What Aquatic Plants Are Suitable for Small Fish Tanks? A Variety Recommendation Guide

Aquatic plants have graceful shapes, diverse colors and elegant postures. Planted in an aquarium and paired with river sand, driftwood and other decorations, they look beautiful and tasteful, making them one of the best decorations and ornamental features in aquariums today. Together with aquatic animals, substrate and water, they can create a circulating ecosystem. Let's take a look below at what aquatic plants to keep in a small fish tank!

Java Fern

Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) is a fern of the Polypodiaceae family with green leaves 20-40 cm long, sporangia on the underside of the leaves, and a strip-like rhizome with black or dark brown adventitious roots growing below. It is highly adaptable and easy to manage, commonly used in aquascaping, and can also be grown emerged in high-humidity environments. Because its leaves are tough and have a bitter taste, it is suitable for beautifying aquariums stocked with herbivorous fish.

Anubias

Anubias is a type of aquatic plant in the Araceae family distributed in the West Africa region. Compared with other aquatic plants, it can be said to be very resilient and easy to plant, but if it is planted carelessly and haphazardly, rhizome rot and stunted growth will gradually appear, eventually leading to withering. It likes ample sunlight, water hardness should be slightly higher, nitrate content should be low, and the substrate must have sufficient base fertilizer. The suitable growth temperature is 22-30°C.

Hornwort

Hornwort, also known as fine grass, fish grass, soft grass, pineweed and so on, is a perennial herbaceous submerged aquatic plant of the genus Ceratophyllum in the family Ceratophyllaceae. It has broad requirements for water temperature but is relatively sensitive to freezing, dying within a few days in ice. It likes nitrogen, and grows better when the inorganic nitrogen content in the water is high. It can grow normally in water with a pH of 7.1-9.2, but a pH of 7.6-8.8 is most suitable. It grows rapidly under 5-10% light intensity, but strong light will cause hornwort to die.

Vallisneria

Vallisneria is a perennial stemless submerged herbaceous aquatic plant of the genus Vallisneria in the family Hydrocharitaceae, commonly known as noodle grass, dragon whisker grass, carrying-pole grass and so on. It has creeping stems and basal leaves; the leaves are narrow and long like ribbons, and leaf length varies with water depth. The leaves are emerald green and semi-transparent, standing gracefully in the water. It is fairly adaptable to water quality, likes weakly alkaline water, does not like high temperatures, is cold-tolerant, and likes light. It often grows in streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.

Dwarf Amazon Sword

Dwarf Amazon Sword (Echinodorus tenellus) is a small marsh plant native to Brazil. Its lanceolate leaves are 10-15 cm long and 1 cm wide, with almost no petiole, and the overall height is about 20 cm. Its 2-3 spiral-shaped flowers are about 1.5 cm across and have six pistils. The leaves are green and firm, with a clear main vein and less obvious lateral veins. It propagates by budding, producing daughter plants on the reproductive stem of the mother plant. It likes strong light, with 20-25°C being most suitable.