I want to start putting live plants in my tanks, but I don't want a huge mess and I want them to be fairly easy to keep alive. Does anybody have any recommendations as to which ones I should go with?

mmm, simple question, lets see if i can keep the answer simple too

1st thing i cant help thinking is are u going to add co2, i guess not. plus how strong are ur lights. as a rough guide 1-2 watts per gallon is about minimum i'd say to grow plants, 3-4 watts per gallon is much better.

if ur not adding co2 then u need strudy plants. from my own experience i'd suggest a few that i've got that grow well without co2, these are ...

hygrophillia, wisteria, amazon swords (the larger ones), java fern, java moss, cryptocoryne (wendtii, walkeri and a few other surdy ones, that im not sure of), annubias.

from my experience these are a few i know that grow well without co2. java moss and ferns are REALLY sturdy and will grow almost anywhere.

i am sure there was a list of sturdy plants on a 'krib' thread. i will look it up for u and add it to this post later.

Don't want to add co2. Don't know the wattage of the light. Simple enough answer?

watts per gallon is easy to work out. have a look at the light tube/s u have, it should tell u on them what wattage they are, add them up, if u have reflectors u can 50-100% to the total depeding on how good the reflectors are and then devide the total by the amount of gallons the tank holds. i recon its worth knowing as it gives a rough guide as to wether u have high, medium or low light tank. 1-2watts per gallon is low, 2-3 watts is medium and 3 + watts per gallon upwards is high.

i couldnt find the 'krib' web page but i have another one bookmarked that is quite good. its a site called 'plantgeek' and it lists the plants in order of ease of keeping. click here ...

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... and then check out the 'very easy' and 'easy' plants lists.

hope this helps.

Thank you for your help. Exactly what I was looking for. Got a question, what is pearling? On plantgeek.net it says "Another example of how even slow-growing java moss can pearl."

Pearling: - with good conditions, e.g. added co2 and lots of light the plants produce oxygen during the day which u can actualy see in the form of tiny bubbles on the leaves of plants.

when i do a water change, due to the highly oxygenated water going into the tank i often see all my plants covered in tiny bubbles, this isnt pearling tho. i have never seen my java moss show pearling but i often see it on my java ferns.

good luck with the purchasing of 'easy' care plants. maybe let us know how u get on, what u buy etc.

Do you take the plant out of the pot or bury the pot with the plant in it?

Here's a start-

i usualy take my plants out the pots and spread them about a bit, but they can be left in pots. if for example u had fish that liked to uproot plants then the pots can be a good idea, but otherwise it is better to remove them from the pots and plant them, i recon.

one important tip i'd mention is there are roughly three types of plants, stem plants, rosette plants and rhizome plants. it is important to know as u plant each slightly differently. the main thing is when planting rhizome plants dont plant the main part of the plant, where the leaves meet (the rhizome), under the gravel as it can cause the rhizome to rot.

have a look at the following link, it breaks it down simply and tells u how to plant each type of plant ...

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.

another handy tip, to help the plants grow, is to place a fertilizer tablet, or bits of fert tabs, under each plant or group of plants. the rhizome plants take most of their nutrients in through the leaves so they dont need fert tabs but u may have to add a little bit of liqiud plant food every couple of weeks, after a water change is best usualy. also, if the plants are in pots and have 'rock wool' wrapped around the roots, u can plant a little of the rock wool with the plant as this works a bit like fert tabs and provides nutrients directly to the plant roots

looking at ur pic, i think u have still got some plastic plants and some new real ones? what real plants did u get?

The majority of the live plants are java fern, a little bit of java moss and 1 anubias for now. The live plants went into my wifes 29 gallon. This is eventually going to be a breeder tank for L183a. I'm going to get a 10 gallon and put the swordtails/platys in that and put a frontosa in the 29 gallon with some panda corys.

a good starting selection of plants i think. all of these plants are good for attaching to bogwood or rocks. i tend to jam the roots of the fern or anubias or the java moss itself into bits of wood or rocks and after a bit they become rooted to it. if 'jamming' them in doesnt hold them u can maybe use rubber bands or thread to tie them to the rocks and wood and after a while when they have become stuck u can remove the ties.

u can ofcourse grow them on the gravel but as these plants are all rhizome plants u shouldnt bury the rhizome (where the leaves meet the stem) in the gravel as it may rot and kill them. what i do is just push a couple of roots into the gravel to hold them and then the other roots will attach to the gravel.

anubias are slow growing and can be affected by algae but i tend not to worry about this and u should find the cats will help keep them algae free. if ur anubia begins to get big u can split the rhizone and make it into 2 or 3 plants. the java ferns should produce lots of baby java ferns once they get established. the baby plants tend to appear at the end of older leaves. when u think the baby java ferns are big enough u can carefully pull them off the leaves and put them elsewhere. the java moss can grow quite well once it gets going. if u trim it u can then use the trimmings to cover other bits of wood and rocks if u want to or roll it into a clump and use these in a breading tank as its a great provider of food and also makes a good spawning mop. when u end up with an excess of java moss and ferns u can sell them on or swap them for food etc, as i often do

Ok - Where are we at? What? You've finished!

Another reason for leaving plants in their pot, is shallow gravel. Even without fish that dig, they'll manage to pull it out, if there's not enough gravel to keep it down. Pot's can sometime be fitted nicely into alcoves in the wood. If keeping plants in the pot, ensure their roots can grow out through the pot. Gentle ease them through if required.

As a general rule of thumb, Fluorescent tubes are:
4 foot: 36 watt.
3 foot: 30 watt.
2 foot: 18 watt.

I'm using NEC Quad-Phospher fluorescent tubes, which put out 150% of the light from a normal fluorescent tube. The 4 footers are equivilent to 40 watt. 3740 Lumen, 5000 Kelvin Natural (day) light. They go for Aus $15. They have the same spectrum as many tubes sold for Aquarium use. But a tube from the Aquarium will cost Aus $35 for 18", $55 for 4 foot.

NEC do manufacture Tri-Phosphor Plant / Aquarium tubes, but I've never come across them. The local Aquariums are just flogging off 'Natural' Tri-Phosphors, if they don't stock the name brands (Sera, Hagen).

On the 55 gallon its a 4' GE aqua rays freshwater and saltwater 40W. On the 29 gallon its an 18" all glass aquarium 17W.

from what u say about ur lights funky ... the 55g is a high light tank, 4x40w = 160w devided by 55g, ur looking at about 3 watts per gallon, which will be higher if u have reflectors too. the 29g is quite low, less than 1watt per gallon.

saying that tho, java fern, java moss and anubias will grow in low and high light conditions.

the 55g would be a good tank to make into a 'plated tank' if u wanted to. with the addition of co2 and the lights u have in it, u could probably grow any kind of aquarium plant. maybe u could try that at a later date if u felt like it.

(edited note) i may have miss read ur post funky, if it is only 1 x 40watt bulb, then the 55g is a low light tank too. but again still ok with the plants u have chosen.

The 29 gallon is just alot easier to plant because its smaller. I do want to start putting live plants in the 55. Thanks nick, aka fishypaw.