8 Best Background Plants For Aquariums – Reviews & Top Picks

Having a home aquarium is a fun and rewarding experience, and stocking it with your choice of interesting fish to observe is exciting and endlessly fascinating. Of course, your fish tank will need plants for your fish to hide in, and this is yet another exciting process!

In general, most home aquariums will have three distinct layers of plants: the smaller plants in the foreground, the middle layer of slightly bigger plants, and a background layer of the biggest plant species. This background layer forms not only an aesthetically pleasing, green backdrop for your tank but also provides vital cover and safety for the fish in your aquarium.

There are a ton of potential background aquarium plants to choose from, and here, we take an in-depth look at eight of our favorites. Let’s dive in!

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites of 2024

Rating	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Vallisneria	Beautiful appearance Easy to grow and maintain Propagates easily	Check Price
		Water Wisteria	Hardy Easy to care for Anti-microbial properties	Check Price
		Hornwort	Easy to grow Hardy Propagates easily	Check Price
		Amazon Sword	Unique appearance Easy to grow Hardy	Check Price
		Brazilian Pennywort	Easy to grow Inexpensive Fast-growing leaves	Check Price

The 8 Best Background Plants For Aquariums

1. Vallisneria  — Best Overall

Vallisneria is our favorite background aquarium plant overall. The plant has long, thin leaves that taper to a point at the top and is a beautiful vivid green color, creating a gorgeous aquarium backdrop. There are variations within the species, so you can add several different types for a varied look in your tank. These plants can reach up to 20 inches in length and can easily reach the top of the waterline, creating a floating cover of leaves on the top of your tank too. It’s an easy plant for beginners because it doesn’t have any special lighting or water temperature requirements. It readily sends out runners or shoots that can swiftly fill your tank, so it is a great plant for almost any freshwater aquarium.

• Related Read: Vallisneria Aquarium Plant: Care, Tank & Growing Guide

2. Water Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis)

This fast-growing plant is hardy and can tolerate a wide range of water parameters, making it one of the easiest, “set it and forget it” plants for home aquariums. Water wisteria prefers a sandy substrate if possible, as this will enable it to grow taller, but gravel is suitable too. It’s a popular choice for aquariums because it provides great cover for shy fish and small fry. It even has anti-microbial properties and helps keep certain algae species at bay.

The plant is common and easily available, and when grown in gravel, it will easily produce plantlets that you can then remove and spread. In its natural habitat, this plant produces beautiful flowers that may even appear in your aquarium if there is enough space.

• Also Read: Water Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis): Plant Care, Growing & Propagation

3. Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)

Hornwort is a beautiful and easy plant to grow and has a high tolerance for various water conditions, making it ideal for beginners and experts alike. Hornwort has a fast growth rate and is simple to propagate, and it can provide great cover and shelter for bottom-dwelling fish. It is said to improve oxygen levels and water quality in general, so it is a must-have for any aquarist’s community tank.

Another great aspect of hornwort is that it can grow in a substrate or be left to float freely in your tank. However, since it is so fast-growing, it needs regular trimming to avoid too much debris.

• Read more: Hornwort Aquarium Plant: Complete Care Guide (Planting & Growing)

4. Amazon Sword (Echinodorus grisebachii)

The Amazon sword makes a great background plant with its broad, distinctly recognizable leaves. It is aneasy plant to grow and maintain. As the Amazon sword grows, it can help purify the water of your tank by absorbing nitrate nutrients. Amazon swords are hardy plants with long lifespans and can easily tolerate a variety of water parameters. This plant requires little care. With its large, broad leaves, it makes an ideal hiding spot for shy and smaller fish, and it looks great too!

Of course, with such a large plant, you’ll need a fairly large tank, so it’s not suited for smaller aquariums. It also has an expansive root system that needs a deep substrate to stay in place.

• Related Read: Amazon Sword/Echinodorus Aquarium Plant: Care, Planting & Benefits

5. Brazilian Pennywort (Hydrocotyle leucocephala)

Brazilian pennywort is one of the most popular aquarium plants around because it is super easy to grow, propagates easily, is inexpensive, and looks great in your aquarium. The Brazilian pennywort leaves can add a unique appearance to a tank. Since the leaves are not slow-growing, there is no danger of algae build-up.

