Plants In Pots Or Not ?

Hi
As new to fish keeping , I have bought some lovely plants but would like to know if I should keep them in pots or not ? One shop said yes the other said not too! I've planted most in the substrate .
Thanks Ally

For me it would depend on what substrate you have and the types of plants.

Remember that you can use substrate sticks/tablets with any inert substrate. These need replacing every few months, but are quite cheap. Iron is usually a problem for plants, especially more difficult ones, without a proper source such as fertilisers or proper soil.

The only purpose I could see for using pots would be if your substrate was inert (ie. regular gravel) and you didn't particularly want to do dose ferts, but needed a good nutrient base for particular plants (e.g. keep that difficult big red plant growing strong in its own pot). Or if you wanted to keep the plant position quite versatile: easy to move a potted plant around; not so if buried in substrate. But how often will you move a plant once planted?

Unless you have difficult plants and bad lighting, most aquarium plants will grow in anything using nutrients from decomposed fish food, fish poo, fish CO₂ and regular lighting. This is what I have done, but note that I also use substrate sticks/pellets. You might want to read Diana Walstad's work on planted aquariums. Others here can explain it better than I.

If you want to up the "tech" ever so slightly you can use Seachem Excel (or something like it, like Easy-Carbo). This provides additional carbon to your plants. Use it every other day and don't overdose. However, there are those who say if you have enough fishies breathing out CO₂ you don't need this kind of stuff.

On the subject of CO₂, you probably want to retain as much in the water during the day for the plants - so I turn my airpumps off. In the night I put the airpumps on. Just something to think about.

Edited: just seen Sue's comments so removed what I was going to say. Yes, check what plants you have! I was slowly killing my java fern and anubias because I planted them.

I'm relatively new to fish keeping, and have only started to convert my tanks to live plants in the past month or so. Everything is planted in the substrate, or tied to rocks/wood, but I have a few tanks where everything is in pots because I'm buying plants as I see them and keeping them for when I upgrade my dwarf puffer tank, and for when I set up my last few tanks. Everything seems to be doing well.
I have to admit that I have a fondness (because I can be a bit lazy at times) for aquatic bulbs. Throw them in the tank, or place them where you want them (not planted in substrate) and off they go, sprouting roots and leaves quite happily. The ones I bought a month ago now have leaves that reach the surface of the water. If you want instant impact you'd have to pay extra for the bulbs with leaves.
If this appeals to you, have a look here:-
https://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/bulbs-c-255_498.html?zenid=289ac8fd2f0413a7635a95b7b9e4ffae

If you have gravel, don't hoover it near the plants. The fish poo etc in the gravel will act as plant fertiliser, like horse manure on roses or rhubarb. Hoover the gravel where there are no roots.
Substrate sticks, root tablets etc are lumps of compressed dry plant fertiliser that you push into the substrate next to the plant and they slowly break down and feed the plants. Fish poo doesn't give the plants all the nutrients they need.

The anubias needs to come out of the gravel. You can fix it to any decor you have in the tank. The easiest way is to use sewing thread to hold it on until it attaches itself.

Rocks can affect the water in one of two ways.
Calcareous rocks like limestone will dissolve very slowly, increasing GH (general hardness) KH (carbonate hardness) and pH. If you don't want that, avoid rocks like limestone or tufa.
Some rocks have metal veins in them and they can release unwanted metals into the water.

I would like to say that buying a rock from a fish shop would be safe. But I once did this, put it in the tank and got up next morning to a very cloudy tank and lots of bare hornwort stems with the leaves all over the bottom of the tank. But any rock that already has something growing on it shouldn't do that - it will have been submerged to keep the plant wet and the seller would find out quickly if it was like the one I bought.



If you don't like the gravel, change it before the plants start to root. It'll be more difficult later 

They do look like anubias. There are several species, some large, some small; some with round leaves, some with oval leaves. I have a few different species, and yours look like some of mine.
They need to be tied onto something. It's OK if the roots go down into the gravel, it's the 'stem', the rhizome that must not be under the substrate.

If you mean how long do they take to cling to decor themselves, it can take a couple of months to become firmly attached.
But if you mean how does it take for other types of plant to root in the gravel, I'm afraid I haven't a clue. I only have plants attached to decor. Someone else should be able to tell you.

That 'large anubia' looks suspiciously like a peace lily to me 

Nice looking betta. 

The plant in that tank looks like something I have in one of my tanks. It is also planted in the substrate and doing well. Sometimes a few leaves die off any plant, but new growth is always a nice sight.

@ColinB glad to hear the bulbs are chucking up leaves. Are you happy with how they look? I admit that I am happy with the bulbs I bought, and have recently had another delivery of a wider range of bulbs, which are doing well. I'm liking the "low maintenance" approach or putting the bulb on the substrate and leaving it alone. 

Fantastic.
I have a lace plant bulb doing very well in the dwarf puffer tank.
One of the banana plants was tied to a piece of wood in the hatchets & tetra tank and has grown really well there.
The rest have just been dropped into the hatchet/tetra and bristlenose tanks as a temporary measure until I get other tanks set up, and even they are growing new leaves on an almost daily basis. I'm really pleased with them.

I've not got any bulbs in my tanks but I'm very tempted now