How do you decide which plants to reduce

[Beastije]

Hi, so after a long time I have a planted aquarium. I always only had few plants and more of a solitaires, now I have more than few plant species and they are all expanding. I need to reduce some but am not sure which to reduce and which to keep.
The tank is 360l, 120cmx50cmx60cm
I have:
20 ember tetras (getting 20 more soon)
15 marble hatchetfish
15 sterbai corydoras
5 tylomelania snails
1 neritina snail
3 bamboo shrimp
countless other small snails, primarily MTS

Currently what plants I have:
3x Anubias barteri var. barteri
1x Bucephalandra sp. green leaf - though it didnt stay tied in, it floats and is not really growing
?x Ceratophyllum demersum - this expanded a lot
6x Cladophora aegagropila
1x Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia - last plant in the corner to "hide " the filter, this used to be main plant in the tank
?x Egeria densa - this also expanded a LOT
1x Echinodorus grisebachii 'Bleherae' - this got massive, is a nice solitaire
1x Hydrocotyle leucocephala - few stems, put in the sand, they dont seem to be dying but they are not growing either
1x Hydrocotyle tripartita - few stems, put in the sand, they dont seem to be dying but they are not growing either
?x Limnobium laevigatum - 1/3 of the surface, though leafs die with holes in them
2x Nymphaea lotus - one bulb one plant, gets eaten by tylomelania a lot
?x Vallisneria spiralis var. spiralis - this expanded quite a lot too, used to be 3-4 plants battling tylomelania, now it is like 10, short leaves, still get eaten.

Here is a picture some months back, today I did a cleanup, and I took out all the Hornwort completely and I have a full bucket of it!!. I tried to tie the egeria to the wood a bit more, so it is not completely in the middle.
I cant have too many plants in the bottom because of cories neither on the surface because of hatchetfish

I will try to return some of the hornwort back and catch it on the wood in the middle ,to have a middle layer, but once the hornwort is too thick, the ember tetra dont swim through it, they swim around it. And this takes away the swimming space, does it not?
I was thinking of either removing the cryptocoryne, cause the leaves rest on the surface perhaps. I will try to tie the bucephalanda back, but no promises it will hold

Will post a picture of the other side of the tank too and how it looks without the hornwort once it finishes filling.

 

[Beastije]

Forgot to attach

 

[imw]

If anything I think you could have more plants.

 

[Beastije]

If anything I think you could have more plants.

Well in theory you can always have more plants, sure. But what I see in my other tanks, the fish dont swim THROUGH the plants, they swim around. So by having more plants (or maybe more of some plants?) you are reducing the swimming space. Maybe it depends on the fish, but this is my second tank, and every upper level fish I had there, ember tetra in quarantine or harlequine rasboras to "end life period" would only stay in the right part of the tank, not under the plants, not between them either. And ofcourse they could not go to the substrate becuase of the other fish, so they would just stay in a 20x20x20 space the whole time...

 

[imw]

Well in theory you can always have more plants, sure. But what I see in my other tanks, the fish dont swim THROUGH the plants, they swim around. So by having more plants (or maybe more of some plants?) you are reducing the swimming space. Maybe it depends on the fish, but this is my second tank, and every upper level fish I had there, ember tetra in quarantine or harlequine rasboras to "end life period" would only stay in the right part of the tank, not under the plants, not between them either. And ofcourse they could not go to the substrate becuase of the other fish, so they would just stay in a 20x20x20 space the whole time...

Hi,

Of course its your choice , but IMO more plants would help with cover for the fish - my tank has a lot more plants, I keep corys, tetra, harlequins and dwarf blue rainbows.

I don't think a lack of swimming space is or will cause you any issues.

 

[Beastije]

It is true I am biased against fully planted tanks, I just dont really enjoy them, I feel like I dont see the fish in there. This is my most planted tank till this day so small steps I guess, maybe I will get there eventually

 

[Beastije]

So, picture from the back side, without the hornworth, and after returning ALL the hornworth in. I tried to tuck it under the wood but it is not cooperating.
My biggest problem is it takes over surface space and I do not need that. I would not mind if it ended in the middle, for the tetras to have fun in, but the surface is a problem.

 

[Beastije]

Ok, so apparently my biggest problem is, the heater is not working. Setup is 29°C, the fishtank temp is 23 and that is on the top level, who knows what in the bottom (non of the suction cups of the thermometers work so they dont stay put...)
So I ordered new external heater, will see what will happen once it comes.
Then I can think about plants

 

[adenud]

Agree that's not enough plants. You can easily double every plant

 

[anewbie]

This is my tank and my fishes swim through the plants; including the cardinals when they are scared...; of course it begs the question which plants to prune...
since I can never decide i end up with a mess.

 

[Naughts]

Well in theory you can always have more plants, sure. But what I see in my other tanks, the fish dont swim THROUGH the plants, they swim around. So by having more plants (or maybe more of some plants?) you are reducing the swimming space. Maybe it depends on the fish, but this is my second tank, and every upper level fish I had there, ember tetra in quarantine or harlequine rasboras to "end life period" would only stay in the right part of the tank, not under the plants, not between them either. And ofcourse they could not go to the substrate becuase of the other fish, so they would just stay in a 20x20x20 space the whole time...

Your fish behaviour might be territory issues, maybe the wrong combination of species? Or it could be that the flow was too strong and they could shelter in the 20cm cubed space? Or maybe a temperature issue where they found the warmest spot?
But I agree with others, you don't have too many plants. If you were going to cut back, lose some hornwort and the egaria densa as these grow like weeds in the right conditions.