Planted Aquarium Recipes

[LaurieinIA]

I’m in the process of setting up my first planted aquarium. The plan is have either a single species of tetras or a bunch of similar sized tetras in different colors. Maybe flame tetras, lemon tetras, or Columbia blue tetras as examples.

The tank is appx 40 gal and is 20w x 18d x 25 tall. So not a large footprint, but I have height. 

I’m a visual person and, as I’ve never done plants before, I’m having a hard time deciding on what plants to order and where to put them when they arrive. 

Is there such a thing as a “blueprint” that I could look at examples and the just follow the “recipe”?

[lefty o]

the problem is, is there are so many choices. i would spend some time here looking at pictures of others planted tanks, and even hit youtube up and look at planted tank video's.  this will probably help to see what type of plants you will like, and pick up some tips on their care. i dont currently have any, but i really like a pile of ember tetras in a heavily planted tank. again so many choices. good luck in picking out what you like.

[LaurieinIA]

@lefty o so many choices is right!  I think that’s why I’m a bit overwhelmed and undecided. I’ve seen so many amazing setups, both via this forum and youtube, but I know I can’t do it all.

I’m considering ordering one of each of Cory’s Top 5 Easy Aquarium plants  (https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/top-5-easy-aquarium-plants?_pos=1&_sid=ee00e6814&_ss=r) or the ones on his Top 10 Easy Aquarium Plants for Beginners (https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/easy-aquarium-plants?_pos=4&_sid=ee00e6814&_ss=r)

I know some/most will spread, but reality tells me I might kill a few, too.  Five plants doesn’t seem like enough, but is 10 too many?

So many options 🤯 

[lefty o]

5 might not be enough, you can always get 2 of one or 2 that appeal to you most. as for killing some, it is likely going to happen. we all have plants we have zero luck with, and yet someone else grows them with no effort. its hard to know, until you try them. pick ones that appeal to you, and good luck with them.

[Isaac M]

@LaurieinIA you are working with an aquarium with a lot of height. Given that and you wanting to use the plants from those articles, cryptocoryne would be a great foreground plant. It can handle lower light (potentially important in a tall tank) and is easy to grow. Depending on the species, it can get a little tall but will look short in a 25” tall aquarium. Plus it is very beautiful in my opinion. In the mid ground to background area you can do a amazon sword, some pogostemon stellata octopus and vallisneria. Given your footprint, one amazon sword should be enough. The val can grow to the top of the aquarium and spread. If you are adding rocks and/or wood, you can attach anubias to that as well. These are beginner friendly plants that can also create beautiful thriving aquariums.  
 

This is also a total of 5 different plants if you include the anubias which is a great amount for a tank of your size. 
 

I hope that helps! 

[Patrick_G]

There are tons of online pictures of nice aquascapes. There are even some layouts and instructions on placing the plants. I googled aquascape design plan and found some nice ideas. 

[LaurieinIA]

@Isaac M That does help!  Just having an idea plant numbers and of what to place from front to back is helpful.  New plants look so little and not knowing how big they get in reality makes it hard for me to know how many to get.  Thank you!
 

@Patrick_G I’ll search using “aquascape design plan” and see what I find.  I was striking out using the search terms I tried. Thanks for the advice!

[Isaac M]

@LaurieinIA Another thing you can do that is easy is go to the aquarium co-op website and go to the live plants section. Then you can click on “filter” and filter by “placement”. This will give you an idea of how big the plants will get eventually. If you click on a plant, you can learn even more by looking at the video or blog article if they have one for that plant. 
 

Another plant that I would recommend is a dwarf aquarium lilly. The plant grows out of a bulb and the plant will grow as tall as you let it. It can reach the top of your aquarium with lilly pads on the tank surface or you can cut them to encourage a shorter more compact plant. If you get multiple, you can even trim them all to have different sizes. I think this plant would look great in a aquarium of your dimensions. 
 

For some ideas:

Here is a easy planted 55 gallon aquarium I made for my Aunt. It is 21” tall with Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus as the main background plant. Then I have some anubias nana petite on the rocks with a few small crypts in the foreground. There are other plants but those are the main ones. 
 

This is my 55 gallon. Also 21” tall. On the left I have a “skinny leaf” variety of an amazon sword in the back and crypt wendtii in the front. Some of the taller plants in the back is ludwigia, rotala, wisteria and stellatus octupus. Most stem plants will grow as tall as ypu let them. The red lilly plant is a red tiger lotus. 

Here is my 40 gallon that is about 17 or 16” tall I believe. It is mostly a crypt variety with dwarf aquarium lilies in the back that grew to the surface. There are some anubias and buce attached to the wood. 

Here is my 10 gallon. I believe it is 12” tall. It has vallisneria in the background that grew to the surface and then along the surface. There is also some dwarf sag in the foreground. Dwarf sag can grow taller however depending on the light intensity. The only other plant is lucky bamboo that is growing out the top of the aquarium. 
 

Also, please do not be afraid to message me directly here through the personal messaging system, I would gladly try to help you if you have a question on any plant size or placement. Or anything else related to planted aquariums really haha 

Anyways, I hope the pictures above helped! 

[LaurieinIA]

@Isaac M thank you!  I didn’t know about the option to “filter by placement” so I’ll try that.

The photos are amazing and your tanks are beautiful.  I really like the 10 gal with the vallisneria and dwarf sag.  I like the simplicity.

However, I also really like this plant from your 55.  Is that the red tiger lotus?  Thinking it could be a cool centerpiece with the Val and sag, or no?

[Isaac M]

@LaurieinIA Thank you! 

And yes, that sounds like a great plan, a Jungle Val tank with dwarf sag and a red tiger lotus as a centerpiece would look really good! Especially with a large school of tetras! 

[PlaneFishGuy]

on tropica.com when you click any of the plants they have it brings up aquascapes containing that plant; most have a diagram of the entire aquascape. The diagrams have the placement and quantity of plants. They list all the plants in the photo as well. 

Its a really cool feature of the site - after seeing how complex some were it gave me a lot more respect for some of the amazing aquascapers, but it also helped me realize Its probably not my style.