Back to all plant profiles

Floating Plant

Floating plants shape the tank from the surface down. They soften light, add cover, and can quickly change how exposed fish feel in open aquariums. In this library, they most often show up at the surface. The current set leans toward moderate light conditions. Most entries are beginner plants.

Use the filters below to narrow the list by placement, light requirement, or difficulty when you want plants that do a similar job in the aquascape.

Showing 1 - 14 of 14 Plant Profiles

Amazon Frogbit

Limnobium laevigatum

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

Amazon Frogbit is a highly popular, fast-growing floating aquarium plant characterized by its smooth, round leaves and long, fuzzy trailing roots. It excels at absorbing excess nutrients from the water column, making it a great natural filter. The dense root system provides excellent refuge and grazing surfaces for fry and shrimp. It requires calm water surfaces, as excessive surface agitation or water resting on the tops of its leaves can cause rotting.

Asian Watergrass

Hygroryza aristata

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

Hygroryza aristata is unique as the only true grass commonly used in aquariums. It features inflated leaf sheaths that allow it to float on the water surface, while trailing feathery roots provide excellent refuge for fry and shrimp. Because of its fast horizontal growth and tough leaves, it is ideal for open-top aquariums and paludariums.

Asian Watermoss

Salvinia cucullata

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

Salvinia cucullata is a distinct floating fern native to Asia, instantly recognizable by its tightly cupped or hood-like leaves. It thrives in still waters, absorbing excess nutrients directly from the water column, making it an excellent plant for managing water quality and outcompeting algae. The trailing root-like structures (which are actually modified leaves) provide a perfect refuge for fry and shrimp. It requires moderate to high lighting to maintain its characteristic cupped leaf shape; under low light or poor nutrition, the leaves may grow flat.

Carolina Mosquito Fern

Azolla caroliniana

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

A small, free-floating aquatic fern that forms a dense, velvety mat on the water's surface. Under high light, its green fronds can turn a beautiful reddish-brown. It is an excellent plant for providing shade and cover for fry, but its rapid growth rate requires frequent culling to prevent it from blocking all light to the plants below.

Common Duckweed

Lemna minor

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerLow

Common Duckweed is a notoriously fast-growing floating plant that reproduces rapidly through budding and fragmentation. While it is excellent at absorbing excess nutrients and providing cover for fry, it requires frequent culling to prevent it from completely smothering the water surface and blocking light to the plants below.

Floating Fern

Salvinia natans

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

Salvinia natans is a fast-growing, rootless floating fern characterized by small, oval leaves covered in water-repellent hairs. It is excellent for absorbing excess nutrients from the water column and providing a secure canopy for shy fish and fry, but it requires regular culling to prevent it from completely blocking light to submerged plants.

Floating Water Sprite

Ceratopteris cornuta

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

A fast-growing, adaptable fern that thrives when floated on the water surface. It produces broad, lobed leaves and dense trailing root systems that provide excellent cover for fry, shrimp, and shy inhabitants, while heavily reducing excess nutrients in the water column.

Giant Duckweed

Spirodela polyrhiza

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerLow

A fast-growing floating plant that is significantly larger than common duckweed (Lemna minor). It is easily identified by its distinct reddish-purple undersides and a cluster of multiple roots dangling from each frond. It is excellent for natural nutrient export and shading, though it requires frequent culling to prevent it from completely blocking light to underlying plants.

Giant Salvinia

Salvinia molesta

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

A highly prolific floating fern known for its thick, folded leaves covered in unique egg-beater shaped hairs that make the plant intensely water-repellent. While excellent at taking up excess nutrients and providing protective cover for fry and shrimp, it grows extremely fast and requires frequent scooping to prevent it from completely suffocating the water surface and blocking all light.

Red Root Floater

Phyllanthus fluitans

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

A highly sought-after floating plant characterized by its vibrant red roots and round, water-repellent leaves. Under high light and slightly limited nitrates, the entire plant can flush a deep crimson red. It is excellent for absorbing excess nutrients and providing habitat for fry and shrimp, but requires low surface flow as water splashing over its leaves can cause rot.

Water Cabbage

Pistia stratiotes

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

A highly popular and recognizable floating plant that forms rosettes of thick, velvety, ribbed leaves resembling small heads of cabbage. It develops long, trailing feathery roots that are exceptional for taking up excess nutrients from the water column and providing safe harbor for fish fry and shrimp. It requires gentle surface movement, as splashing water on its leaves can cause them to rot.

Water Fern

Azolla filiculoides

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerModerate

Azolla filiculoides, commonly known as Fairy Moss or Water Fern, is a highly prolific floating fern. It forms dense, velvety mats on the water surface and is famous for its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen via a symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria. Under high light or nutrient limitation, its leaves develop a striking reddish hue. While it provides excellent cover for fry and resting areas for surface-dwelling species, it grows aggressively and requires frequent culling to prevent it from blocking essential light to submerged plants.

Water Hyacinth

Eichhornia crassipes

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerHigh

A remarkably fast-growing, free-floating aquatic plant known for its bulbous, spongy leaf stalks and striking purple flowers. Its extensive feathery root system provides unmatched filtration, nutrient uptake, and refuge for fry. However, its highly aggressive growth rate and massive shade cast require extremely frequent culling, making it more common in ponds or large open-top aquariums.

Water Spangles

Salvinia minima

Floating Plant
Floating
BeginnerLow

A fast-growing, free-floating aquatic fern characterized by small, round to oval leaves covered in stiff, water-repellent hairs. It possesses no true roots; instead, modified submerged leaves dangle in the water column to absorb nutrients. It acts as an excellent nutrient sink and provides dense surface cover, making it ideal for shading the aquarium and offering refuge for fry and shrimp. It requires calm surface waters to thrive and multiplies rapidly.