Friday, August 19, 2016

IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL PLANTS TO FISH (Contd.)

 AQUARIUM CARE

Importance of natural plants (III)

Having talked about the waste converting ability of natural plants by way of the nitrogen cycle, other important values of plants are so unlimited that I shall only aspire to summarize the basic ones. 

The first obvious importance lies in its value as DECORATOR for the aquarium. A thickly planted aquarium needs no plastic or paper background (as is common with most aquariums around the country). Since the real stuffs are right there in your tank, an aquarium would look rather bare without the addition of plants much like a soccer pitch without grass!

Plants also serve as food (mineral) SUPPLEMENT for fishes that require occasional variety to their monotonous flake meals. They also serve as a CONDITIONER and INDICATOR of water quality. Many plants especially the Myriophyllum, special water milfoils break into pieces when hard water is added into the tank, this could be an indication of unsuitability of the water for fishes. 

Many large leafed plants help reduce the need for cleaning the aquarium front glass because of their role as INHIBITORS to the growth of smaller plants, especially the green and brown algae by shading, thus starving them and reducing their proliferation on the front glass. The large leafed plants also provide shelter and hiding places for the smaller and less aggressive fishes. Egg-laying fishes can only spawn when there is a spawning medium in form of a bunch of feathery plants.

On the whole, plants provide a SECURITY FACTOR which is one vital attribute fish look out for before setting in as pets in your aquarium. They prefer a place that looks more like “home” to them. It should be obvious by now that the importance of natural plants cannot be over-emphasized considering the numerous advantages they confer on the fish over plastic plants.

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