Plastic aquarium plants

[plebian]

Any idea why plastic plants made for aquariums are so damn fake looking? We have several artificial terrestrial plants around the house that look so real you have to look closely to see they are fake. I've never seen a single type of aquarium plant that looks remotely realistic. In fact, most look as though they've been intentionally made to look fake. Why?

 

[Magnum Man]

I have some very realistic looking, that I no longer use... currently all my plants are real... but I get what you are saying... almost everything you would find in your average pet store are totally fake looking...

https://www.amazon.com/Smoothedo-Pets-Decorations-Ornaments-Artificial-Green-Type/dp/B0DD79DK9L/ref=mp_s_a_1_13_sspa?crid=1OMG4ZVHS6BFH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._dQK7Y0-AIP3vwsF3rCaQCrDo2l_yPpi4keNSngw07sQIMNPoASz8QlZOqTICJ-4vuRzg3POmxPpZfg0r2um6V13unniAj9DpSi5AgokwRelkvz0MSYAPlE9z90wVtLuGPj_2jBkR420_Y6OBDTmfH6_RON1YRGcI0-WAeDVh33BxyhAumOx0BV1EV11sWZNf4KRcPtw3GBGhaIy7wF9TQ.4qcnpxKu2qgAMftN8jOHCd0Ykpg8qaA0T_iYG2kQ7pU&dib_tag=se&keywords=realistic+aquarium+plants&qid=1762858482&sprefix=tealistic+looking+aquarium+plants%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-13-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1

 

[anewbie]

I don't care much for plastic plants and i suspect they are not healthy for fishes for various reasons including the harder ones resulting in scrape and cuts.

In truth i never saw the reason for their usage or existence but then again that's just me.

As for your question - it is more challenging to produce ultra cheap plastic plants for aquariums after all water will attack the material over long period of times.

I haven't seen the ones @Magnum Man linked in person so i can't say how they look to my eye or how durable they are but i will say that the ones i have seen in aquariums i find ugly as a wart filled witch.

 

[plebian]

I have some very realistic looking, that I no longer use... currently all my plants are real... but I get what you are saying... almost everything you would find in your average pet store are totally fake looking...

Those are better looking than anything I've seen previously, but they still look fake. The green is just too bright.

 

[plebian]

I don't care much for plastic plants and i suspect they are not healthy for fishes for various reasons including the harder ones resulting in scrape and cuts.

So plastic is bad, but silicone sealant is OK? Seriously, foods are wrapped and cooked in plastic. Drinking cups are made of plastic. Plastic doesn't degrade. It's why plastic is polluting the oceans, not chemically but physically. Did I mention they make aquariums out of acrylic?

Anyway, I've never been able to successfully grow plants in an aquarium (low tech). Actually, that's not true. I have no problem growing plants. The problem is they seem to attract brown algae like a magnet, so they look like hell. Yes, brown algae will accumulate on plastic plants, but at least it would be a helluva lot easier to keep them clean.

 

[Magnum Man]

I highly recommend Rhizome plants like Java Fern, or the Anubis family, they work for me, when nothing else, except terrestrial plants growing out of the aquarium would

 

[Colin_T]

Cheap plastic plants go with brightly coloured gravel and horrible gaudy looking deformed glow in the dark fish. But we had two options when buying plastic plants in the shop. We could buy cheap and they looked like crap, or we spend more on them and they actually look like real plants. Customers chose cheap so we encouraged live plants instead.

 

[anewbie]

So plastic is bad, but silicone sealant is OK? Seriously, foods are wrapped and cooked in plastic. Drinking cups are made of plastic. Plastic doesn't degrade. It's why plastic is polluting the oceans, not chemically but physically. Did I mention they make aquariums out of acrylic?

Anyway, I've never been able to successfully grow plants in an aquarium (low tech). Actually, that's not true. I have no problem growing plants. The problem is they seem to attract brown algae like a magnet, so they look like hell. Yes, brown algae will accumulate on plastic plants, but at least it would be a helluva lot easier to keep them clean.

Did i mention that if i leave water in the tubing for a week the ec rises from 5 to 90; hum i wonder where all that crap is coming from.
-
Did you happen to notice the research that finds micro-plastic all over the human body. Did you happen to see the alert the fda put out to cities telling them that pvc causes cancer long term because it leaches forever chemicals and they shouldn't use it in city piping.

I guess you miss those items....

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I started out with plastic and silk plants. The silk ones look better than the plastic. I sold most of them but a kept a few which I will use when I have to set up a hospital tank. The fish seem to be ,ore at ease when I use them as they provide a place for the fish to hide.

While live plants look great and can help with water quality, they also work to break up lines of sight. They provide a place for a loser to hide when it flees a fight and they give smaller fish places to hide. Driftwood and rocks also help with this. My pleco tanks have a ton of wood, rocks and caves for this reason. Plecos are territorial and being able to flee and get out of sight of a rival are pretty important. My pleco tanks do not have live plants and their light is only on when I need to work in the tank.

(edited for a typo)

 

[jaylach]

While I now use live plants in the past I've found silk plants tend to look much better than plastic.

 

[MattW]

I had considered a plastic floating pad of fake hyacinth for my Sawbwa to use as a breeding area. I do have spawning mops and real floating plants, but the pad looks like a good option as well. I haven't kept fake plants since my 28L danio tank when I was around 11 years old.

 

[plebian]

I highly recommend Rhizome plants like Java Fern, or the Anubis family, they work for me

Like I said, I have no problem growing plants. The problem is the damn brown algae that colonizes them. I've had Anubias, java fern, Echinodorus, and Hygrophila (several species of each). They all grow well, and they all collect brown algae to the point that at least half the leaves are completely covered. I've altered lighting etc. but nothing I do makes any difference whatsoever. Hence my interest in plastic plants. Sadly, I have yet to find any I find suitable. And yes, I've looked on Amazon. I did see a few, but the pricing was outrageous.

I guess I'll just have to live with the real thing. As badly as they look, they do manage to survive.

 

[jaylach]

Like I said, I have no problem growing plants. The problem is the damn brown algae that colonizes them. I've had Anubias, java fern, Echinodorus, and Hygrophila (several species of each). They all grow well, and they all collect brown algae to the point that at least half the leaves are completely covered. I've altered lighting etc. but nothing I do makes any difference whatsoever. Hence my interest in plastic plants. Sadly, I have yet to find any I find suitable. And yes, I've looked on Amazon. I did see a few, but the pricing was outrageous.

I guess I'll just have to live with the real thing. As badly as they look, they do manage to survive.

I can't for fact say in your case but, normally, this is caused by too much light, too much feeding and/or too much fertilization.

 

[plebian]

I can't for fact say in your case but, normally, this is caused by too much light, too much feeding and/or too much fertilization.

This is like an Internet mantra. In my experience it's simply false. I've altered everything at one time or another with absolutely no effect on the brown algae.

What's odd is I've had brush algae, spot algae, hair algae, and blue green algae at one time or another, but none of those have been as much of a problem as the brown algae, I currently have some green algae growing on some driftwood and the glass, but it's spreading so slowly it's a non issue. In fact, I wouldn't mind a little more of it. I'd even be OK with the brown algae except for it's aggressive colonization of my plants.

 

[gimme30]

I love plastic plants. At least their lower leaves don't drop off. And they can be melted into things to shoot out of your potato gun

Kinda wish I'd stuck with 'em.....Until I tried live plants I had no idea there were so many varieties of algae. Now that I do, I am not happy about it.