Reproduction is easy; you can simply trim a few inches of stem or leaf and let it float in the water or if you have a long section of stem available on the mother, plant it directly into the substrate. This plant needs a fair amount of light to grow properly, though; otherwise, it will grow very slowly.

6. Red Flame Sword (Echinodorus schlueteri x E. barthii hybrid)

Red flame swords are beautiful plants that bring a unique background aesthetic to an aquarium with their striking, broad green-and-red leaves. They are hardy plants that don’t need much special care, making them great for beginners. But they can get large and take up a great deal of space in your tank, so they are best suited for larger aquariums. They are also heavy root feeders, so they need nutrient-rich soil to thrive.

One of the great aspects of these plants is that they can be grown both immersed and submerged in your tank, and new leaves can even grow above the waterline.

7. Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus)

Java ferns are delicate-looking plants that are popular additions to home freshwater aquariums and among the best for beginners. These plants are easy to care for, don’t require any special care or conditions to grow, and can thrive even in the most simple of setups. They are easy to find and inexpensive to purchase, and they often come attached to a piece of driftwood and ready to simply place in your tank. The leaves have a unique appearance that can range from bushy to spiky with a leathery texture.

Since there are so many varieties of the species, there are plants ideal for both small and large home setups. Bear in mind that java ferns are susceptible to melting, which can leave quite a mess in your tank.

• Read more: Java Fern: Care, Tank Size, Planting & Growing

8. Anacharis (Elodea densa)

Anacharis is an easy-to-grow plant that is hardy and low maintenance, so it is great for beginners. The plant’s dark coloring will give your aquarium a lush appearance, with its long green stem and small green leaves that can range from light to a deep, dark green. This plant grows prolifically and can thrive in varying water parameters, so it’s more likely that you’ll be spending time making sure it doesn’t take over rather than keeping it alive!

Since these plants grow so fast and can get so large, they leave a fair amount of debris in their wake and are better suited for large aquariums.

Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Best Background Plants For Aquariums

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need that many plants in your aquarium, and your fish can live happily with only a few species to give them cover. Of course, a variety of plants does look great and will give your tank a far more natural look with all the different leaves and colors. This can be done by carefully choosing the right plants for the front, middle, and background of your aquarium and making sure they are the correct plants for their placement. Background plants are just that: they provide a backdrop for your tank, so they are arguably the most important choice.

Let’s look at how to choose the best background plants for your tank.

Size

Naturally, you’ll want the background plants in your tank to be the biggest because they form the backdrop of your aquarium and you don’t want the plants in the foreground taking over. That means your background plants should grow fairly big and fast and preferably, have large, broad leaves for fish to hide among.

Ease of care

Some aquarium plants require specialized water parameters, substrates, lighting, and CO2 levels, and this can make them difficult to match with other plants in your tank. The best aquarium plants should be hardy and adaptable to varying water conditions because this will make it far easier to have a variety growing in your tank. Remember, the water parameters of your tank need to be set up for your fish first and foremost, with plants second, so any adaptable plant species are best.

Colors

Aside from the shelter that background plants can provide, they also add a unique aesthetic to your tank. With all the various species available, you can mix and match different variations of greens and even a few reds to make your aquarium truly unique in appearance.

Substrate

The substrate is an important consideration when choosing background plants. Naturally, you’ll want the substrate requirement of each plant to be compatible with one another. Some plants need to draw nutrients from the substrate, while others can draw most of their nutrients from the water around them. Also, some large plants require a rather deep substrate to spread their roots in, while light gravel is fine for others.

Lighting

The last consideration for your background plants is lighting. All aquarium plants need a source of light to grow properly, but some need more than others. Typically, most plants need around 8 hours of light per day of strong lighting, but some only need low lighting to grow happily. You’ll want to make sure these lighting needs are compatible with your choice of aquarium plants.

Final Thoughts

All these plants can make excellent choices for the background of your home aquarium, but the Vallisneria is our favorite background aquarium plant overall. It has long, thin leaves and a beautiful vivid green color, it doesn’t have any special lighting or water temperature requirements, and it is simple to propagate, making it ideal for beginners and experienced aquarists alike.

Choosing background plants for your aquarium is a fun and exciting process, and all the plants that we’ve listed here are easy to care for and readily available. Hopefully, there are a few that have made the choice easier for you, so you can get decorating right away!

Featured Image Credit: Andrey_Nikitin, Shutterstock