Thank you. I was beginning to think this hobby was going be
prohibitively expensive. I've already lost $80/fish!

On Apr 20, 11:48 pm, humBill wrote:
On Apr 20, 10:07 am, chereena wrote:

I just bought a bunch of plants online from Live Aquaria and their
instructions say that you should use "aquatic plant soil." Is this
really necessary and, if so, where do you get it? Also recommends
fertilizer tablets. A little nervous about the effect of fertilizer
on the fish. If someone has experience with this, would love to get
some feedback. Thanks.

It is kind of hit and miss but if you can find topsoil, usually about
$1 a bag which has very little organic material in it, IMHO that is
way fine. I have used unscented plain kitty litter. Special Kitty
from Walmart is often suggested, possibly because it is purer clay.
You just have to wash it well before submersing. I can't say it is
particularly better but it also works fine and the clay is supposedly
benefical to the pond. It's about $2.50 a bag. Bottom line is the
soil is pretty much to hold the plants in place. It is the fish water
and fertilizers that most of the nutrients come from. Organic
material will just encourage algae growth, although I talked with one
wholesaler and he said he used a mixture of 2 pts clay based plain
soil, 1 pt low garden mix and 1 pt sand. Most bog plants could be
planted in pea gravel, but that makes it very difficult to split them
later.
Bill