FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hi...
I'm so stress, can someone help me out. I want to decorate my tank with fake silk plants, I don't know what to get !!!! Can you give me some suggestions of what kind and how many plants I would need, I'm up to any suggestions. I have a 55 gallon tank with the main center peice is a old sunken ship, it's about
23" long. Also, where to buy on line, we don't have a LFS (only a Wal-Mart, not even a super one at that). I really want silk or plastic plants. ANY SUGGESTIONS ......



Thanks Again,
Sugarcookie (in Kentucky)

Hi,
For mail order fake plants, try Drsfostersmith.com or
Big Al's.
As far as appropriate quantity for a 55, that depends upon
you, how much excess money you have for the project and the
fish in the tank. I'd start with about 2 dozen and go from
there.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi sugarcookie.......welcome to FP!

One thing to keep in mind when you're decorating your tank is how hard or easy it will be to clean the gravel. It is recommended on here that when you do a water change every week or two, that you vacuum 1/4 of the gravel at the same time. Each time vacuum a different section so that in a months time you have vacuumed the whole bottom of the tank.

Keeping the above info. in mind, you will be messing up your plants when you vacuum around & under them. This can be frustrating when you have to replant or straighten them out when you're done. This situation was brought up awhile back on another post. Someone wanted to know how to vacuum the bottom of their tank without messing up their fake plants. The answer was more or less....that you can't. So be prepared that the more plants you have, the more work it will be to keep them in place after vacuuming.

Also, it is more than likely that the plants will need to be taken out periodically to be cleaned from the gunk & algae that will form on them. I don't mean to discourage you from getting plants, but then I don't want you to get frustrated from biting off more than you can chew either. I would start out with just a handfull of plants & then after a couple months if I decided I could handle more, then I would get more. I've been through the fake plant experience.... that's why I just advised what I did.

Keep in mind that smaller plants around or near your ship will help keep it in proportion. In other words, smaller plants will help your ship look larger & more real. If you surround your ship with larger plants it will make your ship look more like a toy ship. It's usually recommended to put larger plants toward the back and/or the sides of the tank & smaller plants as you come forward. You might check out peoples tanks in the Photo Booth on this site for some ideas in decorating.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck!

Hi there, if you take a look in the photo booth section, you will see pics of my 55 gallon tank with fake plants from Big Als.... They have an exceptional line of plants inin store that are anchored to pieces of slate. I have 5 of them in my 55, and with the exception of an open swimming area, the tank is fairly well planted. It seems that the Big Als ones are staying clean longer than the cheap ones. The slate anchored to the bottom of each one really keeps them in place during weekly vacs.
Hope it helps!
Dan

55G -5x Bosemani, 3x Emerald Cory,3x Red Rainbow, 3x Turquoise Rainbow. 20G-Empty. 10G -4x Danio 3x Cory Fry 1 Gold Mystery Snail. 10G- 1x CAE, 2x Tetra 1x ADF

Well Drs F&S , and big alls have been mentioned So I will toss out That Fish Place

Good place and good prices.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
My Tanks at Photobucket

Clever call on the scale fishpatty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

You can also try Petsmart. I once got a ton of nice silk-type plants from them. The only problem I had, was that algae kept growing on them and it was very difficult to get it off. I wound up throwing them all out.

This time around, I went with straight plastic plants. I feel they'll be a lot easier to clean.