# Plants from Petco/Petsmart



## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

You know, those ones like in the tubes that are actually real aquatic plants? Has anyone had any luck with these?

I've tried a couple of them with no luck. I tried S. Repens, to no avail. I also tried Cyperus Helferi. The weird thing is, it seemed like it was growing taller, but at the same time most of the batches I got looked like it was just rotting out.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

I have 2 kinds of anubias, a sword plant and some wysteria that came in those tubes. They're all doing great, but it did take them a month or so to adjust to being submerged.


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## ROWEBLAST (Nov 29, 2013)

Can't speak to the tubes, but I've had tons of success with the gel packets! I grew s. repens from that, and while it started out very long stemmed with tiny leaves (maybe because it was grown emersed?) it is just going crazy in my tank now.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Oh yeah! my bad. Those plants I did were in the little gel things. Not in tubes.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I bought 2 anubias from Petco the other day that were I tubes, the ones in the tanks were more algae than plant. But I'd also bought a fern in one of those tubes I the past that was actually a riparium plant not aquatic like it advertised. It's best to take a photo of the plants and research the web for it before buying (they will not refund plants if you try to return them).


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

To all. Purchase an aquatic plant I'd book. I know it's old school, but it's really quite helpful.


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## chris_ranger (Mar 17, 2014)

I have anubias nana, dwarf hair grass, and staurogyne repens from petsmart
All are great, the nanas didn't need to acclimate, hair grass is spreading fast took to submerged immediately with no die off, the staurogyne, is meh.


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## t2ak (Dec 28, 2013)

All of my plants are from pet smart or petco. The only one I couldn't get going was hairgrass but that was due to lighting and co2.


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## Smeagol (Mar 4, 2013)

I'm batting .500 with the PetSmart plants. I had Java Ferns that did extremely well. And I had an Amazon Sword that did not do well. I'm considering trying the S. repens or the dhc at some point (depends on whether or not I can solve my current glosso problem).

I wonder if the results have anything to do with how long the plants sit on the store shelves. I notice that if you go to PetSmart on the day they get their shipment in, the plants look nice and green and damp. But other times you go there and they look dried out and have a lot of dying leaves.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

I have bought s repens from petsmart, and some downoi. The repens grow quick and multiply like crazy. I do have high lighting and co2. Pictures are bad, but here's proof. I bought 2 bags of repens and one downoi.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

One more picture


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Yeah I didn't have high light in my tank, nor C02, so that's probably S. Repens didn't grow for me.


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## allabouttheplants (May 3, 2014)

i have only had 1 problem with the gel packed plants, either tube or bag. anubias nana, the leaves looked great in the tube. i got it home and the rhizome had rotted out in the gel.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

buckwheet said:


> i can attest to petsmart plants! doing great for my tank
> (high light, CO2) from most cases I've read, S. Repens likes high light and CO2 but just melts sometimes! and much like cripts, comes back strong.
> 
> 
> How long did it take for downoi to grow?


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

Wow Buckwheat!
You just gave me hope that the Petsmart Downoi that I bought three days ago will live. I already a few stems melt off on me despite high light/ CO2


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## second (Jan 31, 2005)

Buckwheet

those are some outstanding tanks!


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## Tihsho (Oct 10, 2007)

Started out with some DHG from Petsmart as well as Downoi since I couldn't find anything else locally. Plus I've never had luck with DHG in a pot, so I figured I'd try something new.

*Day 1 (4/19/2014):*










*Day 21 (5/9/2014):*


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## buckwheet (Apr 29, 2014)

andrewq;How long did it take for downoi to grow?[/QUOTE said:


> that's about 6weeks of growth


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## buckwheet (Apr 29, 2014)

umarnasir335 said:


> Wow Buckwheat!
> You just gave me hope that the Petsmart Downoi that I bought three days ago will live. I already a few stems melt off on me despite high light/ CO2


patience is a virtue, I had a few stems brown up also.


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

buckwheet said:


> patience is a virtue, I had a few stems brown up also.


btw the plant you asked an ID for is Lobelia Cardinalis...great foreground plant


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## t2ak (Dec 28, 2013)

Just to join the party.

The Amazon and micro sword are from petco. Everything else is from petsmart.


