FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Ok im going to be starting to cycle my tank soon, so imma buy about 4-6 danios. BUt my question is eventually i want live plants, but will they do fine if i introduce them later on, or do i need to go ahead and introduce them now? Thanks!

Usually you put the plants in halfway through the cycling. Hope I Helped!

Chris

Its really a matter of preference, when to add them. I'll tell you that its alot easier to plant a tank before you add fish.

Plants will also help with the cycle (keeping the ammonia low) which will help the fish out. Plants can also speed the cycle up a bit if you add alot of fast growing plants. I would plant the tank first. Look for Wisteria and other stem plants. They will help suck up the ammonia and nitrites and move the cycle along.

*Kristin*

Yes it's fine to add them later. If you're not quite sure what you're doing when it comes to plants (which is most of us some of the time ) it may be easier on you to worry about cycling first, then get the plants established.
GirlieGirl raises a valid point, plants do help the fish out in the cycling process, but not if they decide to die on you. If you need to get the tank set up right away, adding the plants later may be the best option. If you have plenty of time at your disposal, It's often easiest to plant the tank before it's even fully filled with water, then let everything settle before starting the cycling process.

If your interested in adding plants first, I'd stick with the hardier low light plants to begin with. They're less likely to die and cause problems for your tank during the cycle.

^_^

ive put plants in before, after, during... alwas do well.

you are going to need to "feed" the plants if there is no fish to produce ammonia for them
plants need the two most basic micronutrients to grow
nitrogen and phosphrus, also carbon dioxide for the organics
nitrogen in ammonia, nitrate and phosphrus in phosphate
you can have a diy carbon dioxide reactor (yeast) or you can use carbon fertiliser

what size tank is it and how much light do you have?

Good luck!