Many believe that if you have an aquarium, you have to put fish in it. But a plant filled aquarium can be a lovely addition to a home, even if it has no fish. Some aquarium owners will choose to buy artificial plants because they've had bad luck attempting to keep real plants alive. But preserving the health of your plants is relatively simple if you recognize what their likes and needs are. Here are a few of the chief reasons that aquarium plants end up dying or not thriving well.

Not enough light. Light is very important to a plant. You can give a plant all the fertilizer or food it can handle and water it religiously, but if you don't give it enough light, it won't survive for long. Most tanks these days either come with a light attached to the tank top or they come with pre-drilled holes that will allow you to install a light relatively easily. If not, most acrylic tanks will allow you to drill your own holes and set up your own lighting. Of course, another perfectly good alternative is simply to place your aquarium on the south side of your apartment or house, near a window where it will be sure to get plenty of light.

Failure to secure the plant roots. If your plant has been doing well for a while and all of a sudden the leaves begin to turn brown and fall off, it may be a simple matter of the roots having come loose. Roots often come loose in aquariums, especially if you have rowdy fish that love to dig. In this case, simply replant or reposition the plant making sure that the roots are well covered and secure. If the plant is new, however, the browning leaves may simply be the plant adjusting to it's new home. Most plants experience "environmental shock" when being transplanted from one place to a brand new place. Simply give it time to adjust and it should be fine.

Too many plants for the space. Plants are alive and need room to grow. In the closed confines of an aquarium, it's easy to have a crowded aquarium. You have too many plants fighting for too few resources. Give your plants plenty of room to grow by providing them with an aquarium that is large enough to sustain their future growth. And don't worry about it becoming unwieldy. Trimming your plants every once in a while will help to keep it under control.

Choosing the wrong plant for your environment. Plants, like most people, do best in their native environments. When they're transplanted, they can sometimes have trouble adjusting to the new surroundings. For example, you may have fallen deeply love with a beautiful tropical plant that you think is perfect for your aquarium. But, if your aquarium is in the northern part of Alaska, chances are your plant is just not going to do well. Many times the cause of a dying plant can be traced directly back to it not being right for the habitat that it has been moved to.

Many times the poor performance of a plant is where it was purchased. It's not unusual to discover that most animal and fish stores are set up to deal with animals, not plants. To many of them, plants are simply a side line. If you notice that a store has only a few types of plants for sale and a rather small stock, it's a good guess that they aren't very knowledgeable about the types of plants that you may need. If many of the plants that a store has are yellowing or brown, or if the plants seem to be loosely planted and not well cared for, it's probably best to look elsewhere. The last thing that you want to do is to introduce a diseased plant into your aquarium.