55 Gallon Tank Plants needed

Hey guys,

I finally got my hands on a 55 gallon tank (that my wife says is too big) and I want to plant it and get some fish for it. I am looking for suggestions! I want some tall plants as well as bushy plants I'm not concerned about lighting or fertilizer requirements, but if there are special requirements I would like to know ahead of time! I am planning to have some angels, cories and plecos (As a minimum) in the tank so anything that they would have an issue with is a no-go. Colorful tall and bushy would be best. I turn to you guys because the experience here is insane!

Thanks!

 

Angels will sometimes nip at plants and uproot them. Mine did with my hair grass, but not with my crypts and guppy grass and hydrocotyle japan. But it was at a different time than these, so they could of just been curious. Also, cories and plecos will probably mess up your substrate, especially if you don't have a cave for your pleco, he will try to dig one ip everywhere. So heavily rooted would probably be the way to go.

 

Angels will sometimes nip at plants and uproot them. Mine did with my hair grass, but not with my crypts and guppy grass and hydrocotyle japan. But it was at a different time than these, so they could of just been curious. Also, cories and plecos will probably mess up your substrate, especially if you don't have a cave for your pleco, he will try to dig one ip everywhere. So heavily rooted would probably be the way to go.

I have a big castle that is the 'center piece' of my tank. He will have plenty of space to chill in there! I am also going to get some driftwood that he can hide under as well. I used to have a bristle nose that loved his cave in a 10 gallon. He was a great cleaner! He would even chase the small school of cories away from his cave when he was not wanting to be bothered. I called him Sticky, but sometimes I think Grumpy would have been better. LOL

I forget how does driftwood change your water parameters?

 

I have a big castle that is the 'center piece' of my tank. He will have plenty of space to chill in there! I am also going to get some driftwood that he can hide under as well. I used to have a bristle nose that loved his cave in a 10 gallon. He was a great cleaner! He would even chase the small school of cories away from his cave when he was not wanting to be bothered. I called him Sticky, but sometimes I think Grumpy would have been better. LOL

I forget how does driftwood change your water parameters?

Lowers ph, but if you have a ph around 8, it probably won't move. And it will also discolor the water to a tea-like color. But if you boil it if it's small enough to boil it won't lower or discolor.

 

I have corkscrew vals, jungle vals, dwarf sag, some crypts, jave ferns, etc.

 

Jungle Val and Java ferns work really well with Angelfish IMO.

 

Get something your wife likes too. Then, perhaps she'll get invested in the tank and stop telling you it's too big.

 

Water Wisteria checks two of your boxes; tall and bushy. I guess it's colorful also; green is a color.

 

Get something your wife likes too. Then, perhaps she'll get invested in the tank and stop telling you it's too big.

She really likes saltwater fish. I really don't want to deal with salinity as well as everything else so I am trying to come up with colorful fish as well as colorful plants that she'll like and then she'll stop telling me it's too big lol

 

For the background I would recommend some decent sword plants like melon or ruffle. Crypts will also grow large given enough time. Conversely a different approach would be to line the back with large jungle val (the type with 1 inch wide leaves - the narrow type is typically italia val). Java fern will also grow quite large if given time (mine are running around 18 inches). For the front you can use smaller swords like prinz kleiner sword (a very reddish purple sword that requires high light and co2 helps a lot) - red flame sword is also a smaller option (it isn't that i love sword plants but they are easy plants to grow). There are tons of interesting anubia - both large and small - pinto and golden nana are two that i like a lot as well as coffee (a large background plant), afzelii a smaller plant, barteri (can grow quite large), barteri var glabra (a smaller barteri with interesting leaf shape).
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for the foreground you could try 'tropica' parviflorus sword (these are about 1 inch high but instead of having a grass like leaf like pygmy and micro sword they have a very deep green round leaf - very pretty robust plant).
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There are tons of other plants that might interest you in the crypt family and such. There are crypts and anubia that thrive in hard water (most of what I named is not in love with hardwater but jungle val will do ok) if that is your goal. Also there are tons of nice aponogeton (i like boivinianus and crispu - i would avoid ulvaceus - a very pretty plant but with some care issues).
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Another very bush plant that is low maint is Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus - with this plant just keep trimming the top and it will become very very bushy.
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I would avoid all rotala and ludwigia - they are easy enough to grow but can require quite a bit of care.
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Generally angels won't disturb plants but if you have a pair they will find a nice large leaf and pick it clean (clean it) to lay eggs. If the plants is soft rooted like an anubia it might come free.