8 Live Plants Your Guppies Will Love — 2024 Reviews & Top Picks (Vet Verified)
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Almost all freshwater fish appreciate having plants in their aquariums. Plants help fish feel comfortable by mimicking their natural habitats, offering hiding spots, helping break up strong currents, providing food for certain species, and filtering the water.
Plants form a symbiotic relationship with fish: The ammonia and poop that fish produce can be utilized as fertilizer. In turn, aquatic plants help keep ammonia levels in an aquarium low, making the water safer for the fish. They also help oxygenate the water via the natural process of photosynthesis.
Guppies will definitely appreciate live plants in their aquarium. If you’re stumped on which ones to get, we have a reviews list of eight options that may help you with your decision.
These options are not the personal selection of our veterinarian; they are selections of our author. Our veterinarian has reviewed the information in this article to ensure that these plants are suitable for guppies.
A Quick Look at Our Favorites of 2024
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Java Moss |
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Amazon Sword |
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Java Fern |
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Hornwort |
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Moneywort |
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The 8 Live Plants for Guppies
Let’s take a couple of minutes to take a look at what we think is the best aquarium plant for guppies.
1. Java Moss
This is a simple freshwater type of Java Moss. The Java Moss that you’ll get with this purchase will be about 3 x 3 inches, but it can propagate to larger quantities. The long stringy leaves make for perfect hiding places for guppies, and they love to swim under and around Java Moss too.
It’s a great plant that you can easily anchor to the bottom of the aquarium. Once it starts to grow, it will grow really fast. It works well as a natural filter and can be grown without carbon dioxide or fertilizer (though it would definitely grow better and faster with them). Java Moss is fairly hardy and can grow in most water conditions.
- Provides hiding places for guppies
- Grows quickly
- Easy to anchor
- Hardy natural filter
- Starts small
- Some people may not find it that exciting or beautiful
2. Amazon Sword
This is a beautiful plant from the Amazon. It’s a great choice for beginners because it is hardy and can survive in most conditions, and it is easy to plant and to maintain. It comes with a developed root system, so all you need to do is stick it in the substrate or tie it down on a piece of driftwood. The Amazon Sword plant has long, wide, and flowing leaves that provide your guppies with great hiding places and with lots of fun too.
These plants grow quite fast, but with simple trimming, it shouldn’t be a problem. You actually get three different species of Amazon Sword with this purchase.
- Grows quickly
- Beautiful and easy to care for
- Great hiding places for guppies
- Purchase includes three different species
- May require regular trimming
3. Java Fern
This neat plant almost looks like a cross between Java Moss and the Amazon Sword. It has fairly thin, long, and flowing leaves that move with the ebb and flow of the water. This is a very hardy fern that does not require any special treatment or water conditions.
It is very resilient to change and varying conditions. This plant does well in low lighting and low carbon dioxide levels, so that is not a problem, yet they still do a decent job at filtering the water. The shape of this plant is ideal for guppies because it gives them somewhere to hide and swim under. You do need to anchor the Java Fern down, but that is easily done.
- Very hardy and easy to care for
- Can handle low lighting and carbon dioxide levels
- Low, flowing leaves provide hiding places
- Needs to be anchored
- Slow growing
4. Hornwort
Hornwort is another cool moss-like plant that you can have in your tank with your guppies. Simply anchor it down and let the root system take hold. Alternatively, you can leave it as a floating plant. This stuff grows pretty fast, so you don’t need to buy a lot of it. It comes at around 8 inches tall and will grow at around 1 inch per week.
Hornwort does look like a mix between a leafy plant and some kind of moss, thus providing your guppies with a good hiding place and giving you a nice green view. Hornwort is fairly resilient, and besides regular trimming, there is really no special treatment needed for it. Hornwort is well known for being an effective filterer of water, which is another bonus.
- Great for filtering water
- Grows quickly
- Easy to take care of
- Needs regular trimming
- May overrun a tank, as it grows rapidly
5. Moneywort
This is a very neat and unique option to go with. Moneywort features long thin flower-like stems with rounded, flat, and very short leaves. This plant does grow at a decent pace, and the leaves do get to a decent size. The undersides of the leaves make for good hiding places for your guppies that need a break from the hustle and bustle of the aquarium.
You get two bunches of four or more stems, each of which is 6 to 12 inches long. As you can see, this plant is best suited for large aquariums.
- Product comes with plenty of stems
- Grows fairly quickly
- Many people find this plant visually appealing
- Might “crowd” smaller aquariums
6. Chain Sword
The Chain Sword is a really easy plant to take care of. It can survive in fairly low lighting and with minimal carbon dioxide. It also does not really require any special fertilizer or nutrients, plus it can survive in varying water conditions. It’s a good plant for beginners who don’t want to put too much work into plant care.
This is a good plant for foreground and background areas. What is cool about this particular Chain Sword is that it comes with the substrate, so you can literally stick the whole thing right into your aquarium. This plant does grow fairly large, so you might need to trim the leaves on occasion. The tall and wide leaves on this plant provide your guppies with ideal hiding places all day long.
- Comes with substrate
- Very beginner-friendly
- Hardy in low light and carbon dioxide conditions
- Grows very large
- Needs regular trimming
7. Amazon Frogbit
This plant comes straight out of a dedicated tank, so you know that it will arrive to you healthy. This is a really nice plant to go with for fairly shallow and small aquariums. It will only grow a few inches high and is actually wider than it is tall. It features really wide and broad leaves.
These leaves will provide your guppies with ample hiding space. The Anubias Barteri also creates a lot of beneficial biofilm, plus it does a fairly good job at filtering water too. The Anubias Barteri does not really need any special care, it doesn’t need much lighting, and can survive in varying conditions.
- Vibrant and colorful
- Pack has several plants
- Comes with a live arrival guarantee
- May restrict light to other plants in the aquarium
8. African Fern
This is a very beautiful plant to go with, one that features broad, wide, and pointed leaves. The plant itself does not grow too tall or too wide. That being said, it can grow up to 50 cm in one year, so some trimming may be in order. This is a good-looking plant that will provide your guppies with lots of great hiding places.
The African Fern may require some special nutrients, good carbon dioxide levels, and good lighting conditions. This is not the hardiest of plants and does require some specific living conditions to remain healthy and maintain a good growth cycle.
- Attractive plant
- Grows quickly
- Plenty of hiding places for guppies
- Harder to take care of
- Needs special nutrients, carbon dioxide, and lighting
What Kinds of Plants Do Guppies Like?
The general rule here is that guppies appreciate plants that they can swim through, swim under, and shelter in, such as Java Moss. Nearly all aquatic plants fit the bill as far as compatibility goes, and there’s no live plant that your guppies won’t appreciate in their aquarium.
Therefore, this ultimately comes down to your preference. Beginner plants are likely better for someone who is new to the hobby (or to aquatic plants). Plants that grow rapidly are better for newer tanks, as they are more efficient at filtering out toxins from the water. That said, plants should not be considered a complete replacement for your filtration system.
It’s also acceptable to offer your guppies artificial plants, especially if you find the care of live plants to be too cumbersome or daunting.
Conclusion
When it comes to the best live plants for guppies, all the options among these reviews are fantastic choices to consider, but our top pick is the Java Moss. That said, it’s hard to pick a favorite, as you can’t really go wrong with aquatic plants and guppies—they’re perfect for each other!
Featured Image Credit: Tony Stock, Shutterstock
