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5 Best Plants For Dwarf Gouramis – 2024 Reviews & Top Picks

Lindsey Stanton Profile Picture

By Lindsey Stanton

Dwarf gourami

The convenient part about dwarf gouramis is that they are not picky with plants. The fact of the matter is that these fish are quite individualistic when it comes to plants.

When it comes down to it, the best plants for Dwarf Gouramis are tall plants, bushier plants, and floating plants. Really just anything that can make a dwarf gourami feel secure and like it is getting some privacy.

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A Quick Look At Our Favorites in 2024

Rating Image Product Details
Best Overall
Winner
Java Moss Java Moss
  • Easy to plant and grow
  • Resilient
  • Can be a food source
  • Second place
    Water Sprite Water Sprite
  • Easy to maintain
  • Handles diverse temperatures
  • Grows large and leafy
  • Third place
    Hornwort Hornwort
  • Grows fast and tall
  • Incredibly resilient
  • Can be a food source
  • Crystalwort Crystalwort
  • Floating plant
  • Grows moderately
  • Water Lettuce Water Lettuce
  • Very resilient
  • Provides great hiding spots
  • The 5 Best Plants For Dwarf Gouramis

    Let’s take a quick look at the 5 best plants to put in your Dwarf Gourami tank.

    1. Java Moss

    Java Moss in container

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    Java moss is probably one of the best options you can possibly go with for a dwarf gourami. For one, this stuff is very easy to plant and grow. It is a carpeting plant, which means that you can plant a little bit on the tank floor, and it will quickly spread out to create a carpet. It does not get particularly tall, but it does grow outwards fast. This plant has many long fern-like leaves. Kind of like a mix between grass, vines, and leaves. It’s pretty thick and dense, so it looks nice, but it is not so thick that small fish like Dwarf Gouramis cannot swim into it and hide from the rest of the tank for a while.

    The beauty of java moss is that it is very resilient and can handle lots of varying tank conditions, it’s not particularly picky about nutrients, light, or water conditions.

    Java moss is also known to be a food source for Dwarf Gouramis, but don’t worry, they don’t like it so much that they will eat it all up, especially not at the fairly quick rate at which this stuff grows.

    Pros
    • Easy to plant and grow
    • Resilient
    • Can be a food source
    • Can handle varying tank conditions
    Cons
    • Dwarf gouramis like to eat them, so you need to keep a few growing

    2. Water Sprite

    Water Sprite

    Water Sprite is a beautiful and bright green plant with long stems and long flat leaves. These plants can grow up to 14 inches in height, and they do grow out in width too, although not all that much. That said, you do need a pretty big tank for this plant, or you just have to keep it trimmed down to size if you have a smaller tank. However, because it does grow pretty large, and is quite leafy, it makes for a good plant for Dwarf Gouramis because they can swim through the foliage and find a place to hide.

    Water Sprite is another one of those plants that is not too hard to maintain, a definite bonus. It needs medium to high light, it can handle diverse temperatures, diverse water nutrient contents, hardness levels, and overall diverse tank conditions.

    One thing to keep in mind here is that you do need to plant these things well, as they do not have the strongest root systems, and on that same note, giving them some added nutrients in the water table is a good idea, as they do on occasion have a hard time getting nutrients from the substrate.

    Pros
    • Easy to maintain
    • Handles diverse temperatures
    • Grows large and leafy
    Cons
    • Root systems are not the strongest

    3. Hornwort

    Hornwort

    This stuff does grow very fast and it can get very tall. It works fine for smaller tanks as long as you keep it trimmed. However, it is known as an invasive species and it will propagate on its own, growing outwards as well as upwards. Growing a couple of feet in width, adding offshoots, and growing several feet high are not uncommon here. Growing so fast can be both a benefit and a drawback depending on what your needs are.

    With that being said, this is one of the most resilient water plants out there. It can handle an extremely diverse range of water hardness, temperatures, acidity, and levels of nutrients in the water. causing this plant to die is much easier said than done.

    Now, this is a plant that has long and tall stems, each of which has tons of little leaves on them that can intertwine, almost to the point of looking mossy. Some dwarf Gouramis like to eat it, and all definitely like to hide within and around it.

    Pros
    • Grows fast and tall
    • Incredibly resilient
    • Can be a food source
    Cons
    • Can be invasive and propagate on its own

    4. Crystalwort

    Crystalwort

    What is cool about Crystalwort is that it is technically a floating plant. It is kind of a mix between a mossy plant and one with lots of little stem-like offshoots and miniature leaves. It is a floating plant, which some Gouramis really enjoy because they can hide under it and swim through it.

    However, many people choose to tie it down to the bottom so it stays at the bottom of the tank. It grows at a moderate pace, but most will keep it to a maximum of 5 cm in height. The offshoots will grow towards the light, or in other words, towards the surface, so regular pruning is required.

    Other than that, there is nothing special to know in terms of care here. A tank that is ideal for dwarf gouramis will also be ideal for Crystalwort. Now, this stuff doesn’t grow too tall, but when tied down, it can be a carpet plant as it does grow outwards quite a bit. In essence, it kind of looks like a loose moss puff that Gouramis can really get into and hide within.

    Pros
    • Floating plant
    • Grows moderately
    Cons
    • Regular pruning required

    5. Water Lettuce

    Water Lettuce

     

    Now, this is a floating plant, one that kind of looks like a water lily, but with more leaves, more texture, and a bit more height, and of course without that pretty flower that water lilies are known for. The roots of this plant are submerged in the water, with the leaves floating on top.

    The plant as a whole will grow to around 10 inches in diameter, and they are a bit difficult to keep small. So you either have to know what you are doing when you trim this plant or just get 1 of them so it won’t take up too much surface space.

    That, or you just need a big tank. With that said, water lettuce is also very resilient and easy to grow. It does not take much skill or knowledge to keep alive. Dwarf Gouramis love it because they can hide under it and take a break from the busy life of the aquarium.

    Pros
    • Very resilient
    • Provides great hiding spots
    Cons
    • Difficult to keep small

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    What Type Of Plants Do Dwarf Gouramis Like?

    dwarf gourami close up
    Image Credit: Steve Bower, Shutterstock

    If there is one reason why a dwarf gourami would like a plant, it is due to hiding and stress. Dwarf gouramis like privacy from time to time, so they do like plants which they can hide within or behind, or even under.

    Some Dwarf Gouramis like floating plants and mosses that they can hide under, while others like bushier plants or even mosses attached to the bottom which they can swim into or behind. Now, Dwarf Gouramis are omnivores and they will sometimes eat softer aquarium plants which they deem tasty. However, this is a bit hit and miss because some will nibble at aquarium plants while others will not. It depends on what you are feeding them.

    When buying plants for Gouramis, it’s best to stick with something fairly simple. With that being said, these fish do live in heavily vegetated environments in the wild, so you do need to have some plants in the tank.

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    Conclusion

    When all is said and done, these five plants are some of the best options to go with for a Dwarf Gourami tank while Java Moss is our top pick. Just make sure you get something that is easy to maintain, something which they can hide in our around, and something that they might like to snack on as well.

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    Featured Image Credit: Corneliu LEU, Shutterstock

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