If you want to cut and trim your aquarium plants properly and replant them into the aquarium, you should learn the correct cutting method for different plants. 

How to Trim and Replant Aquarium Plants? You can trim your aquarium plants by pulling them out of the tank or keeping them inside and using appropriate trimming methods. Different plants have different trimming techniques depending upon their growth rate and structure. Also, these cut shoots or parts of aquarium plants and you can add them to the tank. Through replanting the old plant and placing new cut parts or stem in a fish tank is beneficial in terms of both layout and health of inhabitants.

How to Trim and Replant Aquarium Plants?

Usually, aquarium plants having a faster growth rate get out of the hand and creates a whole mess in an aquarium. They eat up all the space in your tank, and your fish get a little place for swimming.

Also, sometimes they start getting out of the tank. So, you have to cut or trim them to make them look more presentable. Also, trimming prevents them from overshadowing the growth of other plants in the tank. 

Trimming the aquarium plant does not arrange and maintain it but gives you new plants to grow in your fish tank. These cuttings can easily anchor and adjust in the tank, and when they grow, they fill up the entire aqua-space with beauty and nature.

Trimming or cutting plants is not as easy as you can damage the plant and disturb the aquarium’s balance. You have to be very careful during the process. Replanting is way too easy, especially when you cut it carefully and when the plant is in healthy condition.

Cutting techniques for aquarium plants

There are generally two methods for cutting aquarium plants, and both are equally effective and beneficial.

Typical method

This method is preferable for the dutch-tanks, and it includes the trimming of beautiful, fresh upper parts of the stem and leaving the lower plant. You can use healthy upper shoots or stem to plant in the aquarium, and it looks stunning. 

Usually, the lower parts of the stem lose their leaves with time and do not remain healthy. In contrast, the upper part grows new leaves and is healthy, so it is preferable to use them as new plants.

You can also throw or discard the lower part if it is not in a condition to stay more in the tank. It is a simple and easy technique especially, for the plant that you can cut using this method only, such as Eriocaulon cinereum.

It can disturb different substrate when you pull out the plant roots to discard them. When you keep cutting the upper parts, the plant does not create a bush-like structure, and the method is also rather time-consuming.

Alternate method

This method is the alternate of the typical one and is preferable for nature aquariums. It generally proceeds vise versa of the classic one, in which you do not discard or remove the lower, leafless parts of the stem. You provide time and nutrients to grow well and cut off the upper part of the plant.

Of course, you can utilize the upper part of the stem and replant it in the aquarium to increase the beauty. This method gives an overall well-organized and clean look to the tank when you decorate it with rocks, driftwood, and other beautiful plants around.

These decorative pieces will hide the leafless stem until leaves grow, and together with background plants creates a beautiful aqua-space.

Methods for trimming of aquarium plants

Every plant grows differently and requires different trimming methods. The tools you need for their trimming are a pair of scissors, tweezers, razor blades, or cotton thread.

Aquarium Stem plants

These are fast-growing plants, so you must trim them more often than other aquarium plants. Firstly, decide the length of the stem you want to keep, and then cut the remaining part. Depending on the aquarium size and height, cut the stem plants very carefully to avoid damaging them.

It is better to trim them only two inches from the top but when you want to replant the cut part, look for a longer length; Never cut away more than half of the stem. Their propagation is easy and fast, so you do not have to worry about their growth. You will see that aquarium stem plants will fill up your aquarium very soon without requiring extra care.

Replanting the cut stem

It depends on whether you cut the plant after taking it out of the aquarium or keeping it inside. Cut an appropriate length of shoot or branch from a whole plant, dig a hole in the substrate, and place an inch of the plant into the substrate.

Push it inside and cover it with the substrate, and the plant will develop the root system and grow very fast into full size. Replant the cut branch in the same way for planting it into a new place in your aquarium. You can anchor aquarium plants in the gravel.

Java fern and Anubias

These plants are also easy to trim, and you have to split out the rhizome from the base of the plant. For this, you need to pull it out from the wood or rocks in the aquarium and then split the rhizome. These plants are hardy and, so do not worry about the risk of damaging them.

After trimming the solid rhizome from the plant, divide it into two or three sections depending upon the size you want, with a sharp knife or blade. Replant the rhizome into its previous place or plant it somewhere else in the tank by wedging it into position; it will grow gradually.

Also, you can plant the newly cut rhizomes in the same way somewhere else in the tank. Do not remove healthy leaves and roots from this cut rhizome as they will help grow it faster. Also, Anubias starts attaching itself with a wooden or stony substrate, and it grows deep into the soil.

Trim the Moss in the aquarium

Moss needs careful cutting and trimming in the tank by using sharp scissors or plucking off small patches. These aquarium plants can grow without soil and it is easy to maintain.

Although it grows slowly in tank conditions and when you provide a higher amount of nitrates, it grows faster and needs to get a cut or trim. You should select the best moss for a freshwater aquarium.

Planting cuts of moss

You can plant the new moss cuts into the tank by tying them to the driftwood or rocks using a cotton thread. It is better to spread the moss evenly in the tank by dividing larger pieces into several smaller ones.

Another way is to put weight on them with a coin to keep them in place until they attach to the wood or rock. Also, during cutting, some fragments lose in the water and move into different tank areas where they start growing. It will also fix the aquarium heater to work properly.

Potted plants

Potted plants usually need very little care and maintenance and grow slower than others. When they grow thick, you can cut off the leaves and extra foliage at the base or remove small shoots from them. You have to remove them from the pot to cut the parts at the roots. This is a must to stop the aquarium from turning yellow.

Replanting potted plants

Once you finish cutting and trimming, place them again into the pot by digging out the soil and fitting in them. Secure them by adding some new mud and fertilizer and keep them in the tank.

Ground-covering plants

Usually, these ground-covering plants grow in a way that they form a foreground carpet in the aquarium. They are consist of several individual plants that grow with each other and require regular cutting and trimming.

To trim and divide them, tear them apart using a pair of scissors after taking them out of the tank. If you are cutting them inside the tank, cut a few centimeters regularly to avoid them growing too broad and high and leave the cut parts into the tank. 

Replanting carpet plants

When you tear them into several pieces, place them evenly onto the substrate of the tank. Spread all around as a carpet and slightly push into the substrate to attach them. The loose parts you leave in the tank while cutting will get their place somewhere in the tank and start growing.

Stoloniferous plants

These aquarium plants propagate through stolons or runners that arise from the side of the stem as a shoot. When the plant’s leaves grow very long, you need to cut them off with a pair of scissors and throw them out.

One way to trim aquarium plants is to pull a whole string or plant out of the soil and cut the runners or stolons. When in the tank, cut only a runner from the stem and pull it out of the water.

It is easy to plant them in the soil by digging a hole and place them into it. Whether you are replanting the whole plant or planting a single runner into the tank, use tweezers or hands to keep them in the substrate.

Rosette plants

These plants also have a rhizome, and you can cut and replant in the tank, but their rhizome grows below or just above the soil surface and is not too visible.

Therefore you need to pull the whole plant out of the tank to cut it. Cut off longer roots with rhizome and leave only enough length to ensure its grip on the substrate.

After cutting a large, branching rhizome, separate it into smaller parts and replant it into the substrate. It is better to keep the stem of each plant intact to prevent any damage.