Nearly all of us have been there at some point: you decide to get live plants because they’re beautiful and you know they’ll help your fish stay healthy, but the leaves start rotting off the plant and they just die. Here’s some mistakes I’ve made that I never realised I was doing, and the simple trick I found to keeping mine alive for cheap.

If you want the quick summary of this rather than the explained paragraphs, scroll to the end. 🙂

1) The type of plants you buy. This can be a big thing. I once bought a plant that the sales person told me was fully aquatic, when in fact it wasn’t. I got home and saw in fine print it was “partially aquatic.” I’ve also gotten less than great looking plants thinking my tank was so established that I could nurse them back to health. This ended with my disappointment

Another thing is the ease of maintenance/light demands. Some plants are simply easier to grow than others because they are so awesome at adapting to different light amounts, water temperature, hardness, and all that stuff. If you don’t know much about particular plants, either look up species online which everyone agrees are easy to grow, or do what I did and buy a bunch of them off eBay. Just be sure to read the seller reviews and see what people are saying about they’re product!

I bought 20 random plants from an eBay seller who sold them for 5 pounds. They were advertised as easy to grow for everyone, with low light demands, and it was advised to get root tabs. The seller had even written an article on how to take them out of the package, and acclimate them. Though I was sceptical about the “cuttings” it also said that these plants could be floated until they grew roots. The amazing thing is they did!! All of the plants I bought, every single one, is flourishing in my tank, and I have about 10 more plants from getting cuttings of my own!

2) Trim before you put them in. Most people probably know to clip off the dead/rotting leaves before you put your new plant in. However, trimming the roots also helps! I trimmed the tips off of all of my plants roots/stems before I put them in the water and the roots are now healthy and thick. I read that trimming the roots stimulates more growth, and now I definitely believe this to be true!

3) Root tabs make all the difference. Many people (like I used to think) assume live plants, especially those labelled as easy, don’t need any added nutrients to the tank because the fish poop does it all. Fish poop does help by creating ammonia which the plant absorbs, but it’s not nearly enough for most plants. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money by adding expensive liquid fertilisers so I found a cheap and simple solution: aquatic plant root tabs. Again eBay is my saviour. I bought 10 for 2.50 pounds. They look like little capsules and they outside dissolves when you put it under the gravel/substrate in your aquarium, releasing fertilizer (which is safe for fish) into the water over time. They also last from 3-6 months. 1 single root tab in my 6.3 gallon tank has made my plants flourish.

4) Lighting, lighting, lighting! Most aquarium tanks are sold with a built in LED light. Most of the clip on aquarium lights and light replacements are again, LED lights. The majority of cheap LED lights don’t produce enough to keep plants healthy. I have heard more expensive LED lights can save money on electricity but cost much more upfront than light bulbs. Your generic light bulb produces enough light (I have a 40 watt energy saving bulb) so theoretically you could use this in a lamp over your aquarium and it would look very nice, however these bulbs produce more heat and can be a potential safety hazard.

I recommend energy saving bulbs because they don’t produce heat to alter the temperature in your aquarium. They’ll save you electricity (money) while giving your plants the light they need to thrive.

5) The type of fish you have. Some fish can be very destructive towards plants. I’ve seen goldfish just tear through a giant elodea plant. I tried having a planted tank with a 6 inch long pleco once and it was just a disaster. Every time he moved he was uprooting everything I’d just put down.

The pleco problem may have been easily remedied by simply getting a huge tank, but not everyone can do that.

So all I’ll say here is: read up on the type of fish you want and learn about their behaviour towards plants BEFORE you attempt to have a planted tank. If you put them time and money into making your aquarium look beautiful only to have your fish destroy and/or eat everything you’ve worked on..you’ll look back on what I just said and think, “Oh yeah..maybe I should’ve researched that..”

So in summary:

Make sure you buy healthy, easy to grow plants which are FULLY aquatic

Snip off any unhealthy leaves and trim the roots. If it’s a cutting, trim the stem and let the plant float to grow some roots. (Mine took a couple weeks)

Get some cheap root tabs for your plants.

Make sure you aren’t using cheap LED lights. You can use regular light bulbs in a lamp, however I recommend a lamp with energy saving bulbs because they don’t put off heat. If you feel like being creative there are plenty of ways to provide your plants with light.

Research your stuff so you know the fish you want will be compatible with your dreams of a planted tank. You don’t want to get destructive fish!

If this article was helpful or you have comments/advice of your own, feel free to share your input. Thanks for reading!