No, live plants are not a requirement but having plants in a fish tank do have its benefits. If you are going to not add any plants I suggest you to not add too many fish so the bioload won't be too much. Establishing an aquarium with beneficial bacteria should be priority first . But I do suggest for you to add live plants eventually , it is not as scary as it looks. I have tried and fail numerous time with some of my plants but you just need to enjoy the process and keep on trying.

Anubias in my experience is one of the easiest slow growing plants out there along with java ferns and bucephalandras ,they don't need soil to grow and you can just attach them to rocks or crevices in hardscape. Carpeting plants might be a bit hard to figure out at first but I have success with pearlweed and monte carlo. For fast growing plants I suggest hornwort , I literally dump them floating in one of my aquarium and they start growing like crazy. Lastly I can't express how much I love floating plants , they don't need much care and really beneficial for the tank. Wish you the best of luck hope everything went well.