Feeding and Nutrition :: plants

[xsavingsaturdayx]

i bought my two RES's 2 feeder fishes today and one is already mysteriously gone , haha.
but anyways i wanna get them to eat more veggie's they already accept romaine lettuce, i wanna offer them some live aquatic plants, but i have absolutly NO idea where to buy them,ive never even seen how they look like, so im completely clueless.

whats a realy nutritious plant that i can feed them?
by the way, how much they do cost?
and where can i find them?

[SpotsMama]

PetCo and PetSmart sell plants for aquariums. Frankly, though, sometimes what they've got looks pretty ratty. They might be ok where you are though.

Here's a place for buying plants on-line. These are more expensive but not too bad. Someone said you can get them on ebay too.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=768

Whatever you get, be sure and rinse it off real well before putting it in your tank to remove snails etc.

[SpotsMama]

For kinds of plants, look on the sticky in this forum. My Spot likes anacharis, which is really common, and is real cheap - costs maybe $1.50 for a little bunch at PetSmart.

[turtlesrock77]

Mine love everything I have ever given them. I've given them anacharis, jungle something-or-other (which was gone in a day, sorry I don't remember the name) and hornwort. The stuff at my Petsmart looks great, so quality probably just varies by location.
There is a list of poisonous plants here: http://forum.petturtle.com/viewtopic.php?t=1675
Anything that is not on that list should be okay.

[marisa]

For a leafy vegetable, dandelions are very good. For an aquatic plant, duckweed is particularly good.

[SpotsMama]

Can you put duckweek in an indoor aquarium or is it just for outside? I haven't been able to find duckweek anywhere yet but am still looking because in the pictures it looks like it would be good!

[marisa]

Duckweed is illegal in some states, I think. I use it in indoors in tanks, but it doesn't last long (it gets eaten), so I keep a bunch of it in a separate pail of water. It can be hard to find. It doesn't seem to like a lot of light/warmth (being out in direct summer sun for long lengths of time).

[BullDog]

Thanks for that link turtlesrock!

I'd also like to add to the list of plants NOT to get, "Brazillian Sword" aka "Peace Lilly."

And my Ralph goes nuts for Italian Vallisneria aka eel grass. I buy the ones in pots, so I let him eat all the green, then I take it out and put it in my fish/plant (and now snail) tank (just a little plastic 2 gallon) and it grows back in 2 weeks or less They're usually a bit more expensive, but I get mine on sale, buy 1 get 2 free from Petcetera, so it works out to about $3 each or less (depending on how they label it xD)

[SpotsMama]

When I get a plant in a pot Spot just rips it out and shreds everything. What bothers me is the medium that plants sold in pots are in. It's kind of like cotton or wool fiber. It's don't think it's anything I want Spot to eat so I just take the plants out of the pots and let them float.

Does anyone know what's that cottony stuff in the pots and is it harmful? Does anyone have a neat and safe way to anchor living plants to the bottom?