Hello all, a few days ago I looked at my new 50 gal that I'm fishless cycling and noticed a bunch on tiny little seedlings sprouting out of my substrate! Where did these come from? Are there seeds in your substrate when you buy it, and do they just start coming up when you add water? I'm used to weeding my garden, but I never thought I'd have to weed my aquarium!

Depending on what you are using as a substrate, its not particularly uncommon. They are likely not aquatic plants, and will probably die off in a few days or a week.

I ended up with little plants in my tank once, a long time ago, it's a kinda funny story.

I have always kept rats and gerbils as pets, and one day when I was getting ready to feed them, the bag of food fell down and seeds and other rodenty food got everywhere! Well I cleaned it up, threw it away and fed my animals, not thinking much of it at the time. About a week later, I had all these little sprouts in my tank and I was like "what in the world...?" It took me awhile to figure it out, and then all of a sudden I remembered spilling the seed mix...some of the seeds must have fallen into my tank, and they actually sprouted! Hehe. I didn't think that those seeds were able to grow, but I guess they can!

So...have any rats?

Haha, no I don't have any rats! That story cracked me up though! My sprouts must have come in my substrate, which is Flourite. They don't look like aquatic plants, and they don't look happy either. That's fine with me!

I don't think this has ever happened to me, But I could see this happening if the substrate isn't a clean one