Live Plants in a Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium

Stocking your freshwater tropical fish aquarium with live plants is a very good idea. This will give your tank a more natural look and an ever changing landscape as they grow. Live plants use the nitrates produced from left over food, fish excrement, along with decaying plants and fish that have died and were not removed from the tank.

Deciding if you will be using real plants should be done before you lay down your gravel bed. The reason for this is you will be placing a layer of clay substrate material in your tank. Substrate is the area that the plants will acquire their nutrients from, just like regular plants get their nutrients from the soil. Before adding the gravel or accessories to the tank they need to be rinsed off. I usually rinse everything under the tap with cool or warm water. Soap or other cleaning agents are not needed and can add toxins to your tank if not totally removed. There are several choices for the substrate but one of the easiest is Flourite. Start by placing about 1/2" of gravel on the bottom of the tank and then add approximately 1" of Flourite, and than another 1/2" of gravel. A product like Flourite is a porous clay material that enhances the plants ability to use the nitrates in your freshwater tropical fish aquarium.


OK, now we can start adding any decorations you may want to use. Place them in the tank, visualizing where you will want your plants to be. Place a saucer or plate on the gravel bed and begin filling the tank by pouring the water onto the plate. This will keep the stream of water from disturbing the gravel and stirring up the gravel. You will want to fill about a third of your tank and than add your plants. When planting a stem plant, first cut an angled cut just above one of the healthy green nodes leaving as much of the plant as possible. Now gently push the plant about half depth of the gravel. Remember to space them out as over crowding them will inhibit the lower leaves from getting enough light. Continue filling the tank and than remove the plate. Now that your tank is full, the next step is to get the water circulating and warmed up, and begin cycling your freshwater tropical fish aquarium. Replace the cover and light, than check to be sure that the heater and filter are plugged into the non-timed side of the power bar and the light on the timer side. Plug the power bar into a wall outlet and than set the timer for twelve to fourteen hours. This is the the optimal time that a freshwater tropical fish aquarium should get light. Light is not a factor for the fish but it plays a big part in plant growth and the control of algae. To little light and the plants will not grow or even die, but with too much light algae will grow out of control. I will discuss algae and other maintenance tasks in future articles.