Placing Plants in Your Home Aquarium

This handout was prepared by Scott Davidson for AquaTouch to help hobbyists successfully introduce new plants into their aquariums. A hard copy of the handout is available in the store.

Part of being successful with plants, is the manner in which they are handled. Differing plants require different handling procedures that are conducive to their establishment in your aquarium. With the prerequisite parameters of water chemistry met, how you prepare and place your plants can be integral to their successful acclimation to your aquarium.

Epiphytic plants - epiphytes are plants that grow attached to surfaces. It may be the surface of decorative wood, stones or even other plants. In low flow systems, it can even be the gravel bottom itself. Some of the more common epiphytes in the hobby are Java Moss, Java Fern, Bolbitis and Willow Moss. Popular placement of these epiphytes involves attachment to the decorative elements in the aquarium. It is as easy as 1-2-3

1. Position the decorative element in the same manner, as it will be viewed in the aquarium.

2. Place the epiphytes onto the decoration in a manner that is most accommodating to your aquarium layout.

3. Use fishing line to wrap and tie the plant to the decoration.

Stem plants - these plants are what their name implies. Single stemmed plants that grow towards the light. They are most useful for creating the effect of height in the aquarium. They are also useful as a backdrop to the display, as well as hiding unnatural elements such as intake tubes, pH probes, CO2 lines, etc. When utilizing long stemmed plants, more is usually better than less. When planted densely, they not only add height to the layout, but also depth.

Most stem plants come wrapped with a lead weight. Fortunately, the lead weight is an inexpensive and simple solution to keeping the plants bundled and stationary. Unfortunately, the lead weight inflicts physical damage to plants over the long-term. The steps below are most conducive to quickly establishing stem plants with a minimum of replanting due to them floating to the top.

1. Remove the weight

2. Remove any damaged area of the stem due to the weight.

3. Remove the leaves 3" - 4" from the bottom of the stem.

4. Make a depression in your substrate at least 2" deep.

Place your stem in the depression and move the substrate back around the stem.

*Long, fine nosed tweezers are an indispensable tool for strategic planting of many long stemmed plants.

Rosette plants - These are plants that grow from the center of a single point, or rosette. The very popular sword plants are rosette plants. Planting these plants are rather simple and should be foolproof with attention paid to a couple of points.

Most rosette plants tend to be heavier root feeders than other plants. It is beneficial in the long-term to place root tabs underneath the rosette at the time of planting. BE VERY JUDICIOUS WHEN DECIDING TO PLANT AND PLACE ROOT TABS. If you should uproot a plant that has root tabs underneath it, you could release a high concentration of fertilizers into your water column. This will most likely cause extreme algae blooms.

The other major concern is with the rosette itself. It will not tolerate being buried in the substrate. The rosette of the plant must be nuzzled into the substrate, not buried beneath it.

1. Make a depression in your substrate  1" deeper than the rosette will sit.

2. Place your root tab in and cover with at least 1" of substrate.

3. Place your rosette on top of this and create a "jacket" with the substrate. (lightly cover the outside perimeter of the rosette, leaving the top 1/3 portion exposed.)

Rhizoid plants - These are similar to the rosette plants in application, but they grow with a creeping rhizoid rather than having a center point of growth. Similar to rosette plants, the rhizoid will not tolerate being buried in the substrate. Incidentally, many rhizoid plants can also be tied to decorations in the same fashion as epiphytes.

If planting the rhizoid in the substrate, then proceed as follows:

1. Make a depression in the substrate where the plant will sit.

2. Place the plant into the substrate so that all roots are covered.

3. Make a "jacket "with the substrate, leaving the rhizoid itself exposed.

*If utilizing as an epiphyte, then proceed with the application indicated above for epiphytic plants.

These are the most common methods to placing various plants in your aquarium. There are many contributing factors as to whether or not a plant thrives. Handling and placement are but a couple. If you are unsure as to which procedure your purchase conforms to, or if your plants are failing to thrive, then please do not hesitate to consult with an AquaTouch employee.