This aquarium style tries to emulate some sort of jungle, like the Amazon for example. The key to this aquascaping style is the wild, lush, uncontrolled appearance. From all aquascaping styles this is the less intensive one in terms of maintenance. Everyday plant trimming is not needed, as you don’t want to give the impression this aquascape is hand made.
The fun thing about a Jungle style planted tank is that there are no rules. You can choose the plants you like, although the most used aquarium plants for this style are tall, large-leaved plants. They can be bold an big, not like the Nature aquarium style, where you go for clean lines and fine texture.
But how can we accomplish a great looking Jungle style without becoming a chaos? There aren’t a set of rules you can use to create the perfect Jungle style aquascape. It’s all about personal taste and just loving what you do. Use a lot of plants and try to choose a good variety with different textures to make your aquascape interesting.
Choosing the right substrate is crucial, as you will have a lot of plants and you want them to grow lush. Try going for a darker substrate as the combination with tall plants and maybe some floating plants will give your aquarium that dark, Amazon feeling you want.
Some suited plants for this aquarium style are: Microsorum pteropus, Bolbitis heudelotii, Vallasneria americana gingantea, Crinum natans, Crinum calimistratum, Aponogeton boevinianus, Aponogeton crispus ‘Red’, Echinodorus ‘Ozelot’, Echinodorus ‘Rubin’, Echinodorus quadricostatus, Sagittaria subulata, Hygrophila pinnatifida, Anubias barteria var. barteri, Limnobium laevigatum.
What are the difficulties of a Jungle aquascape layout?
Because you are dealing with a lot of plants a weekly water change of 50% is necessary. It’s also very important to provide all the nutrient elements your plants need so they can grow lush and show their full potential. Therefore a good amount of lighting and pressurized CO2 can help a lot.
All sorts of algae are of course possible as in any planted tank, just try not to get things out of control as this will create problems in the long run.
Some examples of Jungle planted tanks:
