Ever wondered why do fishes unexpectedly die in an aquarium? Why can the fishes not survive healthily in an aquarium? The reason is none other than the atmosphere of the fish-tank. It takes a lot of time for them to adapt to the new unnatural environment.
However, to add some natural touch to such an artificial habitat, you can enrich your fish tank with lovely floating aquarium plants. Furthermore, floating aquarium plants can also enhance your aquarium’s stunning features, making your fishes feel safe enough to adjust and survive in the artificial pool.
Floating aquarium plants are available in various shapes and sizes with a lot of striking colors and patterns; these plants can altogether change the aesthetic appeal of your aquarium. The sight of these floating aquarium plants can make you so amused, and you feel like observing the virtual reality of life under the water.
This article provides in-depth detail about the floating aquarium plants, their benefits, their care plans, and the best floating aquarium plants, which will prove to be the best choice for comeliness and visual aesthetics.
Talking about the difference between the submerged plants and the floating aquarium plants, the latter has leaves that float on the water’s surface rather than sticking out of the water tank. These floating plants are lighter in weight and are not attached to the tank’s bottom; instead of float.
The floating plants do not require nutrients through their roots for growth; they can fulfill their supplement requirement from the tank’s water using their leaves, so they don’t need to be planted.
Benefits of the floating aquarium plants
Why should you add floating aquarium plants? The best floating aquarium plants provide several benefits when used by aquarists. Some of the advantages include:
Aesthetic visuals
These floating plants enhance the aesthetic view of your aquarium, giving it a beautiful look. These plants are widely used for decorating and ornamental purposes. When floating aquarium plants are added, it gives your aquarium more of a natural feel.
Shade
Floating plants around the aquarium provide maximum shade and cover to the fish living inside. This makes the shy fish comfortable and to behave normally. However, shades also influence the amount of sunlight that enters the aquarium.
They decrease the light within the fish tank, making it an extremely favorable habitat for the creatures which like dark environment.
A fresh and clean environment
A floating aquarium plant makes the water pure within the aquarium and gives the atmosphere a natural feel. These floating plants behave remarkably as natural filters inside the aquarium and manage the number of water waste.
They also maintain the oxygen levels of the water. These plants are of great importance as they make your fish keeping job much more comfortable by merely being there.
Hiding cover
These plants provide the best hiding places for small fishes and the breeding ones. This provides a sense of security among the fish. This makes your skittish fish calm and lets them behave naturally. Also, the feeling of being in a natural habitat with vegetation around makes your fish comfortable and secure.
A food source for marine life
The floating aquarium plants can serve as a food source for your fishes. The omnivorous varieties love to nibble around the vegetation on the surface of the water. Therefore, it works significantly as a source of some additional nutrients in the diet to help maintain a healthy atmosphere and a delicious snack for the fish in tanks.
Low maintenance plants
Along with all of the above benefits, an additional advantage of the floating plants is that they are effortless to grow and extremely low to maintain. The best floating aquarium plants are incredibly hardy.
The majority of floating plants do not require extra care and attention; they can grow on their own and very rapidly. The utmost care they need revolves around the trimming of overgrowing parts and nothing else. They look great and require minimum effort to maintain their look.
Also, they add style and nature together to your aquarium. The realistic look of floating plants helps your fish feel comfortable and healthy, reducing stress.
BEST FLOATING AQUARIUM PLANTS
Before discussing anything else, let’s move directly to some of the best floating aquarium plants with which you can enhance the fish habitat and beautify your aquarium’s sight.
Water lettuce
Water lettuce is an incredibly decorative floating aquarium plant for more giant aquariums with its beautiful long roots. However, the leaves are pretty large and thick and eventually form a rosette, making it difficult to adjust in smaller fish tanks.
These plants grow very quickly, and they glamorize the look of the aquarium by being in it. They have a pretty basket-like appearance; air bubbles tend to get trapped in them, enhancing its floating ability.
These floating plants greatly benefit a variety of fishes as they provide a shelter for small fishes. In addition to that, water lettuce also competes with algae for nutrients, preventing algal blooms’ growth within the aquarium.
In-home aquariums, special conditions are required to grow the water lettuce, make sure the water is clean, and an appropriate amount of light is provided to meet the floating plant’s requirements. To restrict it at a side of the aquarium, try using the angle wiring technique for bounding it at a corner of the tank.
For your water lettuce to stay healthy, make sure you remove the yellow, dead, and overabundant leaves from the plant on weekly tank maintenance.
Duckweeds
An attractive floating plant, duckweed, grows so quickly that it can cover the tank’s whole surface within a few days. The beautiful green pattern it gives looks amazing not only from the top but also from the surface underneath.
Before planting duckweeds, make sure you want them in your tank and that your tank can handle the rate at which it grows. If you have a small fish-tank, you will continuously be trimming it away to make your aquarium an appropriate habitat for the fishes.
