Written by: Emily Joswiak • July 11, 2022• Décor

Which Live Plants Are Best for Your Freshwater Aquarium?

Aquatic plants offer many benefits for your aquarium, but not all are the same. Learn how to choose the best plants for your aquarium and its inhabitants.

There are many beautiful aquatic plants on the market, so choosing the plants that will best suit your aquarium can be difficult. It’s certainly true that live plants can benefit your aquarium, but some plants may end up doing more harm than good if you don’t know what factors to consider. Here, we’ll review which live plants are best for your aquarium along with some factors to take into consideration.

Elements To Consider

When you’re deciding what aquatic plants you want to put in your aquarium, you want to take temperature, pH, lighting, size, and substrate into consideration. You want to ensure that your tank isn’t overcrowded, that the plants don’t block too much light, and that they have enough substrate to take root in. In addition, most aquatic plants thrive at a pH of 6.8 to 7.8 and in a temperature of 70 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, there are exceptions to these rules, so paying attention to the specific environmental needs of your plants is important.

Beginner-Friendly Plants

Like any other plants, some aquatic plants can be very stubborn and picky, growing only under very particular conditions. However, some plants are sturdy, durable, and easy to take care of. For example, one of the most popular aquatic plants is the Amazon sword, which grows quickly and is easy to take care of.

Other beginner-friendly plants include:

Hornwort
Cabomba
Dwarf hairgrass
Moneywort

Plants That Combat Algae

Plants absorb the nutrients that are necessary for their growth, depriving algae of those same nutrients. So if you’re looking for a plant that will help you mitigate algae growth in your tank, hornwort is excellent for beating out algae spores in the fight for nutrients. Other mighty algae-fighters include:

Wisteria
Jungle vallisneria
Amazon sword
Dwarf saggitaria

Low-Light Plants

Plants require light to thrive and engage in the process of photosynthesis. However, some fish can’t thrive in environments with a high amount of light—but that doesn’t mean your tank can’t benefit from live plants. The most popular choice of low-light plant is the parrot’s-feather due to its vibrancy, interesting texture, and growth rate. Other low- to medium-light plants include:

Anubias
Moneywort
Rotala indica
Brazilian pennywort

When you’re choosing the live plants that are best for your aquarium, it’s important to remember that some fish will eat the plants available to them. To mitigate that and prevent your plants from becoming a fish buffet, you might want to adjust your fish’s feeding schedule and use fast-growing plants to compensate.

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Last modified: July 12, 2022