These 12 Aquarium Plants are the Easiest to Grow! 

A little off topic here, but this guy has the cutest smile...

As much as I would like to agree with some of the things you said, the difference between adding good fertiliser in your tank and just leaving it to the fish to produce nutrients or other unorthodox methods is the quality and growth rate of the plants, especially for crypts and swords, this is reflected in your video, some of the plants are not doing that well. Cheapest option is to buy decent substrate and then cap with sand. Nutri Base from Colombo is quite good, a 5kg bag will do for a 300l tank easily for example. Crypts go nuts once they have good roots, and best way to get them to do it is with deep substrate, same with swords, the deeper the better. This will be reflected with the number of leaves a plant will produce and the coloration. Lotus should always be bought with the bulb (needs to be halfway in substrate at least, don’t bury the whole bulb) and they first tend to grow fast towards water surface if you give them a root tab or clay stick. Java ferns that tends to grow babies on a dying leaf is a bad sign, plant is trying to save itself… Anubias growt rate increases with water column fertiliser, to some extent that if you have a good substrate the plant will actually send roots in it too! I have Anubias congenis with 20-30cm roots in the sand… Same for ferns, bolbitis, buces and also other plants you can attach to wood or rock such as Lagenandra, water column fertiliser will help growth rate and quality, also keep in mind that some buces are expensive and very demanding and they will still grow slow. To be more to the point , a full planted tank demands more nutrients and if you want to invest in plants, be prepared to pay for maintenance. Once you have an established tank that produces plants you can always make a side hustle to help buy what you put in :). If you just want the easy option, try the minimum and get at least a tiny layer of substrate and some clay sticks, Easy Life does a good job with the 25pcs , you can brake them in half easily and also they have ProFito fertiliser that is quite concentrates and complet. Plenty of easy stems plants that grow fast, also plenty of floating plants, dont ignore them as beginner ;). All my thoughts on here are based on about 20 years of keeping planted tanks and testing out a lot of fertilising methods and options, from self preparation to brands 👍.

wow, what an awesome channel, I love it. Who'd have thought at 55 years old there was much else I could learn. You have taught me loads about fish keeping and plants. Thanks so much, Ive only just subscribed today and totally glad I found your channel.

I agree 100% about the swords, I have one in my planted tank that has exploded. It is over 14" tall and is growing out of the tank.

Great video, and you are 100% right about planted aquariums. I rarely fertilize my tanks and my plants have overgrown my tanks. I am always pruning. I had a sword that took over my 40 G tank so much that I removed it. I also have a red tiger lotus, and it is a beautiful plant. With some light the leaves get a dark red. I have as my sole red plant in a tank of green plants. Just FYI, the adult plecos (bristlenose and regulars) will suck the leaves bare and leave the skeletons leaves on a lotus if they get hungry. Also for those that want to keep the red tiger lotus short and bushy underwater, just trim off any leaves that shoot out towards the surface. If you let one get to the surface, they all try to go there. Love your videos, and always great fish info.

Great stuff, Nick. Really helpful. Thanks, Mate. Happy New Year! ~ Ron

You have given me new ideas for growing plants in my aquariums thankyou for sharing

Love your channel and the way you explain. Thanks for your simple words and enthusiasm 👌

Happy New Year! May this be the best year yet

I love the crypts and anubias. I, also, have dwarf hair grass and narrow leaf stems. Trying my hands on pearl weed and green temples.

Great video as always. Just want to point out that when using aquaponics fertilizers make sure it doesn't include ammonia as a lot of them do. Double-check the ingredients list before using it in your aquarium.

Using Osmocote for my aquarium tank just blew my mind. I’m an orchid expert and never thought of using Osmocote for aquatic plants. Thank you so much for stepping outside the box and coming up with low budget successes. Keep it up!💪🏼

Great introduction about these plants and I would love for you to talk about mystery snails. Thumbs up to you!

