Striking and Glamourous Freshwater Plants

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Striking and Glamourous Freshwater Plants

Sunday, June 7th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

What really hurts for a fish-keeper, is the first major tragedy that happens to you - our early freshwater tropical fish experience wasn’t great. It was a particularly horrific circumstance which we could have circumvented but I didn’t count as “our fault”…

We had gone away for a long weekend and yes, you’ve guessed it, the thermostat on the tank heater broke, the temperature of the water soared – fish tank extinction ensued…and my family and I were in tears on our return…

I was so shaken by the situation that for a while we kept only plants in our aquarium as we didn’t have the heart to start again.

Slowly as time passed we realised how brilliant a properly planted tank can be and how exotic the plants can make the whole aquarium look, a properly landscape tank adds enormous visual impact. And of course, when fish are added to the tank, nitrites start to build up but with good plant life in the tank, oxygen is released, absorbing the nitrites leaving the water cleaner and healthier for the fish.

Some form of light is mandatory…

The sun is the most significant factor in the life of a plant, and in a freshwater tropical fish aquarium, lighting is equally as central to maintain the health and beauty of the plants.

Wayne Vandre, Horticulture Specialist, comments that light is the all-important source of energy used by plants in photosynthesis. But light is not just one simple, well-defined entity. Plant growth and activity are strongly influenced by the intensity quality and duration of the light source. Experiments show that maximum growth of most plants is under cool white fluorescent light.

Fundamental to the quality of plant growth is the quality of the lighting that is provided, giving the tank a much better overall quality.

Varieties of plants

Landscaping a tank can be fun and it is essential to get different types of plants to give the tank that exotic look. There are many diverse ranges of aquatic plants. Tubers need to be anchored by the root to the bottom of the tank. Floating plants plainly float in the tank do not need to be anchored and will not usually require fertilizer. Rooted plants, like tubers need to be anchored to the bottom of the tank normally tied to pieces of rock or wood. These species usually grow to be fairly tall and will help to fill the aquarium.

Normally, the water and the fish in the tank will supply the nutrients and fertilizers essential for plant growth. Extra supplements are rarely needed. The filtration system is crucial to maintaining healthy plant life in the tank. Under gravel filters restricts the composition of the gravel in which the plants are rooted and produce a steady flow of bubbles that disturb the surface. All other kinds of filtration systems should work well for plants and it is good to keep water movement in the tank, but not too mush disturbance at the surface as CO2 is lost, essential to the survival of the plants.

All our tanks now have healthy plant life which makes it easier to keep happy healthy and colourful fish.

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