Here are 5 of the best aquarium plants that you should try in your next aquarium. These are all beginner to intermediate level plants that anyone can have success with along with a quick reason why they are some of my personal favourites:
This South-East Asian plant is a medium category plant according to Tropica meaning it performs best with some CO2, personally I’ve found that with low levels of CO2 it still does ok but growth can be quite slow, what I think makes this plant great is how it can be used with Hardscape, it grows with runners and forms a long daisy-like chain meaning that you can drape it over rocks and wood for a really beautiful effect.
I just find this plant really striking with it’s trumpet style leaves. It grows quite tall so it makes an excellent background plant. I first saw this plant in an aquarium store's ‘show tank’ and I just had to find out what it was. After a sneaky picture the kind people of Reddit's r/Plantedtank were able to tell me what it was so I could get one for myself. It’s an Easy category plant according to Tropica so It’s a great choice for beginners.
I had to add this one to the list because I think just about everyone when they get their first aquarium and then get into aquarium plants wants to try ‘Red’ plants. And this is one of the ones that can still give you some decent red colour even if you don’t have CO2. Now it definitely does perform much better if you do have CO2 but I think it deserves to be on this list. Notable mentions would be the the other Alternanthera plants in the family such as Rosefolia which is the ‘pinkest’ and the regular Alternanthera Reneikii which is the same as this type but larger.
A must try for beginners are floating plants and of the floating plants Salvinia is the one I’ve personally had the easiest time growing. Floating plants are great for beginners as they can reduce the strength of the light hitting the bottom of your tank which can be a common cause of algae. Your fish will also feel much more secure with plants overhead and they can open up the possibility of some really interesting fish breeding behaviours, Salvinia is a really great choice if you have honey gouramis, betta fish or killifish in your aquarium.
Anubias had to be on this list, it's one of the most popular plants in the hobby for good reason. It’s a strong plant with tough leaves that won’t get eaten by fish and it can withstand a lot of beginner mistakes. It’s an epiphyte plant meaning that it can’t be buried in the substrate or it's rhizome (the main body of the plant) will rot and it should instead be attached to hardscape or decorations. This opens up lots of opportunities for creativity in your aquarium. Anubius can however be a bit susceptible to algae as it’s very slow growing, place it somewhere where it won't be under direct harsh lighting and it will grow really well for you. Occasionally it can flower underwater which is just beautiful and so cool.
I hope you enjoyed this little article and that it's given you a couple of ideas, if you'd like to support a fellow hobbyist all of the plants featured above are available on my website www.labyrinthaquatics.com
The majority of plants we stock are tissue culture plants by Danish company Tropica, grown in a lab under sterile conditions. This ensures that they are 100% pest free – which is great if you’re on team ‘kill it with fire’ like I am!. There’s also the benefit of none of that messy rock wool to fiddle around with and that you normally need to painstakingly pick out from among the roots, these you can simply rinse in a little tap water, separate into portions and they can go straight into your aquarium. At first glance they look small compared to buying an adult plant from the shop but with these you actually get so many more juvenile plants that will grow rapidy once added to the aquarium making them much better value in the long run.
Thank you for reading, come back soon!