live plant newbie here and was wondering ..

what does it mean when the anachris leaves start turning brownish? do I need to "feed" the plants some kind of plant supplement for them to stay healthy? I havent had them more than 3-4 days and they're already turning brownish in some parts.

Anacharis is pretty undemanding and can do well without fertilization. What are the lighting conditions of your tank?

Anacharis need quite a bit of light in order to stay healthy. In your tank, the fish waste is enough of a fertilizer for them to sustain themselves.

There are addidtives that you can add, but I'm not a fan of placing additives to a tank. The only exceptions I have made are Melafix and Salt.

How is the light in your tank?

thanks for the replies

How would I judge the lighting in my tank? I have a 20 gallon tank with a Marineland Eclipse 2 hood. It is using 2 18-inch Hagen Power-glo 15W bulbs ... would that be sufficient?

What leads to plant decay? Just lack of lighting? I have 2 commons in there that I'm sure are making plenty of mess to feed the plants

Everything -sounds- OK. I see no reason to say, "yep, definately a lighting problem." I'm no expert, but it sounds OK.

I'm lost as to what to say next. I know my goldies pick at my plants damaging them slightly until they die off. I'm unsure if that is your solution.

Sorry man, you got me on this one.

It could be the plant was damaged while being shipped to you or the store, and is just now showing the signs of that. I also had some anacharis that mysteriously "melted" away to nothing over the course of a few days. The same thing happened a couple weeks later to the company who shipped it to me, reason still unknown. Two locally purchased bunches of the same plant are doing well in that tank, go figure.

While anacharis thrives better in high light, it will still grow (and fairly quickly) even in a low light tank. The leaves tend to be further apart so the plant looks a bit "leggy" in lower light, but it should not be causing it to go brown.

Don't add any ferts to your tank at this point though. They are unlikely to make it better (3-4 days is generally too early to show a nutrient imbalance) and can result in a massive algae bloom if you add too much.