Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hi, I'm looking to add some plants to my shell dwelling cichlid setup and I was wondering if there are certain types that do better in higher pH. I'm trying to fill a few areas and I'm not sure if I should look for plants specifically from the Tanganyikan waters or if any tropical plants will be okay.

Silk plants are a great option, they work amazingly well in higher pH environments, and they're pretty low maintenance too.

I've always been a fan of live plants, there's just something about them. I was checking out a YouTube setup with Tang cichlids and they had Java ferns in there, they looked like they were doing great.

Java ferns and many Anubias species seem to handle high pH environments just fine. Some Val species also do well. I've found that water sprite can thrive too, but it does require some care - I had to acclimate them to the higher pH, as a sudden change from 7.0 to 8.2 proved fatal. Now I float them to help ease the transition.

The anubias plants really catch my eye. I hadn't considered the importance of acclimating plants from low to high pH - that's definitely something I'll keep in mind now. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions, I appreciate it.

I had a crinum thakento4um in a tank at 8.5 pH for a few weeks while setting up another tank, seemed to do alright during that time, not sure how it would've held up long-term though.