Converting to live plants in an established aquarium

[dWright]

Hey everyone,
I'm excited - my live plant order from EBay is due to arrive tomorrow. Right now, I've only got plastic plants in my tank. I was thinking, can I just leave the plastic ones in until the new ones start to recover and grow back a bit? I know it'll be a bit crowded, but my fish use them for hiding and I don't want to leave them without any safe spots. I've got 3 Endlers and 2 neptunes (all males) in there. Once the live plants start growing, I can swap out the plastic ones. Also, how much would I be stressing the new plants if I rearranged them to make the tank look nicer? I'm trying to keep things as low-tech as possible and it's a small 5-gallon tank. One more thing - what should I expect for my cycle during this process? Will adding live plants affect it?

[dWright]

No input, no suggestions... thanks for nothing, I guess.

[oldraider]

I made the transition from plastic to live plants myself last year and I don't think you'll encounter any issues by leaving the plastic ones in the tank initially. Depending on the number of live plants you're introducing, you might want to consider pruning the plastic ones a bit to avoid overcrowding.

[dWright]

I made the transition from plastic to live plants myself last year and I don't think you'll encounter any issues by leaving the plastic ones in the tank initially. Depending on the number of live plants you're introducing, you might want to consider pruning the plastic ones a bit to avoid overcrowding.

Thanks so much for your response! I was wondering if you encountered any issues with your tank's cycle when you switched from plastic to live plants?

[dWright]

No need to worry about being angry, it's just how written words come across. Thanks for the reassurance, I really appreciate everyone's input.

You're right, posts can get lost in the chaos, and I should've just bumped it instead of assuming no one was responding.

Moving on, I'm glad to hear that the live plants won't drastically affect my cycle. It's good to know that most of the bacteria live in the filter and substrate, so removing the plastic plants shouldn't cause too much disruption. And with live plants consuming ammonia, it's a win-win.

I'll definitely keep in mind to minimize moving the plants around. It makes sense that they need time to establish roots and settle in one spot. I might try arranging them on the substrate before planting to get a better idea of the layout.

Thanks for sharing your experience with moving plants around. It's helpful to know that it's not the end of the world if I need to make some adjustments. And you're right, some plants might not melt, it all depends on how they were grown. At least I'm prepared for it now.