TOP 10: CHEAP & EASY AQUARIUM PLANTS! Affordable & Simple To Care For! Low Light OR High Tech Tanks.

[@shesellsfish]

What a great list. Even if you only have 2 or 3 of these you can have a full lush looking tank without a lot of fuss or being a plant expert. These plants are also so awesome for starting out a Walstead type filter less aquarium. And once you have success with these it gives you the courage to go on and try more of the dramatic diva type plants. Willow moss for me is another easy peasy, it grows everywhere on or in anything and I end up throwing out giant clumps. It doesn't grow as fast as hornwort, but it's fast for a moss. I'm constantly having to trim it. 👍❤👍

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

I agree ShelbyRae❤️🥰🌿🐟🌿💚

[@Fishtory]

Great points Shelby! And yes, there's easily another 10 plants that could have been part of this list also... Java, Christmas, flame, willow and peacock moss are all pretty darn cool 😎

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

Great list Alex!! I love sharing videos like this out to new folks learning to keep planted aquariums!! One of the things I would love to do is be able to start breeding some plants for profit, even though pet stores are very limited here we do have two that I believe I could work something out with extra plants! Always the best information around and you already know how much I love you and The Secret History Living in your Aquarium!! Thank you so much for sharing and being such an inspiration! 🙏🌿🐟🌿💚

[@Fishtory]

Thanks Paige! You know the same love is heading right back at you too ❤. I'm sure you can work something out with guppy grass, moss or Susswassertang... no one really sells those wholesale for stores, so approximately 1/3rd of retail pricing should be easy to find from a LFS. hmm maybe that needs a video on it...there seems to be an endless demand for those 3 plants.

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

@@Fishtory Great to know!! Always thank you for the recommendations!! I do have some java moss and I've had great success with my Subwasstang. Do you sell plant cuttings? I was thinking about putting together a tub with some of these easy low light plants to see if I can get them propagating to set up new tanks and hopefully to sell!! Thank you again Alex 🙏🌿💚

[@douggiles7647]

Just a heads-up to everyone that there's 2 types of moss in the hobby that are sold as "Java moss" because other than the Taxiphyllum Barbieri that Alex talked about there is also Vesicularia Dubyana that was actually around in the hobby first. One sure-fire way to figure out which you have is that V. Dubyana will occasionally produce spore pods while underwater but T. Barbieri never will. There are also some visual differences but I'm not a moss expert so I can't explain them properly. I know that most of the Java moss I see for sale in my area is V. Dubyana and that's what I have in my tanks. Actually haven't been able to find T. Barbieri in my area, at least not at the stores I frequently go to or have found.

[@Fishtory]

Thank you kindly! Thats great info that i did not know!

[@aquariumplantman]

Yay, always love it when you do spotlights on plants 🌿

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

Meeee tooo🌿💚🥰

[@ADHDAquatics]

Hi Alex good morning! I got you on my way to work. Thanks for the upload

[@Fishtory]

Right on, thanks! Morning

[@PotooBurd]

This is so informative! Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌

[@Fishtory]

Thank you! Will do!

[@cheetah774]

Hello Alexander Thank you for the informative video I just wanted to say that I love how beautiful and natural your fish tanks look. Over the years I have tried most of the plants that you talk about in this video and I could not agree with you more about the fact that having plants in the fish tank is beneficial, Improves the water quality. Fish feel more safe and show more natural behaviour. And of course they look good. 👍

[@Fishtory]

Right on! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the issue.

[@MorningDriftwood]

"dwarf" sagittaria. once they get established, they'd be pests. They had even choked out some of my other plants during my first experiences. The ones I threw away in a bucket of water outside became water column plants, unrooted, living just below the water surface. They've been like that for a few months now and they've actually shot out stolons.

[@Fishtory]

That was in my mind also... with the vallisnerias, the stargrass and pennywarts

[@tauncfester3022]

Buce Plants for those of us close to the CA border on the West coast ships really fast, and their prices on stem plants aren't insane. They also carry many different varieties of Rotala and Ludwigia, which I'm surprised you didn't cover as both are excellent for low and high light setups. And what about Subswassertang? It's my best growing non vascular plant.

[@Fishtory]

Thanks for the info! I had an unboxing from them, about 6 months ago and sadly half all of the plants in a $200 order, we're melted beyond repair. I know they were once good...but I was kind of shocked by that. Have you been ordering more recently from them? I hope it was a "one off" with my order. I tend to use AquaticArts.com and FISHTORY15 for the 15% Discount...wait till I want fish or shrimp too and then overnight it...but shipping is like 50 everywhere for overnight and that is pretty rough

[@tauncfester3022]

@@Fishtory OK I admit it's been a couple years since I ordered from them, that's a shame. They had such an amazing selection and the prices were good. it's funny I've had some pretty good deals through some place near City of Industry CA on Amazon that sells '5 easy plant species for $30', my slowly growing but real healthy Anubias Barteri Nana, a beautiful Red Flame (Ocelot) Sword and Cryptocoryne Wendtii Bronze. All were good purchases. My issue with Aquatic Arts is that the stuff I want to order seems to constantly be on backorder.

