After fish, the most important is the tank set-up. The decorations, equipment, gravel, and most importantly the Plants. Now in the aquarium hobby, we have two plants- the artificial plants and live plants. So let's take a look and compare the pros and cons of keeping artificial and live plants.
Pros of keeping Artificial plants.
- Huge variety- you get a huge variety of colors and shapes. As these are artificially made from plastics almost any type of plant with any coloration can be made.
- Easy placement. Artificial plants don't need any type of substrate. You just have to put them in the tank at the desired spot.
- Zero maintenance- They need almost no maintenance once placed into the tank.
- Cheap- artificial plants are cheaper than live ones and thus you can add lots of plants.
Pros of keeping Live plants.
- Natural ecosystem- your tank becomes a natural ecosystem because of the interaction between the fish, plants, and bacteria.
- Natural look- you can recreate a scene under a river by carefully scaping the tank with help of live plants. Artificial plants can never achieve this.
- Propagation- Live plants if well cared grow and propagate throughout the tank.
- Plant cuttings- Occasionally you will get plant cuttings which are broken stems from the plants. These stems can individually form new plants giving you lots of new plants.
- Varying look. Your tank will get a new look every time plants grow and that results in varying looks to your tank.
- Chemical filtration.- some plants with fibrous roots carry out chemical filtrations helping in the good health of the tank water. But this also doesn't mean you won't need a filter. Filter perform strong mechanical filtration which plants won't do.
Cons of keeping artificial plants.
- Not natural- being completely fake they are not useful in creating a natural aquarium.
- Potential harm. Some plants may have sharp edges due to irregularities during making them. This can harm fishes like angels and bettas.
- Permanent look- artificial plants give a static permanent look to the tank as they don't grow.
- Short life- after some years of use artificial plants lose colors, and plastic will wear out. And thus you have to replace plants with new ones.
- Isolated decor. Artificial plants become isolated decor that doesn't interact with the tank.
Cons of keeping Live plants.
- Costly- some live plants have high prices per stem which can increase initial costs. Along with that, you will need a good amount of substrate layer.
- Placement- Placing live plants in the tank is a bit complex process. It needs a nutritious substrate and they need to be placed at the right spots taking into consideration the lighting needs of that individual plant.
- Melting- when live plants are placed in a new tank, they sometimes melt i.e. dry out temporarily. If tank conditions don't settle down the plant may die permanently.
- Sensitive. At least in a newly set tank, live plants tend to be sensitive to the water parameters. This sometimes leads to the death of the plant.
- Algae.- Algae is inevitable in a planted tank. Though beneficial in less number, if starts growing heavily will destroy the tank ecosystem.
- Fishes- Some famous fishes like the Goldfish, cichlids, parrots can't be kept in a planted tank.
Concluding we can say that both have their pros and cons and thus the choice depends on your budget, available time for maintenance and personal choices.
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