Good Plants for Fish

Aquatic plants help make a fish tank attractive or mimic a natural habitat for fish, giving them places to hide and spawn. According to David A. Lass, member of the Aquatic Gardeners' Association, aquatic plants also are an effective way to feed fish. Feeding requires plants that look good even when they have been "nibbled," and that are sturdy enough to withstand nibbling without falling apart, yet be soft enough to eat. One must also get plants that will not grow so fast that they take over the tank before the fish can eat them.

  1. Edible Plants: Algae

    • According to Lass, the easiest edible plant to acquire and grow is algae. Fish can pick this soft green plant from the surfaces of rocks. To grow algae, choose several clean, palm-sized rocks and put them in a plastic tub in the sun. Algae will soon cover the rocks, which can be placed in the tank.
      You may also purchase algae or "moss" balls. These are golf-ball sized balls of algae that, once placed in a fish tank, will continue to grow algae as the fish eat them. They never completely disappear.

    Edible Plants: Soft-Bunch Plants

    • Soft-bunch plants grow upward in sprigs of several stems with spiraling leaves. Lass recommends four types of soft-bunch plants in particular. The first of these is egeria, a very common aquatic plant that grows quickly, releases oxygen into the water and is palatable to most fish. Egeria grows on a thin stem with small leaves in a whorled pattern. The next plant is rotala; with its small, round leaves it is soft enough to eat, but sturdy enough that it will not fall apart. Myriopyllum has soft, feathery leaves and grows quickly. The last, cabomba, has very soft, fanned feathery leaves and grows very quickly with enough light.

    Other Edible Plants

    • Other plants Lass recommends that are both edible and attractive include ground covers. These grow along the tank bottom and have small leaves and need plenty of light. They also provide low-lying shelter for fish. Two varieties are glossostigma and lilaeopsis.
      Nymphaea are water lilies or lotuses that send leaves upward to the surface. These plants soften and become edible with age and will grow more leaves if the first new ones are pinched off.
      Floating plants, such as duckweed, have small, round leaves and are perfect for goldfish or koi. Other fish may not eat enough of the plant to prevent it taking over the tank.

    Inedible Plants

    • Although edible plants are a great way to feed your fish, Lass recommends using some inedible plants for decorative purposes. They can be used to hide any scruffy-looking edible plants and add variety to a planted tank.
      Java ferns and bolbitis are easily grown attached to rocks or driftwood by cotton string. They look very similar to ferns grown above water. Crinum is a plant grown from a bulb. It grows leaves that spread upward and across the surface of a tank.
      Lass recommends avoiding putting silver dollar or headstander fish in a planted tank, as they will consume even inedible plants.

    Planting a Fish Tank

    • According to Lass, all of the aforementioned plants are very easy to care for, requiring little more than plenty of light and the proper substrate. A substrate is any material used to line the bottom of a fish tank such as gravel, crushed coral, coral sand or peat. Each substrate contains nutrients that aquatic plants need to grow. In general, a substrate should be at least five centimeters deep; most plants will need something other than gravel to feed on.
      Aquatic plants also need more light than the standard florescent tube. Two tube fluorescents or compact fluorescents should provide plenty of light.