[@timpekarek9159]

I have read that Hornwart does have Allelopathic properties.

[@Fishtory]

I believe it... because people randomly seem to lose it, far easier than other stem plants. So perhaps it's an example or a plant at war with other species in it's habitat.

[@TheNanoAquariumGuy]

Great info! Thanks Alex. For me, my easy to go plant is Pearl Weed. Though it just keep popping everywhere once it is in.

[@Fishtory]

100% that and wisteria were in my first version but water sprite ended up being fairly similar in low tech, so I switched it up a bit

[@nian60]

Thanks for all the info.

[@Fishtory]

Certoinly yuk yuk yuk!

[@Coyne.Wilcox]

One of my local Petcos marks down their Java Ferns and I always get the fancy ones if they look like they are going to produce a ton of babies and I have gotten tons that way!

[@Fishtory]

Score! (I do the same lol) great minds think alike! 🤔 😃

[@socomarylandaqua2549]

I love hornwort!

[@Fishtory]

Tis a jolly good plant

[@BwizzleAqua]

Hello. Much love

[@Fishtory]

Thank you kindly! 😊

[@ansleybleu]

Thank you!!

[@Fishtory]

Of course. Thanks for stopping by!

[@SomePotato]

Just starting my first tank. Super helpful, thanks.

[@Fishtory]

Glad to help! Welcome to the hobby! If we can help answer any questions. Please feel free to ask anything!

[@SomePotato]

@@Fishtory Thank you, that is very generous of you! I'm quite certain on the approach I'm gonna take, but I'm also taking my time. It's an 80 cm (31.5 in) 112 l (29.6 gal) tank and I'm gonna try the Walstad method. I do have her book and read a good part of it, skipping over most of the science. ;) The one thing that I find hard to grasp is light. The general lumen/gallon recommendations floating around the net all seem very high, and actual PAR values for a lot of lights are hard to get. The room the aquarium is in gets very few hours of daylight, so being able to program a very long light cycle with varying intensities is very important for me. I'm thinking about getting the Fluval Aquasky 2.0 or Plant 3.0. The models for my 80 cm tank come at 1450 lm (Aquasky) and 2350 lm (Plant). You spoke quite favorably about the Fluval lights in one of your light videos, and even link one in many video descriptions. Long story short, do you think one of them would be enough for a 40 cm (15.7 in) tall tank with many (mostly) easy plants?

[@SomePotato]

@@Fishtory Hey, Alex. Any chance you could answer my question? If not, it's fine. Thank you.

[@bipolaraquatics]

Great video my dude

[@Fishtory]

Thank you kindly!

[@Lazarusthefishboy]

Awesome video

[@Fishtory]

Thanks Laz, Mate!

[@markkinnersley5134]

Good afternoon Alex, I can grow quite a lot of plants but that bacopa just melts in my water and its meant to be easy, and I can grow harder plants easier any idea why the bacopa won't grow please

[@Fishtory]

Do you use flourish Excell and or have lots of snails? (Snails WILL eat the leaves on these at times... which is odd. Since they eat no other leaves except baby crypts in my tanks). But melt, is usually due water being over 8.0 ph or really high tds (350+)

[@shaneadmusson7740]

I have the same issue and my water pH is a little high as is my kh. Somewhat hard water as well, maybe that's it? I use RO and add minerals back in with shrimp mineral gh kh

[@terrygorsch386]

I made a Java fern jungle from 1plant 😜🐠

[@claywise43]

I would add anacharis to that list. But overall, great list. I’m going to try a few that I haven’t attempted yet

[@Fishtory]

Oh totally... and parrot feather, or millfoils, wisteria, octopus plant, ludwigia repens, there's quite a few you could add that are super easy and cheap

[@claywise43]

@@Fishtory I give away hornwort, anacharis and dwarf lettuce all of the time. I’m cleaning it out every couple of weeks it seems

[@Tarlu17]

I love anacharis too. Always bugged me that the older part of the stem drops leaves and turns olive green so quickly compared to growth end. For this reason I don’t float it anymore, just weight it and trim off the older parts every once in a while to keep it looking nice and green.

[@shaneadmusson7740]

While crypts may not be cheap, I have yet to ever kill one and the cost of three sets of stem plants that end up dying off is comparable to the cost of one nice hardy crypt. And they propagate well too.

[@Fishtory]

Agreed 100% if they were cheaper and grew faster, they would have been on this list for sure!

[@carvedwood1953]

Cool lotus seed head. I wonder how many local things like that are aquarium safe. I always enjoyed the look of walnut shells but i know walnut husks are a fish toxin. I need something for my native inspired tank.

[@Fishtory]

Acorn caps can be really pretty! I use those and aldercones, magnolia and manzanita Pods too

[@carvedwood1953]

@@Fishtory We do have a lot of cucumber magniolia here. I am definitely going on the hunt for some tiny acorns.

[@dellseasandoval8187]

You went from number 3 to number 5. What happened to number 4?

[@pkendlers]

I like the red plant with the leaves that look like bacon strips!

