If you decide to keep an aquarium, living plants may be essential.
Fish, shrimp and other aquatic creatures need living plants to hide in, feed from and even sleep in. Plants during the day, also produce oxygen, and use carbon dioxide and the nitrates produced from broken down fish waste to feed from, improving the quality of the water.
However, some plants are as difficult to keep as tropical fish; requiring specific nutrients, substrates, good lighting and even high water temperatures.
Therefore, I have listed here 7 plants that are ideal for beginners and will be welcomed by your tank inhabitants.
- Java Fern – Background plant – for back of your tank
- Elodea Crispa – back ground plant or float on the surface of your tank, there are other varieties of Elodea which are as good, but these curly leaves are very striking.
- Hornwort – Back ground and side plants to give contrast as these have needles.
- Cabomba – choose the red variety to break up all the green – mid ground plant
- Willow Moss – lovely mid-ground oxygenating plant
- Anubias Nana – small foreground plant, attach to rocks and logs and let roots dangle
- Java Moss – tie to pebbles, rocks and logs to give a carpeting effect
None of these plants need special soils, fertilisers or fantastic lighting. You won’t need to worry about adding extra CO2 either. They don’t even need to be ‘planted’ in special substrate. They can just be weighted or be tied to rocks, pebbles and other ornaments, or wedged between them. Their roots will then just grow to where they need to. With very little effort, they should thrive in a well-kept tank. But remember if they grow like wild fire – just like any garden, you will need to prune and trim your aquatic plants back.
Add some Seachem Flourish – to give your plants the nutrients they need, once or twice a week and you should have a lush underwater forest in a few months – even if your tank is not running at sub-tropical temperatures.
