It is not difficult to deduce why most aquariums have aquatic plants. Having aquarium plants in your aquarium not only adds to its aesthetic beauty but also creates an environment closer to the natural habitat of your pet fish. A lot of species of fish feel secure and comfy when there are plants to hide around and there are some that will just not thrive in the absence of plants. Some species of fish live around rocks and feel safe among rocky and cave-like structures. If you find that the fish are damaging your plants by feasting on them or uprooting them, try using rocks and some bits of wood. Or perhaps you could select floating aquarium plants that don’t need to go into the substrate or plant hardy aquarium plants that grow pretty fast and are none the worse after being nibbled at.

Aquatic plants maintain the quality of water in the tank besides beautifying it and providing shelter to your fish. Just as plants and fish exist together in the wild waters and maintain the ecosystem so also they bring the same benefits while living together in an aquarium. The waste matter let out by the fish serves as a manure to the plants. Thus, instead of floating around in the tank and causing harm to your fish, it will be put to good use if you have live aquarium plants in your tank. However, you must make sure that you trim the plants on a regular basis and remove the dead or rotting parts so that the water does not get polluted. The live aquarium plants use carbon dioxide thus maintaining a healthy level in the tank and produce oxygen which is crucial for the fish. The plants are also home to a variety of micro organisms which help maintain the water content. Having live aquarium plants leaves very few nutrients for the growth of algae.

Several species of fish will just not reproduce in an aquarium having no plants. A few species need the plants just to hide around them and feel safe. Others require leaves to fasten their eggs to. If you are bringing up the baby fish in the same tank as the adult fish, the survival rate of the young ones is found to be much higher if the aquarium is dense with plants, creating a great hiding place for them. Plants with plenty of tiny leaves should work well. Fry that has newly hatched can also use little caves, stones or any artificial decoration as a safe hiding place.

For the process of photosynthesis, plants require light. If your aquarium has only fish, you don’t need much light. But if you decide to plant your aquarium densely, you will need to enhance the lighting. Fluorescent lights work better than the normal incandescent ones. However, although they are comparatively a bit more expensive, they do not give out as much heat and save electricity. Some plants require even stronger light, but to begin with let us stick to rugged aquatic plants like Java Moss and Java Fern. These live aquarium plants can endure a varied series of pH values and water hardness.

Instead of planting Java Fern in the substrate, it is better to fasten it to a bit of rock or wood where it will start giving out roots. Java Moss and Java Fern both multiply easily. Soon you will find that little plants have appeared on the old ones. Just break them off and attach them to some support and watch them grow all over again.

Read on more about setting up a simple nano tank to fit into a small corner of your home, or even in the tidy office space.

David
AquaticMagic ~ Grow Happiness