How to Identify Aquarium Plants
Planting an aquarium is a natural way to stimulate an aquatic environment and provide shelter for fish. Most water plants fall into a few distinct categories regarding positioning, leaf structure, color and light requirements. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Identify the positioning of the plant, whether it is a floating plant, rooted or a bunch plant.
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Look at the leaves. Are they fern-like, thick and pointed, wavy, grassy? Do small leaves grow on multiple stalks? Most aquatic plants fall into one of these categories.
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Observe the plant’s need for light. While all water plants need light, some remain green and healthy with less light, while others will quickly die without it.
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Tips & Warnings
Here are a few of the most popular aquatic plants and a description of their type, leaf structure and light requirements.
Vallisneria: Rooted plant. Leaves are thin and grasslike and have a spiral effect. Can survive low and high light conditions, but low light will dull the color and spiraled leaves will straighten out.
Sagittaria: Rooted plant. Leaves are thin, grass-like ribbons. Great starter plant—no specific demands for light.
Cryptocoryne. Rooted plant. Leaves are narrow, green and grow on stalks. Some species of Cryptocoryne only need a little light to survive, and most species are very hardy once they are rooted.
Sword: Rooted plant. Leaves are thick, sword-shaped, and green or red. No specific demands for light, but the plant will be bigger in higher light exposure.
Cabomba. Bunched plant. Leaves are fern-like and radiant green. Without strong light it will quickly turn brown.
Dwarf Helzine: Bunched plant. Its tiny, clustered leaves can carpet an aquarium. Needs bright light.
Duckweed: Floating plant. Leaves are tiny with roots that extend 1 inch into the water. More light will cause them to reproduce faster; however, a thick blanket of duckweed will limit other plants’ access to light.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit kelp at aquarium image by Daniel Gillies from Fotolia.com
