Epiphytes and stems

[Schrute66]

Two related questions:
1) is it fair to say Anubias, buce, and Java fern can be considered similar enough in terms of requirements, e.g., light intensity & duration, water chemistry, and nutrients, that they can thrive together in the same conditions?
2) any recommendations for stem plants an aquarist can keep successfully in those same conditions?

 

[HarryL]

I keep rotala HRA and ludwigia super red with buce and anubias, seems like they all thrive pretty well. I believe they overlap each other on the water parameters they do well in.

 

[ElleDee]

There is a lot of overlap in conditions that will keep both groups of plants happy, but there are a couple situations I've seen beginners try that don't work very well. The first situation is when people want to keep stems in very low energy tanks - buce, java fern, and anubias can practically survive in a cave on very little nutrients and co2, while stems need more juice to do well. In the other situation, people will blast their slow growing plants with light in tanks with little plant mass. This can be a recipe for algae in new, unbalanced tanks.

Often these tanks are filled with all "easy" plants and the person is confused why they are having issues and it's just that they are not easy in the same way. When I was doing research when I was just getting started I often read people who claimed that stems just didn't grow well in low tech tanks which is not true, but it *is* true that they struggle when PAR is 15 at the substrate.

But yeah, there's no reason you can't have both with a sensible set up.

 

[Burr740]

Absolutely can thrive together as long as you meet the needs of the most demanding

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Agreed @ElleDee and @Burr740

My tank is mostly dominated by exactly what you’ve described OP. A balanced, and CLEAN aquarium is what makes it all work. I can tell you it will be a struggle before it’s a success, so just trust the process.