Dustin's Blog — Aquarium Plant Species

Guide to Cryptocoryne Aquarium Plants Read Time: 4.5 minutes Tales from the Crypts: History of Cryptocoryne These are some of the coolest, hardiest aquarium plants alive. The name "Cryptocoryne" is Greek, from 'crypto' (hidden) and koryne (club). They're also called water trumpets because of the shape of their stems' flower clusters (inflorescence).  Cryptocoryne plants (or just "crypts") were first described as a species in 1779, then as a genus in 1828 by botanists Anders Jahan Retzius and Friedrich Ernst Ludwig von Fischer respectively. So they've been in the hobby a while. Expeditions to find new crypt and other aquatic plant species are still...

Read Time: 6.5 minutes It's funny Anubias (an amazingly easy aquarium plant genus) is named for the Egyptian god of funerals, graves, and the afterlife, Anubis - because these things are borderline unkillable. I like to think, somewhere, there's a jackal-headed death god trying to preserve dead plants named after him and getting annoyed he has to wait because they just won't die.  However, if our friend Anubis wanted to hurry them along to the underworld, there are a few ways he could do it. Here's your guide on how to grow (and how to kill) Anubias aquarium plants.  Anubias Species and Varieites...

Read Time: 9 minutes Freshwater aquatic plant anatomy and physiology, and how you can make easy botany work for your planted tank Welcome back to another installment of the Aquarium Science Series! Got some epic aquarium plants growing, but wondering how they work and why that matters? This post will give you an overview of some botany basics, with more specific posts on roots, plant genetics, leaf physiology and photosynthesis/respiration, etc. to follow later when we really dig into it. Aquarium Plant Classifications Scientific Names/Taxonomy Want to get to know someone? Start with a name. Aquarium plants are no different....

Read Time: 5.5 minutes Plant Placement 101 Figured out you want to grow some live aquarium plants, taken the plunge and ordered some, and staring at a fistful of plants you don't know what to do with? Been there. Fortunately, most aquatic plants can be broken down into four categories of where to place them: foreground, midground, background, and floating plants. Some plants overlap into more than one category depending on how you want to grow and trim them, but generally, you can gauge where to put something based on how a species falls into these. If you ever hear...

Read Time: 7 minutes It's the most frustrating thing ever: you get these rich, deep red and purple plants, all is right with the world, and then one day you look at your tank and they're barely pink, if not completely green. Want to turn your green plants red again? Here's how to keep your red aquarium plants from fading, and a guide on which red plants are right for you and your tank. Why Are Some Plants Red?  Before you can fix the problem, you have to understand why red plants are even a thing to begin with. The easiest way...