[mysticseaport]

Alright, well, the containers of the plants say that they're:
4 Aqua fern plants
Peacock Fern Plant
2 Amazon Sword Plants
and I also have 2 pieces of mondo grass..

It's a 10 gallon tank and there's two florescent bulbs in the hood that say they're 11w.
There's no co2 pumps or anything fancy, I guess it's low tech...it just has a small filter.
And 5 guppies. Soon to be more because the 2 females are already pregnant.
Anything I should change or something? Help is very much appreciated...

 

[mysticseaport]

Oh, and I did buy some "Flourish Tabs" and I put a couple in already...

 

[mysticseaport]

Okay, thank you so much for the help!
Petsmart is not the place to go for plants apparently...this kind of sucks.
I will definitely go read more about low tech tanks...I guess I've got a long way to go...
In my defense, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, I was just going off what I thought looked really cool. It IS my first tank...:icon_redf

 

[mysticseaport]

I just did a Google search of the scientific names of the ferns, and neither of them are even aquatic. One actually is commonly found in woodland forests. This is ridiculous. I am merely an ill informed consumer. Damn you for thriving off of my ignorance, TopFin. How is it possible that they can get away with selling these as plants "for aquariums"?

 

[mysticseaport]

Thanks everyone, you're all very helpful. :]
YES. The plants did come in those little cylinders, and the roots were packed in some weird gel that I had to wash off.
I'll look up all of the plants that you guys mentioned, thanks for your suggestions!
A little frustrating though, basically all of my plants aren't even usable.

 

[mysticseaport]

You can take the plants back and get a refund. Don't feel bad, I ran into the same problem. When I was figuring out the same issue you’re having I went as far as talking to Petsmart/Topfin headquarters. They weren't sure what I was talking about since there in the aquarium section (the ignorance of higher up people). All they would have to do is google the plants that they sell and see that they aren't aquatic plants. I was then told that a gentleman from the aquatic research division would be calling me. He did call and his response was that the plants are listed for "aquarium use", however this “doesn't mean that they will last as long as true aquarium plants and they will need replacing when they rot.” The bottom line is that big chain stores can twist words and sayings so the average person thinks they understand, but in all reality we don't and get mislead in their marketing games.

This just gave me a fantastic idea. Aquatic ladybugs. Aquatic Hamsters. Aquatic Pigeons. I'll make millions.