Aquarium
plants are of course a beautiful edition to any fish
tank. I cannot imagine a nicely decorated community
tank without plants. Of course, there are exceptions
such as a marine aquarium or those specially set up
for plant-eating fishes, but these are not considered
here. Water plants are far more than just aquarium decorations.
They also serve to provide hiding places for the fish,
a task which is also fulfilled by rocks and tree roots.
The water plants in an aquarium serve mainly to inhibit
the development of blue-green algae. See
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This
type of algae is a simple-structured, microscopically
small plant which can be recognized as such only under
high magnification. Under certain conditions blue-green
algae can occur in such massive proportions that they
coat the entire interior of an aquarium with an ugly
bright green or brownish glare. These algae explosions
are the reason why many beginning aquarist gave up the
hobby.
There
is a sure-fire preventive against this sort of blue-green
algae development. In fact, every aquarium has small
amounts of this kind of algae, but ample planting with
aquarium water plants, the higher plants, the actual
aquarium plants, contributes quite substantially to
keeping algae development in check. Higher aquarium
water plants and algae, specifically blue-green algae,
are actually competitors. Where there are higher aquarium
plants growing, algae find it difficult to maintain
themselves.
On
the
other hand, once algae have taken over, aquarium plants
can usually no longer compete and began to decline.
When we take this sort of competition between these
two plant groups into consideration and so establish
an environment which favors the higher plants, algae
will hardly ever become a problem. Therefore, it is
particularly important to introduce as many plants as
possible when the aquarium is first set up.
The
more higher plants there are in the aquarium, the better!
To start out, select plants which grow particularly
fast. This sort of plant has a higher nutrient intake,
so that there is little nutrient material left for algae
growth. These aquarium plants have the added advantage
that they are relatively cheap. After a few weeks, when
the aquarium has become properly established, some of
these rapidly growing plants can be replaced with more
demanding and decorative species.
Among
water plants, one distinguishes between those which
are rooted in the substrate and the so-called floating
plants. Floating plants are not always desired in an
aquarium because they have a tendency to reduce the
amount of light badly needed by the plants growing in
the substrate below. Nevertheless, some floating plants
are indeed quite attractive in an aquarium. Moreover,
many fish like floating plants because of the protective
cover they afford. After all, fishes out in open water
would indeed be far safer under a floating plant cover
than in an area where the water surface is wide open.
In fact, some fish build their nests among floating
plants and younger fish find ample protection and hiding
places among them.
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