What is your favorite or "go-to" plant, and why?

[clownbaby]

I am not looking for "recommendations," per se, I am just genuinely curious what people's favorite plants are!

So, what are your favorite aquarium plants, and why?

For me, I am going to separate this into two categories (but you may answer however you like!): favorite based on my own personal experience, and based solely on looks.        

                For my own experience, I would definitely say the ludwigia spp. All my attempts to grow have been successful! Trimming has never caused a detriment, they look nice (with a wide variety, especially for color!) I've split plants and they've adjusted well to being emersed for a little bit of time, too. Overall for a beginner like me, it has been a blessing and a treat.

For looks, I cannot pick just one... but I narrowed it down to three. My absolute favorite background plant for looks is hydrocotyle polysperma. I know it is a basic plant, and is incredibly invasive in many areas, but it is so pretty, fluffy, delicate, and whimsical to me. I just adore it! For midground and foreground plants, my favorites have to be barclaya longifolia and heteranthera reniformis.

I know heteranthera reniformis is technically a marsh / marginal pond plant, but when it can be grown submersed successfully, it looks so stunning.

Barclaya longifolia (common name: Orchid Lily) is a bizarre color that adds so much diversity to an aquarium, especially dutch style! It's dark-red, nearly brownish grey color is very attractive to me, as the color makes it look dead but the texture and liveliness of the leaves adds such a lovely contrast. 

 

Let me know your favorite aquatic plants! You can name as many or as few as you'd like!

[FLFishChik]

Ok… Crypts. Love how they look, that they don’t require high light and I’ve never had a huge issue with melt and have easily split older plants into 2 to get… more Crypts! Also Anubias. Glue it to a rock, toss it in the tank- done!

I have a love/hate relationship with Pogo Stellatus Octopus… love that it grows fast and sucks up a lot of nutrients out of the water column… hate the constant battle of trimming it back before it swallows the tank whole

[JoeQ]

Usually my newest plant (that im successful with) is my new favorite.  This most recent order it's ludwigia triple red.

 

[lefty o]

plain old anubias. slow as heck, but easy to keep. a good backup for me are crypts.

[Sciurus]

I love ferns, java fern, bolbitus and even terrestrial ferns like the rabbits foot fern, and my favorite probably being the staghorn fern. I love how natural they look wedged into crevices and the wide range of uses for texturing or filling up voids when scaping a tank. Java fern was my first live aquatic plant, never having a problem growing it, and its always exciting to see them put forth new fronds!

[Rube_Goldfish]

I love epiphytes of all kinds, because they're (generally) easy and undemanding, and because they're a sort of instant aquascape (and because they can hide 'problem areas'). My first live aquarium plant was a Windelov Java fern from ACO, still going strong about two and a half years later!

[Scapexghost]

Dwarf sag, tiger lily, and dwarf aquarium lily just go nuts for me even in low light, unfertilized, liquid rock set ups. Vals another one i like, you can almost see it grow, like if you come back in a few hours its noticably bigger. Anacharis is really easy for a stem as well, cabomba isnt to tough either. These plants i like as you buy them once and youll never need to buy them again.

[Whitecloud09]

On 3/24/2024 at 4:41 PM, lefty o said:

plain old anubias. slow as heck, but easy to keep. a good backup for me are crypts.

Yep, anubias is the chill plant, throw some fertilizer in there, give it some light wait 20 years and it will grow lol. I also like Pearl weed.

[TOtrees]

I have to do a "function over form" drive-by. 

Hornwort. 

In a low-tech tank, it eats ammonia/nitrates better than anything (except maybe a few floaters), and when grown un-rooted it's super easy to maintain... take it all out, pick some new tips you want to keep, put those back, compost the rest. 

It's great for water quality, great for egg layers, great for fry, great for shrimps, easy to maintain.

Downsides: If it does have (may have) eggs in it, you have to hatch them out before you discard it. And if you have other plants that are fussier, you may need to remove hornwort so they get enough nutrients. Esp the slow growers like anubias. 

Also a big fan of giant duckweed, for many of the same reasons as above (water quality, ease of maintenance). Want a lot? Leave it alone. Want a little, easy to remove as much as you want. Want none? Unlike regular duckweed, it's pretty easy to eradicate if you want. 

