Live plants make an aquarium look like a real underwater biotope. The problem is that they are expensive and need a lot of care and a lot more light than you'd think. Plastic plants or some of the newer silk plants don't look as good, but maintenance for them is substantially less and their light requirements are obviously nil.

If you are new to keeping an aquarium, fake plants may be your best choice. You've already got enough to learn about and deal with managing water quality and feeding your fish and making sure the filters work and the heaters and lights don't explode for the first few months. New tanks are especially work intensive. So keep it simple and just buy six to twelve "fake" plants and call that good enough for now. If you want to try some live plants four to