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How do you go about keeping live plants in the gravel. No matter what I do, they are always floating by the next day. Any suggestions?

If they're new plantings sometimes bending the stem in an L shape before burying it will help, and mound the gravel a little higher than normal.

It might be the fish digging them up in which case a few larger rocks around them can sometimes help.....some have used weights...never tried it myself.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

jenbabe256

I have added rocks around plants and tied a small rock to the roots.

I dont have that problem any more as all my except the crypts are Anubias are tied to either rocks or wood the remainder just sit on the sub base of the tank.

Keith

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As Babelfish said, it may be the fish themselves who dig them up, expecially if you have cichlids, quite a few of those are notorious diggers. If its not the fish, then it may be just a matter of planting them a little bit deeper. I use a set of long thin tweezers to plant my plants, most online shops have them, or similar tools, for a couple of $. Also keep in mind that plants stay rooted a lot better when you're having fine substrate, with a diameter of maybe 2-3 mm. The larger kinds of substrate can be used I guess, but they're not really optimal.

I hope this helped you a bit

Martin

and when she says "bend", don't literally bend it so it breaks, just give it a little curve when you put it in the gravel so that the gravel covers more of the plant than if you just stick it straight in.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

I am definitely a rookie at this and want to know what's the best plant to start with. Are their any particular variety you can grow on bogwood in the aquarium? How do u get plants to grow on wood?

Clownygirl, there are many that will grow on wood...right now I've got java fern and java moss on some. Best way is to use some cotton string to tie it to the wood...the plants will eventually root onto the wood, and the string will break down naturally. Other ways of attaching plants include fishing line, rubber bands, or twisty ties...for the most part I prefer the cotton string because its more natural

welcome to the site

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

look for plants which have a rhizome instead of roots, these will be the plants which you can try attaching to wood and rocks. these include java fern and anubias, which are both very good beginner plants.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

my local pet stores sell metal strips that you fasten the strips to tha base of the plants, it helps anchor them down so the fish cant remove them

Thanks Babelfish, Moondog, Johnny. I think I like the cotton thread idea. More because, I am in India, and there is very little equipment available for aquarium settings. We however, can put some fishing net in our local lakes and get tiger barbs, silver and black sharks and other varieties for the aquarium.