[clownbaby]

On 3/25/2024 at 5:41 AM, Whitecloud09 said:

Yep, anubias is the chill plant, throw some fertilizer in there, give it some light wait 20 years and it will grow lol. I also like Pearl weed.

I am super excited for the anubias barteri I ordered to arrive. It's expected to get to my house the first week of April. And yes!!! Pearl weed honestly seems a tad bit underrated. Such a great plant, especially for carpets!

[MattyM]

Val and anubias - just can't go wrong. For a smaller tank I'd sub drawf sag for val. 

[jwcarlson]

Hornwort.  It seems to have won the Hunger Games that are my planted aquariums.  Runner up is dwarf water lettuce.  Third place elodea.  

Guppy grass did OK for awhile, but randomly died.

[HelplessNewbie]

On 3/25/2024 at 10:52 AM, TOtrees said:

Hornwort. 

In a low-tech tank, it eats ammonia/nitrates better than anything (except maybe a few floaters), and when grown un-rooted it's super easy to maintain... take it all out, pick some new tips you want to keep, put those back, compost the rest. 

It's great for water quality, great for egg layers, great for fry, great for shrimps, easy to maintain.

I second this. I have a love-hate with it. I struggled a lot with anchoring it until I just gave up and let it float. I use it often in my quarantine tubs.

[Whitecloud09]

Man, gotta go check that hornwort out soon! Seems cool, grows like crazy I guess too…. Why not? lol 

[Tanked]

My favorite is whichever plant is alive this time next year.

I have had mixed results with all of them, but I think Hornwort has proved to be the most interesting.    Over time, it has:

• grown fast enough to be given away and used as fish food.
• tumbled endlessly in the flow from the HOB
• formed impressive long root systems
•  formed dense floating island homes for the bladder snails, which in turn became fish food.
• Suffered a 100% die off

[Jeff]

Dwarf Aquarium Lily, and Crypts. They both are fast growers, and fill out the space they're in really well. 
 

Crypts are a great mid ground plant. I think I'm going to do a Crypt garden ala Corey some day. 

Edited March 29 by Jeff

[TwoFace99]

Water Wisteria for you can float or plant them in the substrate, and they aren’t sensitive to PH nor lightning levels. Water Wisteria grows very quickly and suck up nitrates pretty readily.
Personally, I float Water Wisteria, as I like to provide shade for my plants below that are more susceptible to algae growth like my Swords/Java Fern, even though I have Reticulated SAEs and Panda Garra to personally deal with that, as well as shade for my fish themselves. Not to mention, the roots look pretty cool growing down when the Water Wisteria is floating. 

[johnnyxxl]

I love Java fern I have never had problems growing it, unless you count the municipal water mistaken what they treated water with.  I have also had good luck with crypts.

[knee]

Blyxa japonica and downoi if I’m using co2. If I’m not using co2 then it’s anubias and buce. 

[Beach Cruiser]

Stem: Bacopa Carolina - super easy, not picky about light/substrate, decent growth rate in low tech. 

Other: Anubias - Comes in various sizes, once established, it's bulletproof. At the end of time, there will only be plecos & anubias left...

[Whitecloud09]

On 5/9/2024 at 7:05 PM, Beach Cruiser said:

Stem: Bacopa Carolina - super easy, not picky about light/substrate, decent growth rate in low tech. 

Other: Anubias - Comes in various sizes, once established, it's bulletproof. At the end of time, there will only be plecos & anubias left...

Yes,  my anubias is indestructible. Amazing, the most basic plant, throw some AC all in one ferts and there you go, not more issues.

[Beach Cruiser]

On 5/9/2024 at 8:12 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

Yes,  my anubias is indestructible. Amazing, the most basic plant, throw some AC all in one ferts and there you go, not more issues.

Ageed. I neglected all of mine for a year+. Minimal fish food, no ferts, hardly any water changes....they all stunted & showed serious nutrient deficiency.  Resumed good care recently & they are throwing off new roots and leaves like crazy!  Well, as crazy as they get...