Feeding and Nutrition :: growing plants?

[ajozwiak]

I don't know if this is really the right place for this, but I figured it doesn't hurt to ask. I have an extra ten gallon tank that's just sitting around and I was wondering if I could use this to grow anachris or something (guppies?) that the turtles can eat. Is anyone doing this? Any suggestions? It would be nice to make that tank useful. Thanks in advance!

[Tenodera]

Sure, there's lots of people doing this, you just gotta wait for them to come...lol

[steve]

Theres a sticky in the feeding forum about raising your own guppies

[octpusgirl8]

I'm thinking about using my old 40 gal tank to grow anacharis. I'm not sure yet, it'll be a bit of an initial investment to get it all set up, but if anacharis grows relatively fast i think it would begin to pay off in about 6 months at the rate at which i've been buying anacharis from petsmart. I would love to hear if anybody else has done this!

[ajozwiak]

Thanks! I'll check out that sticky.

[reptilegrrl]

I grow anacharis in buckets in my backyard. I keep a few little mosquito fish in each bucket so mosquitoes don't breed there. It works very well.

The buckets do get a lot of string algae though :/

[Turtle_Turtle]

this is what somebody told me on another website "Float it on the surface of a tank that has lots of fish (ie, lots of feeding), and hit it with heavy lighting. No special substrates or CO2 needed ."

[marisa]

Fish will nibble at the anarchis, so I'm not sure why it should be grown in a tank with lots of them in it...It does need a fair amount of light, though. Good filtration will help as will cooler rather than warmer water.

[reptilegrrl]

Marisa is right: fish will eat it. Adding mosquito fish or guppies will keep mosquitoes from breeding in the water, but adding goldfish or such will get the anacharis eaten.

[Turtle_Turtle]

guppies eat it too

[reptilegrrl]

Ah well, you learn something new every day! I still don't think a guppy would eat as much as a goldie, though. Goldfish are eating machines.

[DavidY]

It's good to have some kind of animal life in with the anacharis to provide nutrients and CO2. Although you could just add fertilizer and blow bubbles through a straw if you wanted to.

[scripta_elegans]

I've been growing/harvesting Anacharis all summer in the turtles "summer house" (stock tank). I have a few Rosies in there, and they seem to keep the mosquitoes from breeding too. I am also producing snails finally. I can't buy enough for them to breed in the tank, the turtles eat them too fast. I've also got Water Hyacinth, Water Lettuce, and Frog bit in there. The turtles really like the Hyacinth. I just put some in there last night, and 2 minutes later I hear a tremendous CRRRUNCH. I look over kind of worried at what made the sound, and saw Spike with a claw on each side of the bulb of the Hyacinth, and a huge bite out of it. I think between the 2 of them, I am down to some odd shreads that didn't taste very good.

[Turtle_Turtle]

someone should make a sticky on how to grow aquatic plants

[steve]

"Summer house"? I don't think I've seen pics