Making Aquarium Plants:
You will need:
foliage plant: $1- $3
hot glue gun: $3
glue sticks: $1
wire cutters,
scissors,
optional: hammer, drill, and 1/4" masonary drill bit.


I cut off the flowers and leaves of the main stem and put them in piles. I then decide what type of foliage I would like to use for a certain plant. MAKE SURE YOU WASH THE ITEMS TO BE USED. I clean them like I would any other plants or object I place in my tank with a bleach and hot water solution. I rinse very well.

I have decided for a fern type of plant. I take my rock and break it with a hammer to a smaller piece. I then drill a hole in the side of the rock. I thread the leaves through a piece of wire stem. I then glue these together. Making sure that no metal wire is exposed. I then add hot glue into the hole of the rock to be used and place the stems of the plant in and hold it in place until it is cool. I shape the leaves, crunching them and twisting to my preference.

If you do not have a drill or drill bit you can use rubberbands. Just sandwich two rocks together. You can also use aquarium plants to make new plants out of the ones you already have.

This one floats. I used a piece of green styrofoam from a package I got from the grocery. You know, those foam plate things.


These two are sinking plants. No glue! I just shoved the stems into a shell, and let it sink to the bottom. You can bury these too. The shells give it just the amount of weight it needs.
Here are a few floating flowers:

These add color, I just looked up some pictures of aquarium plants and used what I had to duplicate them.
The most important thing to remember is not to throw anything away. I keep every little stamin to every little piece of plastic of the foliage I started out with. My fish and snails are never bored with their foliage. It changes all the time.

I hope this will give you a few ideas. Those plants at your LFS are outrageous in price.

Are those fake plants?

Yes, those plants are fake and in particular are in my crayfish tank. The tank I switched over to a Fake SWT.

I didn't even notice it was you who wrote that jdizine very nice. I might look into something like that on one of my tanks.

Great post jdizine! I gave it a shot and purchased some fake plants from Wal-mart. I saw the metal within the stems of the plants, and decided to just cut off the leaves. I then threaded the leaves with a piece of thread and attempted to make a vine to hang in my aquarium. Within a few hours of it being in the tank, it started smelling SO bad I can't even begin to describe. I don't know if I might have gotten a type of material that wasn't meant for water or what. I didn't have a hot glue gun, the reason I didn't keep the metal stems. Do you not have to worry about the metal rusting or leaching into the water? Will any glue work for the hot glue gun? Or is there a specific type to look for?

Is the hot glue and wire toxic? or are the fish okay? any fish not to use that method with?

On the hot glue, I always make sure it says NON-TOXIC. I have never had plants start stinki8ng in my tank. Did you clean them first. I clean them in a bleach solution. and rinse very well with hot water. I always look at the wiring in the stems to make sure it is completely enclosed in the plastic stem part. If it is exposed at all, I dab hot glue on it to make sure I doesn't get rust into my tank. I have never had a problem with making my own Plants. No diseased fish, or discoloration, or bad smell.

Just a side note, depending on the power of your hot glue gun, you may end up with the silk and especially plastic part of the plants melting on contanct. Either put your glue gun on a low setting, or use a lower heat one or you may end up with little puddles that were once silk leaves. If you cannot adjust the setting, use the glue while the gun is just warming up, then unplug it and use the glue as it is cooling down. You won't have this problem with most glue guns as lots of them on the market today are low temp because of safety. The only reason I have an extrmely powerful cordless hot glue gun is because I am a technical theater student and use glue guns frequently. I have high and low temp glue guns. Its funny, I'm all happy because I got a new high-tech glue gun for Christmas and my friends are like, "great, a hot glue gun :huh: "

Just make sure the plastic isn't melting to expose the wire, that would be counter productive.

I'll have to try some of your plant-making methods.

Catlover, if you noticed at the top I priced the glue gun at $3 not $300! LOL! Good point though. The glue will get hot and you need to be careful. Let me know how it works out for you.

I'll give it a try and see what I can get done with the hot glue gun.

Oh, I'm using my low temp glue gun and it doesn't melt the plastic. My other glue gun isn't that expensive ... :lol:

Well, I made some plants and put them in my 10 gallon tank with my betta. He is weaving his way around the leaves checking it out. These look way better than the silk plants I bought that are designed for tanks. I did his tank very colorful and not just real natural looking. He seems to like them.

Your method worked great! so good so far

Oh, everyone be careful because 1 of the fake plants I bought bled colored dye out really bad when I washed it. Needless to say, I threw the plant away. Just make sure as jdizine said, wash very carefully

Great ideas jdizine! :D

Oh!I am full of them! Or "full of it" like my mom says.

Aquarium safe silicone is another option. I used it to hold pieces of artificial plants in a little Dixie cup full of gravel. It gives the arrangement a little heft when you have fish like Cichlids who like to dig 'em up! Just remember to peel the cup off before you put the whole thing in the tank. ;)

FishyFry, the reason I said hot glue is because it is way cheap. The silicone, is sooo expensive. If I were to go buy silicone, I would repair a tank. Living on a tight budget I have learned to go the least expensive as possible. I wish I could use silicone though. A good thought though, if you are on a low tube of the stuff and are afraid of it getting too old and getting hard, you could use it quickly on making plants! Another good idea!!! Good One :D
!

I have actually tried to use silicone to make plants. It dries so slow and I am way too impatient. Just make sure it says non-toxic.

My newest plant I made over the weekend. It went into my hubbies tank.
Quick version, same aspect.

Actually, the silicone is not very expensive, only about $2 for a tube. Just make sure you buy GE silicone I with the rubber in it, that's what they use to construct aquariums with. GE silicone II without the rubber, never fully dries... or at least I've never gotten it to.

I love te idea of using plastic and silk flowers, but I'm a little bit scared of the metal in some of them, but I might try this project if I can find some without metal. I usually use silk flowers to decorate the house and sometimes even the yard.

When your talking about one little tube for 2 bucks compared to 40 glue sticks I see a big difference! And I am impatient. I heard that about the 2 different types of silicone though. I had to but the stuff once to make my own plexi aquarium a long time ago.

I guess that's true. I think when I bought my hot glue gun, it was around $7 and came with around 40 sticks.

On the other hand, those tubes are pretty big, and have as much silicone as at least 30 sticks, maybe even 40. So I guess it all breaks down to how long you want to wait, and what's easier to use.

I wonder, how well would the hot glue stick to the glass of the tank? Just getting some ideas.

The GE Silicone I comes in a large tube. I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet though. I bought it originally to make a styrofoam background, and then I found out about the plants idea. Haven't had time yet to make them, though. I think I paid 3-4 dollars for a caulking tube of GE Silicone I. Not a bad deal if you ask me. At least you know that it's made for the companies who make aquariums. The Silicone you see offered in say, petsolutions magazine, is just GE Silicone I repackaged with their name on it.

It's definitely aquarium safe, so that's a plus too. Your aquarium isn't going to peel the silicone off the tank, or it's not going to fade or eventually come loose, at least we hope it won't. I'll give it a shot with the silicone and see what happens. I'll let everyone know what I find out when I finally get the opportunity to try the project, haha! :lol:

The newest plants I have made...
These are all made from the stems of the flowers...
They were for the cacti look for my desert theme of my tank...










Guess I got some good pics of my fish as well, that's a first.