Love your content keep going❤

In my experience red tiger lotuses do very good in even low cost low quality aquarium lights

Make sure to take a VERY CLOSE look at the ingredients. Almost all "regular" fertilizers contain some metals, some not good for fish and some (like copper) that will actually kill shrimp.

thanks for the updates

Great upload 👌

I use terracotta pots too. I just had some gravel on the bottom of my tank (and not a lot either), and I really wanted super red Ludwigia and an Amazon sword. It works so well, and looks really nice, I chucked some hornwort into little clumps, and put in a few Java plants, moss, and a mini Anubias, and I have a pretty planted tank without a huge substrate layer.

Thanks for the video! I’ve had the same Anubias plant in my tank for years now. I love it but I might have to diversify with some swords soon too!

WoW. We really appreciate your great informative vedios❤

Love buce. One I've had for years has spread all the way up a large piece of dragon stone and regularly flowers. I've had upward of 10 flowers at once bloom on it.

Crypts are by far my favorite plant! They look beautiful, are easy to grow and there are dozens of different types! Different colors, sizes,shapes what not to like about them!

Great video Nick, aquarium plants don't need to be hard, and you have come a long way with yours, it makes your tanks look so much better and the fish love them, the plant nutrient to look out for is one they use with aquaculture and it's safe for fish, much cheaper then any other in the long run, any plant will grow if given the right environment as you have found, the plant you called Potamogeton is actually Aponogeton rigidifolius unlike others in it's family it grows from Rhizome rather then a bulb and originates from Sri Lanka, all you need to grow plants is a little patients, you can spend as little or as lot as you want with this hobby 🙂

Thanks for making this video! I have been keeping around 15 different aquarium plants and many houseplants. Looking to get into a few new plants like the Ludwigia Repens (Super red). I appreciate this video!!

I agree with your easy plants. Swords can be to big for some tanks but grow as hell. I love Cryptocoryne in sand. No Co2 and high end light needed.

Lotus!!! So easy to grow, I have two in my tank and they’re gorgeous ! I’ve realized if you just black out the tank for a few days, they turn into a dark red!

This is a good video. If someone ever finds themself wanting more from aquatic plants, I say don’t hesitate to consider adding CO2! Under higher light and CO2, most of these species will switch into hyper mode and give you an astounding show of abundance and with more intense colors👌

Im really loving the plants at the moment, likewise i just plant in terracotta pots but i dont use any fertiliser

Thanks for the plant To get in the food and hopefully getting one

Hey there bro love every single video of yours i have learnt soo much from them all i was desperately waiting for you to upload a video since 2 weeks please be regular as i study pharmacology and your videos are therapy for me i have loved raising fish and i used to raise guppys to breed but after all that i learnt from your videos i successfully hatched silver fin tetra fry, please make a video on cherry barbs, lamp eyes and harlequin rasboras i think you will have most difficulty with the harlequins but best of luck :)

Thanx for sharing. Greetings form Holland

Thanks so much for that info keep up the good work mate Could you please do a drilling and installing a bulk head please.?

I have just stumbled across your channel after hearing about you in the fishtube circles, I'm massively impressed! Can people visit your store, I would love to make a time to have a squizz at all your beautiful fishes if I could?

Nice to here about Sri Lankan plant there. Watching you from Sri Lanka

Who plays the music in the background of your videos? It's nice, it goes well with the content

Got my rosen maiden recently! they take so long to mature though, mine melted all the way back and just grew back its first leaf

I would like to see more education video for sure I love this I want to get into the business side of this hobby but there's still so much I don't know or it's hard to find info on

Hi. I have a really important question. Is IR light from my webcam safe for my tank and inhabitants mostly guppies? I want to monitor and watch them even especially when Im away or at bed. Thank you.

Thks bruv

Appreciate the video and the info. Im growing different java fern varieties and different anubias. Dose with liquid ferts every 2-3 weeks - alkost all of them getting algae on them?? Any ideas?

Would love to see you do a planted display tank mate. With Co2 even

Good choices. I keep all those plants, except Java fern. That plant hates my water. LOL.

Good ingredients and a whatever you desire NPK-ratio is what you want for hydroponic fertilizer

Never used nutrients all my plants do great across 3 tanks and a pond. I've had to spread the species across all tanks now. I'd agree I use a clay substrate in one of the tanks capped with fine sand then fine sand only in the other two. Clay made a minimal difference. Tubefix bring clay up from beneath the sand 😂

Thank you for the tips on those root tabs I have some but never put them in my aquarium but I will now. I would like to know what temp is your water with those plants, could you tell me please. ❤

What lights are you using? I think they are awesome

As a fellow sri lankan,I can assure you that your potamogeton will look adsolutely amazing with time❤greetings from sri lanka🇱🇰

I love the shirt!

