One day I was feeding my fish and I saw the succulent rack inside the house. Then I thought can I plant succulents in my fish tank? But I know from my experience I can not plant succulents underwater. Then I started to search for it. I found a way to plant succulents in fish tanks. In this article, I am going to explain how to grow and care for succulent fish tank.
A succulent fish tank is more like a converted succulent terrarium. They would work well and flourish as long as you do the right thing. It is a nice way of displaying your succulents in a unique and adorable way. In other words, it is a succulent showcase. I can assure you it would be so pleasing to watch them flourishing and would add so much glamor to the whole setup.
On another note, you might find it challenging to grow the plants outdoors during winter and using succulent fish tanks is a nicer and smarter way to overcome this issue. It would provide a miniature garden for the succulents. Succulents in general work well in these setups. So, if you are eager to learn about this subject, it would be worthwhile going through this article.
How to turn a fish tank into a succulent garden
You need to understand you can not plant succulents in ester filled fish tank. Water will destroy your succulent. So you need a dried-out fish tank. For this, you can use the cracked or old fish tank. Make sure the tank has a good drainage system, otherwise succulents will rot due to water clogging. After making sure you have good drainage you need to fill the fish tank with fresh porous soil or sand. Ensure that you are using a fresh well-draining soil mix that is mixed with sand and gravel as well.
Next, you have to prepare your succulent. You can use overgrown succulents for the succulent fish tank as I did. First of all, you need to select overgrown plants and trim off the overgrown lengthy stem parts. You can also use plants that have long stems for this purpose. Once you obtain all these, you need to allow them to develop callousness. Ideally, you need to leave them in a hot and dry place for about one or two days. if the chosen succulents’ plant parts had developed aerial roots it would be even better and easy for them to develop the roots in the fish tank.
After that, you can start planting the succulents. The best is to start planting the larger plants first. If you got taller plants, you may cut them into small sections and then use them for this purpose. If you got clusters of succulents, you could plant them right In Front of the soil mix in the tank. On the other hand, if you have got clusters of tall plants, you may plant them in the corner of the fish tank. If you wish you could add a layer of stone mulch to give an attractive appearance to the setup.
If you have any leftover petals or other smaller plants, you could fit those in the remaining spaces of the fish tank. If you have any small succulents, you could grow them right In Front of the fish tank. When you plant them in the soil mix, you need to bury them in the soil lightly. Do not plant them too deep as it would be unhealthy for the healthy growth of the plants. Once you complete all these, you can look at the fish tank and do small adjustments.
Next, you need to locate the tank in a spot where it can gain bright indirect sunlight. You may place them closer to grow light as well. Do not plant them in the shade or even in direct sunlight. In addition to that, I suggest you use the garden horse and lightly mist the plants. Once you finish misting the plants, chances are that you may witness excess moisture around the inner surface of the fish tank. I recommend simply wiping them off using a paper towel. You can do it occasionally. If you leave the excess moisture to be around the fish tank, it will enhance the fogginess of the fish tank.
If you adhere to these tips, it will turn out to be colorful and pretty set up. Further, as they grow, you could spot them developing new growths to make it look prettier. Whenever the plants seem to be dry, you can consider misting the plants. If you have any remaining leaves, you may use them and let them sprout in the fish tank.
It is noteworthy that when you select succulents you need to ideally go for succulents that would grow well in the same conditions. That said, you need to ideally select plants which would come up in numerous shapes and textures as well. It will make the succulent fish tank look nicer and more attractive. Furthermore, keep in mind to not overfill the plants as then it would be too compact. In addition to that, you need to select plants that would grow at the same rate too. Many people opt to go ahead with succulents such as Echeveria, Hawthornia, Crassula, Sempervivum, Jade Plant, and Blue Star Sapphire plants.
Furthermore, make sure that you monitor the succulent fish tank as chances are that they may tend to rot if the conditions are not in favor of them. Furthermore, you need to watch out for regular pest attacks as well.
Can you put succulents in a fish tank with fish?
Unfortunately no. I don’t recommend this for several reasons. Mainly succulents are desert plants. They can not withstand excess water conditions. Your succulents will die within 2 or 3 days inside a water-filled tank. Another thing is even if you put a succulent in a fish tank, the rotten succulents will cause water deterioration and fish death. Other than that there are some poisonous succinct which can kill your fish.
Conclusion
In this article, I gave you a full guide to building a succulent garden in a fish tank. Building a fish tank succulent garden is easy. But taking care is the hard part. You need to provide enough sunlight and food for them. Most importantly you have to watch out for the humidity in the tank. Watering should be done very carefully after a proper soil moisture check. Also, you need to monitor pest infestation in your succulent fish tank. To conclude, I hope this article gave you an insight into how to grow succulents in a fish tank and that now you are confident in handling it.
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