ever is most natural looking. I'm looking at bigals right now and I'm not really sure what to get. If you look at my profile I've got a 150, so there's a bit of space to fill. Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

-Jamie
 
I would start with a combination of silk plants and probably give good old jav afern another try. Personally I can't think of a much easier plant to grow than java fern. In one of my tanks I don't add ferts, just do weekly water changes and the java fern grows very well.

The silk plants are best as they tend to not hurt fins on more delicate fish. They are also easy to remove and clean if they get covered in alage. I would look for the most natural coloured ones, stay clear of fluorescent colours and glow in the dark varieties.

Also do a search for Amano and plants on google. You will probably come across some great looking planted tanks that you can then use to design a tank of fake plants. Look at the variety of live plants he uses and try to find those fake ones that best match.
 
We put fake plants in our entire tank - a combination of plastic & silk. What we always looked for was a plant that would look like it would be found naturally under water. Believe it or not, some of the best buys were found at WalMart! Also try your local greenhouse - we found some nice silk grasses at one here. We always check to see how the plant is put together - I would stay away from anything taped together or anything with little knobbies or ends that can be pulled off by the fish. :D
 
I prefer the ones with the heavy rock base. The flat plastic and the v shaped clear plastic base ones tend to float a bit.
 
Thanks for the replys. I looked at Petco and Petsmart locally and bought an assortment of fake plants....some silk, some plastic. I have not tried the local nursery or Walmart...I will though. There's still some aquascaping that needs to be done. I'd love to post a pic of what I've got so far...maybe someone can help me out with that. BTW, I must share that at Petsmart I was able to buy fake foreground plants in a mat type of form, approx. 1 sq. ft.. At 12.99 I thought it was a steal. And some of them look soooo real. I especially like the Boxwood variety. It looks just like Petite Anubias Nana. I am very pleased with it. I would have paid a fortune for the real stuff and honestly...i think this looks just as good. Even for folks with live plants...I think this stuff is worth looking at...IMHO having a nicely aquascaped foreground really makes all the difference. Especially for larger sized tanks. The mat allowed me to shape it as I desired and place it where-ever I wanted.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom