Beginner aquarium plants

Every plant here is marked beginner or easy, and none lists CO2 as required. Most list low or medium light and tolerate the water most people have. The red root floater, water poppy and water hyacinth are floaters that list high light. The parrot's feather, Senegal tea plant, Oriental sword and ludwigia super red list high light too. The rhizome plants, anubias, java fern and bucephalandra, are tied to wood or rock and rot if the rhizome is buried. The rooted plants, swords, crypts and vals, feed through their roots and want a root tab or a nutrient substrate. Add a fast grower to soak up nutrients and the algae has less to work with.

1. 01

   Low or medium light

   All but a handful of the plants here list it

2. 02

   No CO2 required

   Beneficial at most, never required

3. 03

   Rhizomes above the substrate

   Anubias and java fern rot when buried

4. 04

   Root tabs for the rooted

   Swords, crypts and vals feed from the roots

The anubias barteri is marked beginner at 13.8 inches (35 cm), and the anubias petite stays at 2 inches (5 cm). The Windelov java fern has lace-cut leaf tips and the same care as the plain fern. The Bucephalandra Kedagang is marked easy for low light, a slow plant with leaves that shimmer blue, 4.7 inches (12 cm) tall. The peacock moss grows in compact triangular fronds and the flame moss grows straight up. Both are marked easy and tied to wood with thread until they grip. None of these goes in the substrate.

The water wisteria is marked beginner and grows fast to 19.7 inches (50 cm) in medium light. The hygrophila polysperma is the same rating in low light, 17.7 inches (45 cm), and needs cutting back every week. The rotala rotundifolia is marked easy in medium light and turns pink at the tips under more. The giant bacopa is marked beginner for low light, a stiff stem that grows at a moderate pace to 15.7 inches (40 cm). The Canadian waterweed is marked beginner for low light and reaches 23.6 inches (60 cm). The ludwigia repens is marked easy in medium light, one of two red ludwigias here that grow without CO2.

The cryptocoryne wendtii is marked beginner for low light, 9.8 inches (25 cm), and it melts when it is moved and grows back. The dwarf sagittaria is marked beginner, a grass that spreads by runners to 11.8 inches (30 cm) and carpets a foreground in low light. The jungle val reaches 39.4 inches (100 cm) and is the background for a tall tank. The tiger lotus is a bulb marked easy that sends up red-spotted leaves to 19.7 inches (50 cm). The dwarf hairgrass carpets in medium light at 3.9 inches (10 cm), marked easy, and spreads faster with CO2. The staurogyne repens is a low, bushy foreground plant marked easy for medium light.

The amazon frogbit is marked beginner, a floating rosette 2 inches (5 cm) tall with long roots trailing into the water. The dwarf water lettuce is the same rating and the same habit at 3.9 inches (10 cm). The salvinia natans is a floating fern marked beginner that doubles every couple of weeks. The red root floater lists high light and needs no CO2. It turns red only under a strong overhead light, and under a basic light it stays green. The water sprite is marked beginner and grows either floating or planted to 15 inches (38 cm). The guppy grass floats or plants, grows fast in low light and shelters fry.