# Best plants for Guppy fry and Best water method



## kraylon (Jan 31, 2006)

Me and my Wife have a 29 gallons tank that is home to the Wife's guppies that breed like wild fire, this tank is not heavy planted, so we have room for more. 

plants that are in the tank

Water sprite, java moss, java fern, and 2 moss balls.

What we would like to be able to do is have enough or the right kind of plants that when the guppies have babies they don't get eaten by the other guppies, but i am unsure if we are going about this the right way or have the right plants. some of the water sprites are as tall as the tank and some are shorter. 

Info on the tank

it is a standard 29 gallon, lighting is a coral life 30" t-5 light with 1 colormax 18 watt bulb and 1 6700k 18 watt, no co2 added, gravel is normal blue and tan gravel with plant gravel/sand mixed in (I don't rember what kind) and a Fluval 203 canister filter. 



and my next question is: what is the best way to change the water in a planted tank? i use a gravel vac and go around the plants I change the water just like I would if it was a fish only set up is this the right way???


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Having two 50 gal heavily planted tanks with guppies, I just make sure the plant mass is dense enough that there's enough cover for some to survive. I am sure some become snacks for the parents, but they breed so quickly, I don't have a shortage of them. 

Your lighting is rather low, so you will have a slower growth rate and be limited in what you can grow, but it sounds like you have chosen plants suitable to your conditions, especially since they appear to be growing for you. The java moss should provide some excellent cover for them. You could also look into hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum). It's a floating plant, but I wouldn't recommend floating it in your tank due to the low light and the blockage thereof. You could anchor it in the gravel and let the stems grow up.

With the set up you have, I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing many water changes. Low lighting, no fertilization or CO2, so you want the fish waste and food to also feed your plants. Check out the el natural forum for info on these types of tanks. 

Typically on planted tanks we don't often gravel vac.


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## Scouter (Mar 3, 2008)

getting a stem plant that would tolerate the lower lighting would be really good. I noticed that my guppy adults didn't care to swim in the denser sections of the stem plants and that is where the fry would hang out. Aside from gravel vacs potentially hurting the plants, since the fry tend to hang out near the bottom, I would definitely not gravel vac the tank.
Scouter


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## kraylon (Jan 31, 2006)

thanks guys is there any plants that are red or bloom flowers that should work for me???


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

kraylon said:


> thanks guys is there any plants that are red or bloom flowers that should work for me???


Not with the lighting you have on there. Even the 'easier' red plants require moderate lighting, imo.


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## kraylon (Jan 31, 2006)

thats too bad she really likes red but oh well we will just have to dpo with what we got and add so hornwort.
thanks


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