Aquarium Plants - The Good and Bad

Home aquariums aren't for just keeping fish and other water-loving animals.  In addition, they're  for keeping and displaying live aquarium plants.  Occasionally, people choose to avoid the time needed for dealing with fish or snails and merely want to keep live plants as an unique indoor garden.  Today, live aquarium plants are more easily accessible to the hobbyist than ever before.  In the 1970's, most pet stores would stock only a few plants. Today, however, you can be easily spoiled with the great number of choices available on the open market.  

When choosing aquarium plants, the most major decision you have to make is - fake aquarium plants or live aquarium plants? There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

Advantages of Live Aquarium Plants

Live aquarium plants do offer advantages for your tank.  They soak up nitrate and ammonia as well as producing oxygen.  They act as natural filters to help keep the chemical balance of your tank water healthy. They can also be quite visually pretty and vibrant, and are capable of fitting in with any interior decor you may choose.  You can find low-mainteance plants which simply need to float on the top of the water to survive, which makes maintenance extremely easy.  Also, you risk no danger from any strange paint or chemical leaking from a plastic plant seeing into the water. As far as cost,  the majority of live aquarium plants cost just about the same as plastic plants.

Disadvantages of Live Aquarium Plants

On the flip side, live plants require more work and care than plastic plants.  You have to determine whethe it's worth your effort. Many fish, such as the popular goldfish, love to eat live aquarium plants.  Since live aquarium plants tend to reproduce rather quickly, when you stock your tank with fish, choose fish that love to snack on the type of plants in your aquarium. On the other hand, if you happen to have plants that grow slowly, then choose fish that are not attracted to that type of plant. You also need to check the plants daily, like you do the fish, for any signs of ill health.  They need light and proper food. Live aquarium plants can bring diseases to your other live aquarium plants.

Aquarium plants can also can carry snails.  While snails are cute, they also are prolific breeders.  Soon, you'll have more snails than you know what to do with.  Check with the seller of the live aquarium plants. Some, such at PetSmart, come individually wrapped and are de-snailed.  But it is good to quarantine the plants in a tiny tank or even a bucket with gravel and water treated as you would for your tank.  Aquarium plants and turtles are also a good match and offer a good alternative to snails..

Some fish tend to cause havoc with plants and can easily uproot them.  If they are uprooted for too long, they are cut off from their food supply and will starve to death.  You can tie them down or concentrate on floating plants.  Some hobbyist recommend buying several types of live aquarium plants at once to see right away what ones work with your fish and what ones don't.  

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