Another problem with this floating aquarium plant is that it covers the tank’s whole surface, obstructing the sunlight from entering the aquarium. So if you have creatures that require a lot of light or need to come on the tank’s exterior, duckweeds are not the right choice for such aquariums.
However, if there is no issue like that, duckweeds are great floating plants that add nature to the artificial habitat, providing shade to the fish. It can also be used as a food source for the betta. These plants are elementary to maintain as they grow on their own and do not require much care.
You need to take care of the overgrowth they make and the regular trimming they require.
Amazon Frogbit
Amazon frogbit is a trendy floating plant that resembles the mini lily pad. The amazing plant enhances the beauty of the aquarium and gives a beautiful sight to view. It floats on the surface of the fish tank, providing shade and cover to the fish.
The plant’s long roots and broad flat leaves give a mesmerizing effect to the viewer. This plant can thrive in any environment and requires minimum to no care at all. Unlike the duckweeds, you don’t have to trim the plant to make it look good continually.
However, the long floating roots might bother some of the people. But for that purpose, you can restrict the plant to one side of the container by using the angling wire. Attaching an angling wire can help you greatly inbounding the floating plant to the desired space.
The Amazon frogbit is one of the best floating aquarium plants that are usually recommended to newbies. Those who do not know how to maintain a plant in an aquarium can add Amazon frogbit in their tank as they don’t need much attention and can survive negligence.
Riccia fluitans
Instead, a unique floating plant with no leaves and roots has short strands that intertwine to form a thick mat. Riccia fluitans is commonly known as floating crystalwort. These floating aquarium plants can be found on the surface of the water and under the water surface.
If placed in appropriate conditions, the growth rate of this floating plant is exceptionally rapid. However, if you have duckweeds in your tank, don’t crystalworts in it as duckweeds rapidly cover the tank’s surface, overcrowding Riccia fluitans.
These plants are usually used by the betta breeders due to the excellent shade and cover it provides. The aquascapers admire the plant a lot and use it for the recreation of moss. The plant has eye-catching yellow and green colors, and the yellow, green mat looks beautiful on the tank’s surface.
The plant should be trimmed at regular intervals properly so that the surface clusters can survive with less concentrated sunlight. Also, a properly trimmed floating plant gives a neat look to the aquarium.
Floating bladderwort
A plant from the carnivorous group, floating bladderwort does no harm to your fish; instead protects it from the microbes within tank water. The plant’s base has a network-like structure that works as a trap and appears as a bladder.
The floating plant pulls the micro-organism towards the traps, and when it gets in the trap, it is digested by the plant. Furthermore, the striking bright green color of the plants adds up to the beauty of your fish-tank.
It develops bright yellow blooms while floating in the form of groups at the surface of the water. The beautiful plant can mimic the wildlife environment and provides a pleasant view. It is also among the best floating aquarium plants to be considered while searching for your aquarium.
Rotala indica
Want to add some variety to your fish tank? Roatala indica is an excellent choice for anyone interested to add some unique beauty to their aquarium. This floating plant is different from other traditional floating plants as it has colored leaves.
The top leaves are traditional bright green; however, if you look on to the bottom, you will see beautiful pinkish-red colors giving a glorifying effect to the aquarium. It adds up a variety and contrast in the classical fish tanks.
In addition to that, the beauty of this plant maximizes when you add some movement effects to it. The colorful leaves produce beautiful waves that fantasize about the environment.
Moving towards the care plan of Rotala Indica, you need to show a little more concern about the stems and their trimming as it is the only tricky part in maintaining this plant.
Water spangles
Salvinia minima, or water spangles, belongs to the ferns’ class; they grow rapidly on the water surface. A genuinely outstanding floating aquarium plant known for its dangling roots and reasonably large size, water spangles are prevalent floating plants among aquarists.
These floating plants provide a food source for the creatures within the tank; also, they tend to compete with the algae for the nutritional supplements in water. Therefore, restrict the algal growth in the aquarium.
Water spangles grow quickly and cover water’s surface providing enough cover and shade to the hiding species to behave normally. These are reasonably healthy plants that can tolerate any environment. As long as the aquarium’s water flow is gentle, water spangles do not need anything else to grow and survive.
Java moss
Java moss is among the best floating aquarium plants which require very little maintenance.
The sturdy floating plant grows rapidly does not dies quickly. Even if it is attached to a rock in the bottom of the tank, it can quickly grow and extend over the aquarium’s surface.
The plant is exceptionally free-floating, so it is recommended to attach it with some firm object restricting it to the desired location. The fluffy beautiful floating plant can deal with temperatures between 72 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit; however, the best growth rate is at 73º Fahrenheit.
