Do rainbows need plants to thrive?

[gilpi]

So I'm recently getting into the rainbows and from what I have read and from tanks I've seen they are usually planted, some heavily but yet I only see the rainbows using the free space available in the tank.
Keeping live plants is not something I'm looking forward to so my question...
Can rainbows get by in a tank without live plants using driftwood and perhaps artificial plants if need be?

 

[dmolavi]

I have 6 rainbows in my tank, and they all did just fine, even before I put in plants.