Which plants should you put in your tank?
I get this question a lot, reasonably so, so I wanted to write a short guide on how to pick out plants and to provide a few recommendations. We’ll cover the best plants to put in your tank, and more importantly we’ll discuss what to consider when shopping for any aquatic plants!
What to consider when picking out plants for your aquarium
Your tank conditions are more important than you’d think. Consider these factors first before picking out plants:
Lighting is, by far, the most important and you should ensure you have a strong light (1 Watt per Gallon or more) to have the best success. Brands such as Week Aqua, Chihiros, Twinstar, etc will work far better than brands like Fluval, Hygger, or Nicrew.
Using nutrient-rich substrate such as Fluval Stratum is very helpful for buffering the pH and providing nutrients to roots, but inert substrates like sand or gravel work perfectly fine too.
CO2 will help plants grow faster and will allow you to grow more difficult plants, but CO2 doesn’t matter nearly as much as lighting. Consider purchasing a higher quality light rather than an expensive CO2 system.
pH in your tank should be low, the lower the better. A pH of 6-7 is ideal for plant growth, and a pH of 7-7.5 should be totally fine. Higher pH values, especially above 8.0, can cause some plants to melt or have stunted growth.
Fertilization isn’t a factor. You should be adding fertilizer to any tank with plants, no matter what. Fish poop is not enough.
Other factors such as temperature, the size of your tank, the amount of flow, and the stock in your tank (excluding plant-eating fish) generally don’t matter.
Low, Medium, or High tech?
We label all our plants as low, medium, or high tech to simplify whether or not it will grow in your tank.
Low tech tanks have weak lighting, usually basic LED lighting that came with the tank or a cheap light from Amazon.
Med tech tanks have stronger light, usually 1W per Gallon or more, and may have nutrient substrate or root tablets.
High tech tanks use CO2 injection and high end lighting, and can usually grow any plant.
When shopping for plants, you should consider which of these your tank falls under and shop for plants that fit your tank level. Even if you aren’t purchasing plants from us, you should research each plant before you purchase it (or, ideally, buy from a seller who lists info about their products) so you can ensure each plant will grow in your tank.
Sidenote- Don’t be scared into thinking every plant is high tech. Lots of plants, such as Rotala Blood Red or Ludwigia Super Red, are very popular in high tech tanks and look very different with CO2. However, quite a few plants can still be grown in low tech! Please feel free to ask us if you aren’t sure.
All epiphyte plants (such as Anubias, Java Fern, Bolbitis, and Bucephalandra) are low tech and generally easy to grow, however we don’t usually sell these plants since they grow incredibly slowly and we simply don’t have the space required to grow them.
Floating plants are equally easy and can grow anywhere there’s light, but most floaters are happier with less surface flow.
Some great low tech stem plants include most Rotala varieties except for Rotala Macandra, such as Rotala Blood Red, Rotala Wayanad, Rotala Rotundafolia, etc. Ludwigias such as Ludwigia Super Red, Ludwigia Ovalis, Ludwigia Super Green, etc are all beautiful and easy to grow in low tech. Two of my personal favorites are Cabomba Green and Mexican Oakleaf, which are both incredibly easy to grow and look super cool. Low tech tanks generally cannot grow carpeting plants, other than Crassula Australia.
If you’re searching for medium tech plants, your choices expand dramatically compared to low tech. You can grow any low tech plant without issue and you’ll likely see better coloration depending on your light, but you can also grow some other very cool and colorful plants such as Ludwigia Inclinata Cuba and Meta, Samolous Parviflorus, Ludwigia Atlantis, and Mayaca Fireworks as well as many other colorful options. You can also get some more unique plants such as Vallisnera Nana Daly, which is a deep red massive grass-like plant.
Medium tech tanks are also the minimum tech level to grow carpets, as strong lighting is needed to reach the substrate. Plants such as Elatine Triandra, Crassula Australia, Dwarf Hairgrass, etc are all great carpeting options for a med tech tank.
