Aquarium plants
25 freshwater plants with what each needs: light, CO₂, where it goes and how to plant it. 9 of them grow in low light with no CO₂, the easiest place to start.
Find plants for your tank
Choose what you have and the list below keeps the plants that fit, each with the reasons. Your choices stay in this browser.
All 25 plants. Choose your light, space and care level to narrow them; each plant then says why it fits.
“Fits my tank” leaves room for about 2 in of substrate; “No heater” keeps plants that take 68 °F or cooler. Heights and temperatures are the usual ranges in aquariums, the same as on each plant’s page.
Foreground and carpets
Midground
Background
Attach to wood or rock
Floating
Roots in the water, leaves above
Plant names are checked against Wikipedia, and each plant page links its article; heights, temperatures and care are common planted-tank practice. Photos are real photographs from Wikimedia Commons, credited below; where no freely licensed photo exists the card shows our own drawing, marked as one. See also a low-tech planted tank, CO₂ for planted tanks, beginner planted tank equipment and planted light fit, or every planted-tank guide: how to plant each kind, which substrate, front, middle and back plants, emersed and submersed leaves, fertilizer doses, the light at your plants, how long to run the light, red plants, low-light plants, floating plants, plants for goldfish, tissue culture plants, attaching plants, moss, carpets, trimming, deficiencies and aquascaping styles. Other names in the finder’s search come from each plant’s Wikipedia article or, for shop names, the grower Tropica.
Photo credits
Real photographs from Wikimedia Commons, resized and cropped to fit; each is used under the license named.
- Java fern Pinpin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Java moss Xedoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Anubias nana Michael Linnenbach, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Cryptocoryne wendtii John Robert McPherson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Amazon sword Brianza2008, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Vallisneria Damitr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dwarf sagittaria Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dwarf hairgrass Andrey Zharkikh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Monte Carlo Yercaud-elango, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Water wisteria Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ludwigia repens Show_ryu, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Hornwort Stefan.lefnaer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Anacharis Ernst Schütte, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Water sprite chiuluan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Amazon frogbit Cardex, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Marimo moss ball コムケ (Japanese Wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Christmas moss Storm from Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bucephalandra Manuel Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dwarf aquarium lily Vengolis, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Tiger lotus Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Banana plant Tdwittt, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Pearl weed Obsidian Soul, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Pothos Jubair1985, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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