Whats the deal with aquarium live plants?

Question

Ok so I'v had my fish tank for about 3 years now and I never used live plants in it, although it looks really cool, I put blue gravel, old castles and sunken ships in it along with fake plants and sea shells. I am pretty good on fish care and have learned a lot about aquarium and fish care in my 3 years, but I haven't had the interest to research or explore the pro's and con's of live plants in aquariums, can anyone explain?

-Thanks.

Answer 1

In general, It depends on your fish...
don't bother with plants if:
-your fish like hard, alkaline water (plecostomus, livebearers like mollies, platies, swords, etc)... Plants prefer low PH.
-your fish eat plants- unless you're putting them in there as food.
-your fish are diggers- they'll just uproot them

some other things to remember-
algae is an aquatic plant... so if conditions are good for your plants, it'll also be good for algae.
BUT, if you plant enough of them, you can reduce algae because they compete for the same resources

Otocinclus are a great fish for planted tanks (if your existing fish are compatible) as they eat algae off plant leaves.

most plants carry snails... they are a pest, multiply rapidly, and can easily over run your tank and clog filters. Unless you have a clown loach in your tank, spend a little more and get plants that are guaranteed snail free.

They can also make cleaning more difficult, but it would be required less often.

Also- many of the plants sold in petstores are not really true aquatic plants and most times, the employees don't know any different... the problem is they aren't meant to live completely underwater and will slowly die over a few weeks or months making a mess in your tank and wasting your money. Make sure you know what you're getting.... get a book and match the pictures to what they try to sell you if you have to. LOL

They benefit greatly from proper lighting, added trace elements and CO2... but many of the hardier types will make it without all that.

Answer 2

Plants do not have to be tied to driftwood. In fact, I don't reccomend driftwood because it can lower the Ph in your tank. Moss can just sit on the bottom of your tank and so can ferns - just don't bury them in the gravel. I attach my ferns to aquarium safe rocks with thread and their roots will naturally adhere to it in a few months. Sword plants do ok with the proper lighting as long as they don't grow out of the water. Plants have pretty specific requirements and it is possible to spend quite a bit of money on lighting, CO2, and etc and then you'll be able to grow whatever you want. Its cheaper to keep trying different plants until you find the ones that work in your tank. Java ferns, anubis, and crypts are some of the easiest. Mosses are easy put can be a magnet for hair algae. Cambobas and swords are hit and miss. Some small local owned petstores sell plants that may be cheaper than the ones on Ebay. Also, if you have any quarium clubs in your area you can often get clippings of plants that will work in your water. With your lighting, if you have a "plant light" that goes into your strip light then its moderate to low (this is what I use). If you have a power compact, t5, or any other light fixture that costs over $200 then it might be considered high light. When you start getting into high maintenance plants you also start needed CO2 and other expensive stuff.

Answer 3

As you can tell from the answers so far, there are different feelings on plants and different levels of plant keeping. The large heavily planted tanks you see on the covers of book and magazines or on plant websites are set up specifically for plants with fish as an after thought. In those cases, it's all about keeping the plants and it's at least as complicated as keeping touchy fish. For a tank like that, you will need to spend many, many hours in research on planted tank, specific plants and their requirements. Those tanks also require a large investment in lighting, CO2 injectors special substrate enhancements and fertilizers as well as test kits for such things ad phosphates and iron that you don;t need for a fish only tank.

On the other hand, adding a few live plants to your fish aquarium can be fairly easy. Plants such as Java Moss, Java Fern, Riccia, Moneywort, cabomba and elodea can do well in a tank with no special equipment or fertilizers.

