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do all plants grow well with each other?
will you have some plants far away from other plants?
does location of origin is important for the mixing of plants in the same tank?

Hi
The questions you pose deal with the topic of
Allelopathy. "It is the production and release of
chemicals (allelochemicals) by organizism into their
environment that act on other organisms." Chapter III,
of Diana Walstad's book ECOLOGY OF THE PLANTED AQUARIUM,
deals exclusively with that subject.

Generally speaking, most of us do not need to worry
about it because of the rapid filtration, aeration
of the water, and regular water changes, keep the
chemicals diluted to the point where they become a
non factor.
Tanks that have large numbers of, say Crypts to
the exclusion of others, and in which the water
is not changed with any regularity, would be more
e to this problem and the introduction of
something other than a type of Crypt, might be
problematic.

Diana's book has several charts listing various
plants and their effect on water lettuce and Duckweed.
The results show the inhibition on the growth of
those to plants in percentages tht range from 10%
to the death of them.

Do a search on "Alleopathy in the aquarium" and
enjoy the reading.

Frank


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

thank you, i will

[span class="edited"][Edited by Fry 2004-09-09 11:06][/span]

Really in a standard aquarium the issue of alleopathy should not come into play and is not something you should be unduly concerned about.

With regard to your first 2 questions the fundamental common sense issues would be of more concern. Making sure the plant has enough room to grow and spread it&#8217;s roots , making sure it&#8217;s not shaded if it&#8217;s a light loving plant etc. Crpyts for example grow huge root systems and planting too many too close together may result in the roots choking one another out.

With regard to location and origin it&#8217;s not really a factor as long as the water requirements are similar. Some plants won&#8217;t do well in hard water some will, some prefer temperature a little cooler then others etc. As long as you can fulfill these requirements origin is not really a factor , much the same way it&#8217;s fine to keep South American Tetras with Asian Gourami.

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