High tech plants include practically anything you’d like to grow. Some great ones include Rotala Tulu, Ludwigia Ovalis Pink, Rotala Macandra, Rotala Mexicana, and even the sought-after and extremely beautiful Ludwigia Inclinata Pantanal. You should look around for rarer variants of plants like Rotala Caterpillar to stock your tank with, because in my opinion if you’ve already invested in the equipment to grow any plants you deserve to have the coolest plants around.
High tech tanks can grow carpets very easily with their strong lights, and many carpeting plants such as Monte Carlo or Dwarf Hairgrass grow much better with CO2.
What do you want your tank to look like?
Now that you know what to look for to make sure the plants can actually grow in your tank, lets discuss the fun part: Making your tank look incredible. You’ll find plants with different sizes and shapes of leaves, different colors, and different “themes.” I wholeheartedly recommend you try to consider what colors you want first and foremost: Do you want a luscious, all green tank? Would you like little pops of red? Or do you want your tank to be colorful and pop? Once you’ve decided on colors, consider leaf shapes and try to get contrasting shapes. All fluffy plants or all rotalas is no fun, try breaking it up with a few thick and wide plants next to a few beautiful and fluffy ones.
Here are a few themes and ideas I’ve helped customers with in the past for inspiration:
Jungle
I stocked a jungle themed tank with some Val Nana Daly to have a big overarching plant to give a ‘rainforest canopy’ vibe. Val and Dwarf Sag are both amazing options for that. I filled the inside with short, wide leaf stems like Hygrophila Corymbosa or Hygrophila Salicifolia Purple, which added a pop of bright green and took up some space in the midground and background. I also like to use Staurogyne Bihar, which is a huge and thick stem with broad, rainforest looking leaves. I filled the background with dense green stems like Rotala Rotundafolia and Ludwigia Super Green, then finally I added a plant of some bright red Alternanthera Reineckii to add a vibrant splash of color to the foreground and to really make the tank pop.
Spooky/Evil
A really cool and creative style of scape is a spooky or evil themed tank. Some scapers use decor like skulls while some use driftwood with long branches to make a ‘dead tree’ look. I always go with Rotala Blood Red for scapes like this, and contrasting it with some lighter colored plants like Myriophyllum Golden or Ludwigia White makes it look super cool. Pretty much any red or purple plant such as Ludwigia Super Red, Ludwigia Inclinata Meta, or Ludwigia Red Skeleton all work incredibly well to give a badass spooky tone to a tank.
Colorful
I love colorful tanks, just filling them with as many plants and colors as possible. My favorite plants for tanks like this are the green plants that have incredibly bright neon green colors, such as Pearlweed or Hottonia Palustrus, and Ludwigia Super Green or Limnophila ‘Wavy’ for the background. To contrast the green I love to add some gold with Ammania Golden or Myriophyllum Golden, offset by the bronze color of Myriophyllum Roriama and the brown of Hygrophila Brown. Then of course fill it with some reds and pinks, such as Ammania Senegalensis, Bacopa Salzmannii, Rotala Caterpillar, or Pogostemon Stellatus. Red root floaters top off the look to add color to the top!
For Your Fish or Shrimp
Lots of people look for plants for their fish to make them happy. Consider some broad leafed plants such as Hygrophila Salicifolia for this, and bacopa varieties work great as well. But don’t think your fish need broad leafed plants! Fish are incredibly happy with any plants, and I find they prefer dense plants to broad leaves. Dense-growing stems such as any Rotala or Ludwigia variety works perfectly, and something in the foreground like Hygrophila Sunset gives them plants to hide underneath and play in. If you’re raising fry, Guppy Grass or floaters like Hygroryza Aristata are amazing options to provide them with some cover.
Shrimp LOVE moss! Gluing some moss to your hardscape is guaranteed to make your shrimp happy, but they’ll love any plant you put in their tank.
Hopefully this helps you pick out some great plants for your tank! And, as always, we’re here to help, so just shoot us a message with the chat in the bottom right and we’ll help you pick out some awesome plants.
