Currently a plant that I have introduced in a quarantine tank is Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena Sanderiana).
It’s important to note that this is not the pure true bamboo…like the ones you see in Japan (especially in Arashiyama, Kyoto) and in other countries:
Dracaena Sanderiana is actually a flowering plant from the family of Asparagacea, native to Central Africa and popular as an indoor plant in India and typically imported these days from China and Taiwan and love temperatures of 59 to 72 F (15 to 22C) and like good illumination, regular watering and like to be planted in the ground.
These days people like to use twisted versions of the lucky bamboo plant for ornamenting (you can find people making spirals or heart shapes) or even making a spiral around a straight version.
Typically, they are put in a vase of gravel with an inch of water, but then there are those who use them for aquariums.
It’s debatable as some people have had luck having them fully submerged, but lucky bamboo is supposed to be semi-submerged.
For me, I have them submerged but the leaves growing on top of the water under an aquarium LED lamp like below.
As mentioned, these are in my freshwater quarantine tank and I use fertilizer once a week and a root tab every four months. Please note, I only do this because I have Amazon Swords and other plants next to it.
It’s very good to use CO2 but please do your research before using it, as many people think you need a lot, depending on how many gallons your tank is, you may need only a droplet. So, please do your research, otherwise, you may end up killing your fish.
But the benefits of aquarium water and your fish is that fish waste is beneficial bacteria which converts ammonia into nitrates and the Lucky Bamboo enjoys nitrates which helps prevent high levels of nitrates in your aquarium.
With that being said, while many use gravel for their aquariums, I use aquatic sand gravel because I do use various cory catfish as my primary scavengers and care about their barbels not getting torn off and sand gravel does not hold the roots off that well. So, to make sure no fish eat the roots, I use river rock only to prevent the roots of my plants from being eaten.
For river rocks, I use the ones that are sold in the turtle section of a pet store, rounded and shaped by the river, no sharp edges and I only use a handful around each plant to make sure that the roots are under the gravel but the stones prevent from roots being exposed or eaten, but also to make sure it’s held in place (because as I move fish out of the quarantine tank, I confess to accidentally hit the plant with your net and making it tilt, but fortunately the rocks help hold things into place).
With that being said, if I was to create another aquarium in the future (as my seven is not enough already and tempted on the eighth), I will try to do one with soil substrate like CaribSea Eco-Complete. But I’ve read that some people have had difficulties with this substrate of fish dying (looking at reviews on Amazon and others with success).
With that beings said, if you do decide to use Lucky Bamboo, you need to have an open aquarium or at least a cover to allow the leaves to be outside of the top of your aquarium.
And you need a special light that can hang on top of the aquarium to provide adequate lighting.
In the above photo you see bubbles, because this is a quarantine tank and sometimes I may have more fish than what I wish to have in a one month period, I use a HOB filter in the middle, a sponge filter on the right which produces bubbles and an airstone on the left. Sure, it may be a bit overkill, but it also puts my multi-outlet pump to good use but in my tanks with live plants, I truly believe having more oxygen in the tank does wonders.
As for the LED light, I do not shine the light directly on top of it (otherwise the leaves will hit the light). I actually have it farther back and I have a wider light which allows for a good spread of light.
And last, while I have tanks for my guppies that like Brackish water, I do not use aquarium salt in my quarantine tank (If I have to treat a fish with aquarium salt, I separate it from the quarantine tank and place it in a solo tank). While Lucky Bamboo is a hardy plant, it does not do well with brackish water.
And last but not least, water changes are imperative. There are only so much live plants and chemicals can do, but the best thing for your fish and live plants is to make sure you use conditioned water, where you can do 25% to 50% changes.
I personally do not use Lucky Bamboo in my goldfish or koi tank. As much as I love my goldfish, they are messy, poopy, clumsy and always hungry to the point they will move gravel and river rocks because they are always looking for food. And because of that, I have to do constant, higher percentage water changes.
For my quarantine tank and community tank, smaller fish are perfect for Lucky Bamboo.
I’m sure there is a lot to read up on lucky bamboo but for those who wondered, yes…I do like this plant a lot, especially for the aquarium!