[@Fishtory]

It's My favorite too

[@sigui.habana]

For me the hardest is Microsorum pteropus ( java fern )

[@Fishtory]

Try getting a liquid potassium supplement.. no nitrogen or anything else. That really helped my ability to grow java ferns

[@jesselee3591]

I hear that if you can sharpen a mag flip enough, you can shave with it 😍

[@Fishtory]

Oh interesting haha

[@sigui.habana]

Ceratopteris hace two species that grows on water ( maybe more )

[@emberframe6994]

the post malone of aquariums

[@Fishtory]

Lol bhaha

[@supremeleaderarmy9164]

What temp are u running the 1st tank shown with the black Angel's?

[@Fishtory]

74 to 78 depending on the room temp

[@Knight636]

Where can I get the red longiplomus?

[@jeffalbillar7625]

There are tons of sites on the internet that sell just about any kind of 0lant you're looking for

[@Fishtory]

A rare plant still... mostly only in Asia, buuut join the rare plants forum on Facebook and someone will post one sometimes

[@dellseasandoval8187]

Never mind. The job making sure with viewers are paying attention.

[@zombiecat9073]

Alex how does a pogostemon stellatus octopus plant propagate

[@Fishtory]

Stem...so you just cut any segment with 2 or 3+ inches of stem and replant the section...or you can even float it if you have lots of nutrients in your water column. That plant and a few others were definitely tied for ranking (except it tend to cost 8.99 to 12.99 which is slightly more than the others)

[@zombiecat9073]

@@Fishtory thank you so much! I appreciate you than you'll ever know !

[@meep2576]

I want to get more plants

[@meep2576]

I have Tetras and I seen a beautiful beta . Can I get it ? also how long do tetras live I’ve loved them for 3 years ? How old will they live so I can get a beta. But I want them to have a good full life. And if I could can I put two together like yours ? Sorry for all the questions 😁

[@Fishtory]

Most likely you can put them together totally fine...tetras are way faster. Also the only tetra to avoid putting in with betta is Congo tetras or big characin type fish (not common anyhow). Also depending on the tetra and care... 3 to 5 years is average but I've owned a neon blue for 9 in one case...so it depends quite a bit on stress, food, activity and water Temps. Temp 72-75 will double a tetras life compared to 80-85 range.

[@meep2576]

That comment made no sense at all 😂 anyway the beta I wanted was gone but the one I bought is awesome so now My tetra seems to be getting pissed off with the beta. Can he kill my beta ? He’s 3 years old but seems to be hunting him ? I feed them all with a cube of shrimp brine so it’s not a food issue.Put more plants in too.

[@meep2576]

I’m talking about my comment not yours. Lol

[@melissaturner1737]

Water lettuce and frog bit are much easier than red root floaters. I have never been able to keep red root floaters alive. 😂

[@jeffalbillar7625]

I'm having real problems with red root floaters. I bought a when bunch and I have maybe 5 or 6 that are just hanging in there

[@Fishtory]

Yes red root floaters are tricky... they die and or never reproduce, or flourish and take over... but seemingly never grow, "just okay" lol. I know you need basically no flow or agitation at the surface, 30 to 50ppm nitrates usually, and iron is key for the red colors. They live in acidic waters of the Amazon and love high light, but aren't what I'd consider cheap or "easy" lol.

[@jeffalbillar7625]

@@Fishtory 🙏

[@high_fructose_corn_syrup]

aponogeton crispus according to someone who is selling them on Amazon says they wont grow if water is over 72⁰. Is this true??

[@Fishtory]

I have seen it well into the low 80s. Just needs good light

[@Fishtory]

I believe that is incorrect. I've had it for years in 78 to 80 anyhow.

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

are your reds from the high light use or no

[@Fishtory]

The one Aponogeton plant is from the actual plant variety, but it would be dark green or brown in low light...so it needs high light and or fertz and co2 for this level of color...but new varieties are getting more and more red even in low to medium lighting

[@alecthenice8115]

Can't find stem plant cuttings in my area for less than $10 !

[@Fishtory]

Whoa! What country is that again?

[@fishtropiccanada4747]

Hair cuts for all !!!!

[@bhillson]

Was it aponogeton ulvaceus

[@Fishtory]

Yes ulvaceus (red and green type) and crispus were the 2 green ones I showed in other tanks

[@meep2576]

I don’t even know how to fertilize the plants

[@Fishtory]

So you can buy a bottle of liquid you add a few drops of a week, "all in one fertilizers", or root tabs...or both! They can often double your plant grow speed and increase the colors and density to levels you've never seen. Aquarium coop does a fine job of it.. florin by Brightwell...also!

[@meep2576]

Seems like it wouldn’t be good for the fish.

[@deborahcollis9814]

most of the plants you talked about we cant get in my country

[@Fishtory]

Oh sad!

[@Fishtory]

Australia or New Zealand by chance?

[@deborahcollis9814]

@@Fishtory new zealand

[@TheBigMclargehuge]

Stop saying literally in situations that could not possibly be figurative.