Aquatic Botanical Biodiversity: Freshwater Aquarium Plants

Aquatic plants do carry the other half of the marinesubstrate, much like how a normal plant grows on
ecosystem, and are good additions to aquariumsland. The Anubias and the African Fern are the
simply because they make the marine life equationcommonly used rhizomes for aquariums. Aquarists
complete. But there are good signs lately whichstart growing these plants by attaching them to the
indicate that these plants are now used for moredriftwood, and they spread along the substrate all by
than just equating the animal-plant balance in anthemselves.
aquatic community. If you are interested inRosettes
purchasing freshwater aquarium plants for yourThese plants are characterized as looking like crowns,
aquarium, then you might find this information quitewith roots that grow underneath them. These kinds
useful.of plants are very ornamental for a freshwater
Floatersaquarium plant, because they present a shortened
Floaters are a common choice in aquariums, becausestem axis that tends to spread over its leaves
they add that style and elegance aside from thebeautifully. The downside is that they tend to need a
balance that they provide in the entire aquarium.good amount of maintenance and care. Some good
Floaters, as the name suggests, thrive at the surfaceexamples of Rosettes are the Amazon Sword and
of the aquarium with their roots “floating” inthe Sagittaria.
the water, and are, by technical name, floating plants.Stems
One good example of a floater is the Fairy Moss, orThey are called this way because of their general
the An Driccia.appearance, which basically looks like a stem that is
RhizomesThese plants are commonly described asfirmly rooted into the substrate. The leaves that can
having thick stems that stretch out inside the fishcome in paired and multiple varieties, are found at the
tank horizontally, with the leaves sprouting evenly atstem’s nodes.
the stem. They are made to “run” over the