Your root tab and plant fertilizer money saving hacks were amazing! I’m sure aquarium fertilizers are overpriced since it’s kind of a monopoly (like Seachem) 👀

Great video, thank you! From the river to the sea, Palest*ne will be free 🇯🇴

G'day Nick, another very interesting and informative video. Do you know whether any of the plants you mentioned are native to Australia or of any natives that are aquarium suitable? I hope you have not been impacted by the reccent severe weather in Queensland.

3:19 I also do the same I go to agricultural fertilizer shop and their root tabs are really really cheap with same content 😂

What kind of light are yo using? Reminds me of a led shop light. But it could be anything.

I upgraded to a 150 gallon tank from a 120 gallon tank. I have had so much trouble trying to keep it clean and clear. I never had this problem with my 120 gallon tank..i had it for about 15 years. Now the new one is constantly looking like yellow water. I just noticed that the algae that is growing is orange. So i started looking around for how to keep it clean and i found your videos. Im excited to try putting real plants in the tank to see if that helps. Do you have a video that explains how to take care of the plants in the tank long term. How do i keep them under control so they don't take over the tank at some point? I currently have a good size pleco, a goldfish and 10 tiger barbs. Also, i add stress coat to the water every time I clean the tank. Would that hurt the plants? Ive never had live plants in my tank before so i could use all the info, i can get. Thanks!!

I also see a lot of fertiliser products are relatively expensive. But I have found a company in Belgium which is cheaper relatively speaking, but so far I'm enjoying their products very much. 25 root tabs for € 10,- while with other brands, you'll get around 10 for that price. For liquid fertiliser I'm currently using their lean all-in-one product in which they've found a way to include iron effectively. I use that on my planted 240 l tank everyday and it lasts a fair while. Not sure if they ship to Australia, but then you would probably pay a lot of shipping costs.

How long do you leave the lights on each day for good plant growth?

Hey I've had a Betta for a few days now. I saw the videos of good tank mates for them I bought a few neon tetras today I added 1 and the betta began attacking it right away. I removed it and returned the tetras since I don't have an extra tank. Any tips on getting him to not being aggressive?

Moin Wich echinodorus is it at 10:00? With the long leafs, Looks really cool.

Hello, are certain plants better at “housekeeping” than others? An employee at the petstore told me a plant will help clean the water but she didn’t know if 1 type of plant was better than another. I have a 30gallon with 2 big goldfish and my son has a 10 gallon glofish tank with ummm glow fish … I don’t know the actual kind of fish but its a blacklight aquarium. Thanks

Please do a update on your super red German rams

I use salt for fertilizer ( Nährsalze in German) basically iron salt, magnesium salt etc. I test the water and mix my own fertilizer. I mean I learned it for my job so why not use it( it’s dirt cheap if you have a cool boss)

I take fertilizer and put it in gelatin capsules to make my own root tabs..

How about low tech set up and recommended plants for it

the Osmocote aquatic plant stuff, only available in Australia .

Are u in portmacquarie right now I swear I seen u come into cassie grain winery

Can the tiger lotus leaves also be fed to shrimp ?

I actualy have an echinodoris, that gats a runner at the tabroot, wich I have seen with that one do 2 times (I don´t know the name of it because I got it from a friend, wich didn´t care aboute the name)

just superglue them much better for the rhizome than a rubberband. 3 for like $2 at office works for the gel

My water and lights seem to kill every plant I buy 😅 Anubis is the one and only plant to live in my water

Hello! I'd like to know how many Corydoras Paleatus I should place in a 30-gallon tank to avoid overstocking. The tank is only for them, no other fish. A minimum and a maximum? All answers are welcome, but please respond only if you have knowledge of this fish and experience. Thank you!

too bad about the bristlenose. I have a yellow eye long finned baby bristlenose that I wanted to transfer to a 110 gallon planted tank, but if he is going to eat my swords? but I don't have anywhere else for him, I would hate to have to sell him back to the store. do most bristlenose eat the plants? thanks, Todd

One thing you didn't say was some fish hit plants hard with Fish like that you have to have fast growing plants. Most Floating plants are easiest but can be a pain to remove once you have them. Nice to see this video was sort i want to do a video but presented as is with uncleaned glass etc = Respect.

