Due to their stunning natural appearance and extraordinary capacity to absorb the harmful nitrogen compounds created by fish waste, planted aquariums are quite popular in today’s society. However, many novices eagerly attempt to prevent their green leaves from becoming brown but ultimately fail. After keeping, growing, and now selling freshwater aquarium plants for more than ten years, we have carefully selected our top ten inexpensive best freshwater aquarium plants that can withstand abuse.

Marimo Moss Ball

This velvety green sphere, which is referred to as the world’s simplest aquarium “plant,” is actually a ball of cladophora algae that grows naturally rather than moss or a plant. Every time you change the water, the marimo ball needs to be lightly rolled in your hands to retain its circular shape and ensure that all of the algae have access to light. People frequently purchase a large quantity of these to fill their goldfish or betta aquariums due to their low cost and distinctive appearance. To make a small tree, you can even unroll them and wrap driftwood in them.

Amazon Sword

This traditional aquarium plant is renowned for its capacity to expand significantly and cover your fish tank with lush beauty. Making ensuring it receives a ton of root tabs is more crucial than lighting and substrate. The sword typically has large, circular leaves that are emersed grown when you first purchase it (or grown outside of water). These enormous leaves melt back once submerged in water as the plant reabsorbs nutrients to produce longer, narrower leaves (or grown underwater).

Give it additional root tabs if you notice any yellowing on these new leaves. The sword may eventually get large enough to become a mother plant, producing long spikes that develop into young sword plants that you can place in different tanks.

Cryptocoryne wendtii

This low-maintenance crypt is one of our favorites because it doesn’t need carbon dioxide (CO2) injection or liquid fertilizers. This slow-growing plant thrives in practically any substrate and under almost any lighting conditions. It does like to eat from its roots. Therefore for best health, add root tabs on a regular basis, perhaps every three months, if you use an inert substrate that is deficient in nutrients. There are numerous variations of Crypt wendtii, including green, brown, tropical, and red. Consider adding more iron supplements to the aquarium water to help increase the color of its leaves.

Crypts leaves are infamous for melting back when they are first put into a new tank, much like Amazon swords do. Keep your “dead” plant if you observe this happening! Once it has adapted to your water chemistry, leave it planted in the substrate, and it will swiftly recover and grow new leaves.

Aponogeton Crispus

The bulb-grown low-light plant has long, wavy-edged leaves that flow gracefully in an aquarium. Because they are so simple to maintain, this is actually one of the main species sold as a “betta bulb” at chain pet stores. Watch the bulb quickly sprout leaves and roots by just placing it on top of the substrate. Sometimes it passes through a dormant stage where the larger leaves die back for a few months. Simply keep the plant within the aquarium, and new growth will start to appear. Try out this attractive plant that grows quickly, gets fairly tall, and can even produce blooms for you for just a few dollars.

The Carolina bacopa

Bacopa is a wonderful starter plant for beginners if you’re interested in attempting stem plants. This endemic to the southern United States has small, oblongish leaves on a vertical, straight stem. Although it doesn’t need CO2 infusion, Easy Green and other liquid fertilizers are welcome. Although it can grow in little light, intense light and iron dosing cause the leaf tips to turn coppery-red.

Bacopa is typically grown on land in plant farms, just like the majority of freshwater aquarium plants. When you submerge a plant, the top of the plant begins to produce submerse-grown leaves while the lower, emersed-grown leaves start to wither. Simply cut off the tops and replant them for a fuller-looking plant until the bottom half of the stem eventually resembles a naked, slender trunk. Bacopa is also propagated in the same way; as the plant becomes bigger and taller, simply clip off the tips and plant them somewhere else.

Christmas Moss

Get some Christmas moss if you’re putting together a breeding tank! Their fluffy fronds, which like little Christmas trees, offer great protection for young fish and shrimp. They are frequently fastened to rocks and driftwood by aquascapers to create the appearance of an overgrown, moss-covered forest. Invest in tiny algae-eating creatures like Amano shrimp and give this slow-growing moss some liquid fertilizer to speed up its growth to maintain it looking its best.

Vallisneria

Want to quickly transform your aquarium into an aquatic jungle? You only need the Vallisneria plant. This tall, grass-like plant can reach the water’s surface if fed lots of root tabs and liquid fertilizers. It rapidly spreads by growing side branches in the substrate. If your aquarium is already established, you can even add fish that are typically renowned for digging up or devouring plants (such as goldfish or African cichlids).

Java Fern

Although both java moss and java fern derive their names from the Indonesian island of Java, they look considerably different from one another and are highly different in terms of maintenance. The most common kind of java fern has long, pointed leaves with sharply ridged veins, although there are other variations, including thin leaf, Windelov (or lace), and trident. Make sure not to put the rhizome (a thick, horizontal stem or stalk) into the substrate because all of its leaves and roots sprout from it. Instead, the majority of people tuck the plant into cracks in rocks and wood, where the roots eventually encircle it firmly.

It mostly takes nutrients from liquid fertilizers in the water column because the roots do not need to be put into a substrate. You can either divide the rhizome in two or propagate it by letting one of the leaves float on the water’s surface. The leaf’s rows of black spots, or sporangia, will soon transform into baby plantlets with their own minuscule leaves and roots. Later on, these plantlets can be separated and transplanted to different locations in the aquarium.

Cryptocoryne lutea

Because cryptocorynes are so beginner-friendly and low maintenance, we had to include another on our list. As opposed to crypt wendtii, this species has slender, green leaves that provide your aquarium with more texture variety. Like the majority of crypts, they don’t require CO2 injection and may be kept happy with practically any substrate and light. Normally, crypts take three months to fully develop, but after that time, they will quickly become one of your favorites. Faster-growing plants frequently need frequent trimming, while crypts don’t need much care other than the occasional root tab to maintain their good looks.

Sagittarius, the dwarf

You need a simple carpet plant to finish your aquascape. Hardy dwarf Sagittaria resembles a tiny Vallisneria and is a grass-like plant. It stays little and short if you use high light, but it gets quite tall when you use low light since it wants to be near the light. Regarding nutrients, it enjoys both liquid fertilizers in the water column and root tabs. Dwarf sag spreads quickly by releasing runners throughout the substrate. Simply remove the new shoots and replant them elsewhere if it spreads to an undesirable section of the tank. If you found this post informative, you may also like our blog on aquarium basics. it will give everything you need to know about aquariums.