Plants for a 20 gal dp tank

[tinyscoliosis]

Hello! We have a 20 gallon tank with 4 dwarf puffers. We’ve had them for about 6 months now and started off with lots of live plants, most of which lfs recommended. However, we are having some trouble with the plants. They aren’t looking so great, keep having to pick off dead leaves & they quickly collect long stringy algae which is a pain to clean, despite our efforts.
My question here is, before we invest in better lighting and more live plants, would our DPs be ok with FAKE plants instead of live? If we could get a bunch of artificial plants and not have to worry abt that part, it would be a huge plus!
Thanks in advance

[Pufferpunk]

Plants are difficult without the proper lighting, substrate, ferts, etc. I have been in the hobby for 45+ years & have only recently attempted live plants. They are actually doing quite well, but only after learning which ones will thrive in my tanks. Silk plants are very nice & keeping Java fern/moss & anubias is pretty easy. Algae is a whole other can of worms...

[Vandalay Industries]

You may have too much light if you’re battling algae. Those plants are low light plants. No ferts needed, either, especially with algae. Sometimes a plant will die back a bit after planting and then come back.