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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