The tank above looks good to the eye but contains a few non-aquatic plant species. Beginner’s guide to avoiding nonaquatic plants at shops

Introduction

Planted aquariums are becoming increasingly popular, and aquarium shops can stock a bewildering number of plant species. The biggest pitfall for beginners is that aquarium shops often stock nonaquatic plant species that do not grow well in the aquarium long term. This is due to a mix of poor knowledge and supply side issues. For aquatic plant species that can be used in the aquarium, a large number of species can also grow emersed outside of water, and the same plant species look very different when grown emersed. Beginners have difficulty identifying plants due to how different a species can look depending on how it is grown.

This guide highlights some common non aquatic species that hobbyists should avoid, and also shows the different forms that aquatic species can be take when grown above water.

Nonaquatic vs Aquatic plants

If your plant doesn’t survive in your aquarium, one reason might be that it is nonaquatic in the first place.

• A nonaquatic plant is one that cannot grow well long term submerged in water. This includes many marsh plants that can grow long term with their roots in water, but require their leaves to be in air. These plants do not fully adapt to fully submerged conditions.

• An aquatic plant is one that can grow well long term while submerged in water. These are the species that can be adapted fully for growing submerged. Many of such species include marsh plants that can grow equally well out of water as well, which makes it confusing for new hobbyists.

• A True aquatic plant is a term we give for plants that only grow underwater in the wild. They make good aquarium plants as they are naturally adapted to underwater growth.

The majority of plants that are used in the aquarium fall into the second category above. They are marsh plants that can grow well both above the water line and below the water line. True aquatics, while they exist, are not as common as amphibious marsh plants.

However, many aquarium shops import nonaquatic marsh plants. These plants can have wet roots but cannot be submerged long term. This happens because plant knowledge among aquarium shops tends to be poor outside of shops that specialize in planted tanks and aquascaping. Many aquarium shops import plants from plant nurseries that cater to landscaping companies that mainly service ponds and bog gardens; in their usage of marsh plants, they tend to use them for emergent growth above water, with wet roots, rather than as submerged plants.

Nonaquatic species to avoid

Many aquarium shops put nonaquatic species in aquarium displays or sell them submerged in packets of water. This is only done to fool the customer, and is no indication that the species can actually grow well submerged long term. Nonaquatic marsh plants can often last many weeks (months) in the aquarium, then eventually deteriorate. Their slow deterioration attracts algae. Often these plants elongate in length to try to breach the water surface, but do not have any real gain in mass. These plants are tolerant of short term flooding in the wild, but do not have the adaptation to grow underwater long term.