I HAVE ZEBRA DANIOS,TIGER BARBS,MOLLYS,PLATTYS,and tetras. AND IT'S MOSTLY PLANTED. CAN I ADD SOME SHRIMPS TO THIS AQUARIUM. any if these guys eat them ? Plz reply brother

Tomodels hahaha nice 🤣

I want to stop putting chemicals in my tanks for the third time either a bacteria bloom appears or an algae. The very worst is the melt down my floaters root start dropping it's insane. Like you said these plants are expensive.

Obviously I can’t say with 100% certainty, but I’m sure I grow that species at 9:30 you’re unsure of the name on, _Lilaeopsis brasiliensis_ aka “microsword”. Though the name is sort of a misnomer… I don’t think it’s a “true sword” with the _Echinodorus_ genus, unless they’re in the same family… then they can be “honorary” swords 😂

👍🏻👍🏻

First off I'll say I enjoy your videos and respect your information you provide on fish and your videos are typically great for getting people into the hobby, so props for that. But .. Anyone reading this ... Please do not take this video as a source of information on how to grow Aquatic plants. Please instead go watch Green Aqua or MJ Aquascaping instead or countless others. They show you low tech and high tech options - you dont have to spend $1000's to get nice plants as Nick said. And thats true. But the approaches here are just misguided. You'll potentially harm fish, shrimp and you'll absolutely end up with plants like the majority of Nick's in this video - stunted in growth, stressed, unhealthy and suffering from multiple algae issues and nutrient deficiencies. Which will end up costing you more in the long run because you simply wanted to not buy from Aquatic companies that spend alot on r&d to create fertilizers specifically for Aquatics because ..... Why? What is your reason? To save $10 only to grow unhealthy plants? Or to appear as if you're above the industry? Truly doesn't make sense. *Some* things may appear as gimmicks in the industry and even I will agree with that but majority of the time its simply new science. But you cannot deny a simple NPK + trace mineral fertilizer (See: Aqualabs which is Aussie owned, LCA which is also Aussie owned, APT, Seachems Micro options, so many that are just as cheap but fish and Shrimp safe and far better). You dont need to buy ADA to get healthy plants. And you'll have far more success than 80% of the algae riddled (BBA, hair algae and GSA), stunted, chlorosis-suffering plants like shown here (thats the yellowing you had on most of your more demanding plants - like the echins). This is like going to Bunnings and asking their staff how to keep a plant "alive". Versus going to an actual nursery and asking how to keep a healthy plant flourishing. Seek plant advice elsewhere anyone reading. This is not it. *** Also - that plant from Sri Lanka is called an Aponogeton. Hopefully you spend as much time one day researching plants like you have for fish and re-do this video. The topic deserves it. But if you don't care about it - please try not to spread misinformation to your impressionable audience and then hide behind the guise of "oh but this is just how I do it ya know ...." I'll also say .. We stand on the shoulders of everyone that has come before us and the lack of respect you show for companies that are fiercely in love with this hobby that create products that make your fish room even able to exist - is sad to see. Blanket statements saying that cheap, Bunnings root tabs are better than something like API or Seachems root - is just wrong. Or worse, saying API or Seachems are "crap", is crap. Not just because you are wrong. But it's so short sighted, it's embarrassing. Alot of your videos there are small little jabs towards the industry as a whole. It's petty and unwarranted, man. You're clearly young but maybe worth realising what you're saying and how you're influencing people's perspectives of companies that if they didn't otherwise exist, would mean our hobby couldn't continue like it does and wouldn't have progressed to what we know today, without.

High bro

💚❤️🙏🏼💚🇬🇧

Nice babe 😘

Your fertilizer looks like nerds gummy clusters

6th

Dont start me on the easy plants to grow. I've killed plenty of them

Please pin 😊

these tanks are so underdeveloped, i would not buy anything from this store