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## Smeagol (Mar 4, 2013)

andrewq said:


> I have bought s repens from petsmart, and some downoi. The repens grow quick and multiply like crazy. I do have high lighting and co2.





buckwheet said:


> i can attest to petsmart plants! doing great for my tank (high light, CO2) from most cases I've read, S. Repens likes high light and CO2 but just melts sometimes!


 I'm thinking about trying the S. repens. Can you be more specific about your lighting? What are you considering to be "high light"?


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

Smeagol said:


> You say you have success with the S. repens under "high light." Can you be more specific? What are you considering to be "high light"?



Sure, I have a odyssea T5HO dual. 2 bulbs putting out 6700k, 24watts each, and sitting right on top of tank. My tank is 20 gallon [email protected]


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## Mizuhuman (Mar 16, 2013)

I bought crypt balansae from petsmart about 3-4 months ago, and they're doing well. They were in those gel packs.


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## Smeagol (Mar 4, 2013)

A few more questions....

1) What's the best way to rinse off the gel that the PetSmart plants are rooted in?

2) How far apart should I plant Staurogyne repense stems?

3) What happened to Buckwheet's photos?


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

Just remove as much of the gel you can by hand. Then rinse in water. Plant about 1 to 2 inches apart. Once they start to grow replant again


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## KnownSyntax (Mar 15, 2014)

A few amazon swords that I have bought from Petsmart are growing like crazy (I bought them from the tubes in good/great condition when trying to look through them). It did/does take them a few weeks before they grow their submerged leaves, as they will melt (but if you look closely you'll see grow from the roots or new leaves etc.).


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

http://www.aqua-fish.net/index.php?...iesto=4&rozmnozovanie=not&povod=not&speed=not
http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plant-list-a-z.aspx
On this one point to a category and you get list to pick from.
http://www.aquariumplants.com/Brackish_Water_Plants_s/22.htm
These are bookmarks I use as a guide to identify plants from. The last one even list
brackish water and terrarium plants.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

So I thought I would share my progress with petsmart downoi. They are growing quickly, and might just sell them instead. Dont know where to put them.

YOU KNOW WHAT GRINDS MY GEARS

Why do people sell these plants for so much. Ive seen them go for as much as $5 per crown. When petsmart sells these bags for $7. I got out 35 crowns. So thats 35x5=$175. Holly jeez


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

andrewq said:


> So I thought I would share my progress with petsmart downoi. They are growing quickly, and might just sell them instead. Dont know where to put them.
> 
> YOU KNOW WHAT GRINDS MY GEARS
> 
> Why do people sell these plants for so much. Ive seen them go for as much as $5 per crown. When petsmart sells these bags for $7. I got out 35 crowns. So thats 35x5=$175. Holly jeez


There's a difference between the two I guess. The downoi we get from members on this forum already have them growing for a while in the tank; most are usually the submerged versions. The ones from petsmart are grown emersed so there's a chance they'll die off pretty quickly. In addition, the downoi from petsmart are still pretty small from what I remember.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

They where pretty tiny to begin with. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now.


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

andrewq said:


> They where pretty tiny to begin with. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now.


Probably the reason why. Some people just aren't patient enough to be able to grow them . Others just want the desired effect right away to compliment their aquascape.


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## tweetyfish (May 12, 2014)

I got the java fern from PetSmart in the tube. Looks like the are wrapped with some kind of thread? Maybe to hold the stems together? Do I just plant the bunch as is?


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## dbw27 (May 19, 2014)

Hi:

I am a newbie having a tank for about three weeks now. I know very little of what I am doing having never owned a tank in my life. However, I bought some wisteria from PetSmart and it is still in my tank, not brown, and not dying, and looks like it has a few new little leaves. So if I can keep the thing alive (somehow), then I do not think it can be all that bad.

I washed that gel stuff off, it smelled REALLY bad. I washed it A LOT and put it in my tank and still alive and green.

I do best with this Water Wisteria that I bought from the local nursery for cheap, grown in the pot, and was advertised for ponds. I cleaned off the dirt and threw that stuff in, and wow, it is actually growing pretty good. The beautiful purple flowers on it died (as I suspected) but the leaves are still going with new growth.

Um, so, no I have not had a problem with petsmart live plants.

dbw


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