The plant requirements regarding water and light quality are extremely low, making it an easy to handle floating plant. On aquascaping gives beautiful results. The beautiful floating plant is also used as a food source for breeding fishes.
Java moss provides cover and protection to the small and shy fishes and helps maintain the aquarium’s health. This floating plant is extremely easy to install, and the maintenance is totally up to you.
Whether you want to trim it regularly or let it grow wild and cut it occasionally, it looks great both ways.
Hornworts
Hornworts also called as coontail, is submerged as well as a free-floating aquatic plant. It is one of the most challenging floating plants of all as they can thrive in any environment and are extremely difficult to be killed.
These plants can kill weaker plants in the surrounding, so algal growth is prevented if you have hornworts in your aquarium. However, if the plant is exposed to some chemicals (especially those designed to kill snails), it shed all of its leaves.
In sharp, bright light, they appear long and straggling and become a little less pleasing and attractive. The plant has fluffy leaves providing the best shade or cover to smaller fishes.
Water wisteria
An undemanding and sturdy floating aquarium plant, water wisteria has an enchanting beauty and can be installed either submerged or floating on the water surface in the aquarium. It looks beautiful in both ways.
The striking bright colors get even more brilliant when proper light is provided to the plant. The plant’s structure includes stems and leaves with are extremely thin and lengthy. The leaves’ design and pattern are a lot more beautiful than any other species in the fish tank.
Coming towards the maintenance strategies, this plant requires trimming regularly. If neglected, the plant can grow extensively, taking over the whole aquarium.
The plant has beautiful leaves, which act as a food source for the fish living inside. The survival of this floating plant depends slightly on the light requirements. Therefore, if these plants start wilting in low lights, try putting them in areas where an appropriate amount of light reaches the plant.
Redroot floater
An extraordinarily aesthetic and the best floating aquarium plant, red root floater is highly underrated. It can help you decorate your fish tank giving a natural touch to it, and once you add it to the tank, it can be a best friend for the creatures living inside.
The floating plant is a native of South America and is an effortless pant. It can quickly grow and be maintained in any conditions provided. The plant can adapt to different water conditions and limited light requirements.
It is called red rooter because of its leaves, which can turn bright red in the appropriate conditions. The roots and lower parts of the plant have a lot of red in it, justifying its name.
When a lot of light in the tank is provided, red root floaters give striking red colors and look exclusively beautiful floating in the water. This plant is an excellent choice if you want to give a relatively bold contrast to the greenery in your fish tank.
Parameters to consider while looking for floating aquarium plants
After knowing about the benefits of the floating plants, let’s focus on the parameter you need to observe when selecting.
Selecting the best floating aquarium plants to require several factors to consider, this includes:
Species of fish in the tank
Depending on the type of creature that lives inside the aquarium, a floating plant is selected.
Like if you want to keep fishes that are a bit shy, you need to consider plants with large rosette and long roots.
These plants provide a beautiful hiding place for the fish, helping it to feel comfortable and secure. However, if you want to have clear and pure water free of nitrate in your aquarium, try some rapidly growing plants like duckweeds. They use nitrates as supplements for growth and purify the water.
Size of the fish tank
If you have a small aquarium at home, slimmer plants with lesser roots and smaller leaves are best for it. If you add fast-growing plants or floating plants with extended sources, you will stress your fishes with the form’s crowd.
Similarly, if larger tanks are present, consider fast-growing plants that are massive and have long roots. More giant aquariums can accommodate numerous large plants without making the habitat crowded for the creatures.
Lightening
The floating plants cause light obstruction; they do not allow the light to pass through the thick surface, leading to underlying plants’ death. So before selecting floating aquarium plants, make sure they allow light to live under cover of water.
You can try out duckweeds as they can be trimmed to thin out the layer providing equal light to the underlying plants. If you add up floating plants in your aquarium, get ready to cut them regularly for the sake of plants at the bottom of your tank.
Growth rate
Another essential parameter to be considered is the growth rate of floating plants. If you are a lot busy and cannot always be around for the trimming and maintenance, make sure you add the plants with a slow growth rate.
The parameters mentioned above are critical to consider while looking for some floating plants to add nature to the aquarium. These factors will help you select the best choices for your fish tanks.
Also, if you have smaller tanks, you should consider the growth rate of the floating plant you select as smaller tanks can quickly get crowded by fast growing plants and can therefore disturb the fishes in the aquarium.
Summing up my research, floating aquarium plants should be considered as an essential component if you want to keep fishes healthy, comfortable, and secure in the fish tank. By considering specific parameters, you can easily select the best floating aquarium plants for your fish tank.
Lastly, a huge benefit these plants provide is the natural feeling and beauty they add to the artificial habitat and the fact that these floating plants are low maintenance. You can select the best floating plant for your aquarium and let it glow with little to even no effort.
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