Aquarium Bulbs

[silly400]

I just bought some aquarium bulbs from Wal-Mart. i have never seen these bofore. Anyway after a few Google searches I found people the said the work great and others that said they don't work at all.


http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sea-Life-P...-1-ct/10403220

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sea-Life-P...-1-ct/10403219

Here are some links to the prducts I bought.
My question is do these products work and if so how do I plant them? No instuctions on how to plant them.

I have a 55 gallon Chichlid tank with two live plants already and the fish do brother them. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

Has anyone tried these before? If so what where you results?

[Jay]

Hey silly400...Welcome to the forums

Yes they do sprout if your water conditions are right for them. I have had people give them to me from time to time and have found that when they do sprout they rarely survives. I have always found it best to buy Aponogetons from a grower and then propagate them in the tank.

Planting is done with only half of the bulb in the gravel if you can tell which is the root end . You might try sprouting them in a window between wet paper towels.

My feeling is these things are most often placed for impulse buying.

You are right Cichlids and small plants do not get along.

Jay

[ZeroSystem]

Welcome aboard Silly400!

I was about to extend on what Jay already said in that nearly all cichlids are not compatible with live plants (and sometimes even fake ones can get destroyed pretty quick!). Although there are a handful of species, the vast majority, and certainly most of the really popular cichlids will make quick work of most plants you put in their tanks. I have had some success with keeping Java Fern or Java Moss with cichlids, as well as Anubis with some luck. It can vary from one fish to the next. That being said I've always found that if you have the tank well planted first and then add the cichlid at a young age after the plants have established themselves, sometimes you might get lucky (don't count on it though!). I also try to stick with the hardy plants that don't need to be planted in the gravel like the ones I mentioned earlier. I've had some luck with some of the smaller CA cichlids I've kept, like Firemouths and Convicts, but if you're keeping something like an Oscar or a Jack Dempsey I wouldn't get my hopes up...