Plastic Plants

Last edited - December 8, 2018

If you choose not to go with live plants, one alternative would be plastic plants. Before, plastic plants would not have been on my reccomendations list because first of all, they did not look the least bit realistic. The roots looked like noodles, the area where the branches connected to the main stem stuck out, and the colors were horrible. And there weren't many choices of plants either. Now, however, plsatic plants have greatly improved. Not only do they look real (color too), but the are also higher quality. The old plastic plants would easily break and the colors would fade. Todays plants last much longer and are much more durbale, meaning, unlike live plants, plastic plants are guaranteed to last since they can't die. This is great for those beginning the aquartic hobby or simply don't have a knack for keeping live plants.

Other benefits of using plastic plants include a large variety of plants you can choose from at a small price. That fragile lace plant that you've always wanted as a center piece can now come at a price that won't empty the bank. And it can last much longer. You can easily decorate and fill up a 10 gallon tank for less than $20 whereas filling it up with live plants can raise the cost to more than $50.

Additionally, using plastic plants has a similar effect to live plants in that they provide hiding spots for your betta to escape to. Although bettas are smart, they probably can't tell whether or not a plant is real or fake (at least I don't think so). They'll treat a plastic plant just like a live plant. However, because it is a plastic plant, it won't have all the same effects as a live plant. Plastic plants don't perform photosynthesis, which is sort of like a good news/ bad news deal since that means you don't have to buy those exspensive plant lights, but carbon dioxide isn't changed to oxygen. In addition to that, a big disadvantage to having plastic plants is that plastic plants can't absorb your betta's waste. And since that waste is not being removed, water quality goes down while the amount of algae goes up. However, this can easily be fixed by feeding your betta less, limiting the amount of light that enter the aquarium, or doing larger water changes.

Can you tell which ones are real and which ones are plastic? The red ones are plastic.