The benefits of keeping just a few of those plants listed above in a fish aquarium are really minimal. They provide the same cover as fake plants, don't contribute enough oxygen to be relevant in a tank with moving water, but can provide a food source for some fishes. They also do absorb nitrates and other unwanted waste from the water, but so little that is doesn't really provide much benefit to the tank so yes, you will still need the same level of water changes to maintain the tank.
Here's a link with much, much more information about keeping plants in an aquarium that would be a good starting point for you.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/AquariumGardenSubWebIndex.html

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 4

i say try any and maybe all water plants available from your pet store.. the ones that live are the ones you want. and the pet store ( if it a good one ) will not sell you something that would hurt your fish..

i know a lady who has a really really big fish tank with some pretty big fish in it.. she also has lots and lots of house plants.. well one day while cleaning she found a piece of her pothos had fallen into the tank,,, and had rooted .. so she left it in there the thing got huge and she eventually had to remove it because it was getting too big for the whole space... when she removed it it was almost 16 feet long and had leaves almost 7 inches across.. for those of you who don't know that is big for this plant ... the idea i had was the water in the tank was a really good constant source and had the bonus of the fish----poop in it..the last time i saw this tank she had 5 different kinds of plants in it and the fish were just fine..

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Answer 5

Live plants provide a more natural and changing environment for fish. They also help to lower nitrates in the water, and keep it a little cleaner. Also, through their photosynthesis, they add oxygen to the water, and are a good source of food to any herbivorous fish. I really can't think of any cons to plants as long as you get plants that are suitable for your tank. They look nicer than plastic too. Plants like Cabomba, Elodea/Anacharis, Java Moss, Java Fern, Dwarf Hairgrass, and Chain Swords are good starter plants.

Chris: It is actually just the opposite. Most plants don't need anything special added to the water. There are a few plants that should be avoided because of their needs for high lighting and CO2 injections.

Nosoop4u

Who the hell went through here and gave everyone a thumbs down? There were a lot of good answers!

Answer 6

They add oxygen to your water and lower nitrates.

Personally, I love them, I think they look a lot better than fake plants and they're in all of my seven tanks. They also serve as great hiding places and I don't think there are any con's with them, but then again that's just me. I will admit though that fake plants are OK as long as they are safe for your fish (I.E. Not sharp or pointy) because I have 2 tanks with combination live and fake plants.

Answer 7

They are good because they add extra oxygen and provide a place for babies to hide. They need a lot of light; a lot of sun or more like a grow lamp, for the aquarium hood (I'm not sure, ask at the aquarium center) otherwise the plants will die and make a mess, and they do make a mess. This goes way back to Biology class when we made an aquarium out of a big old jar--the plant was Anacrus (SP). They sell it at Pet Smart. It doesn't have to be "planted" to grow. You can just put it in there and let it float around. I tried the live plants, but went back to just the plastic. Good luck.

Answer 8

If you decide to go with live plants another good low lighter are some of the cryptocorne species like wendtii. You are highly unlikely to come across more difficult crypts unless you are specifically looking for them anyway. Make sure to put a full spectrum bulb in, and I like to use a liquid fertilizer every now and again.

Commonly available vallisneria species are usually not too touchy, and same goes for aponogetons but those can get big.

btw - what size is your tank? You don't want something that will get too big.

Answer 9

well way back when they were used as a filter, and some people keep heavily planted tanks w/o a filter and they do just fine, real plants provide food for some fish, they help keep the water clean by using up nutrients and CO2 so there is little left for algae also they help put more O2 into the water, its relay a matter of choice if you want live of fake plants, they are a little more work and require better lighting, you want about 1.5-3 watts per gallon and require trimming, i keep real plants because i like that they help keep the water clean, for me the benefits outweigh the cost, because i hate scrubbing algae and my fish seem to like them, one word of caution when buying plants look for snails and there eggs(look like a mass of clear jelly) i had a small snail infestation and it wasn't fun.

Answer 10

live plants add oxygen to the tank and als remove nitrites from the water.

They provide food, and cover for smaller fish.

Some are easier to care for, and they arent as scary as people make them out to be. you wont need a co2 system or special lighting.

for some plants anyway.