The We Are Pets Blog

Aquarium plant ornaments are available in a huge range of styles and colours, and they look great. However, many aquarists decide to go for a more natural look with real aquarium plants. Unfortunately, some fish shops give sparse or unhelpful advice when you buy aquarium plants which can result in disappointment when they don't grow as planned and subsequently die. This can put many keen potential fishkeepers off the rewarding hobby of aquascaping.

Perhaps the most fundamental mistake that aquarists make when planting an aquarium for the first time is that they don't change the substrate. The most common aquarium substrate is pea gravel, which is useless for growing plants because stone contains no nutrients! Most gravel is also very coarse which makes it nearly impossible to establish the necessary root growth. There are specialist, clay-based substrates that slowly release nutrients for growing plants. Although expensive, these substrates are definitely the best if your plan to grow aquarium plants.

In addition to the nutrients released by a good clay-based substrate, plants like as much CO2 as they can get. Most varieties will do just fine with your existing water, as long it's not overly-disturbed with too many bubbles from an airstone. Over-filtration may reduce the amount of CO2 present in the water.

If you really want to get serious, you might consider a CO2 injection system to increase the amount of CO2 available to your plants. However, remember that if you add a CO2 injection system to a small tank and reduce the aeration, you may not be able to stock as many fish.

Many think that super bright, high intensity lighting is required 24 hours a day to grow aquarium plants. However, a good quality fluorescent setup will be adequate. Aim to keep your lighting on for around 6-8 hours a day. This is also good for your fish, which don’t really need the lights on at all (think African lake bed)!

If you'd like to delve further into the exciting world of aquascaping, don't hesitate to ask the We Are Fish team!