which background plant?

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Sahabo

Sahabo

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
657
Location
Portland, Maine
I'm trying to find a nice bushy plant to use as background for my 10 gallon. I've got low-medium light, no co2. I find that I'm not a big fan of vals and the like to hide my filter/heater. I need something that will grow fuller. Any suggestions??
 
How about some java fern? Either that or you will need some sort of stem plant that grows in fairly thick and it will also have to do well with medium light. My recommendation is a java fern though.
 
all excellent ideas so far! I've heard that ambulia grows like a weed, but I like the look of it. the hornwort looks good, too. and I never even thought about java fern. I bet it would get big enough. thanks everyone!
 
I'd go for Rotala rotundifolia. There are several color varients and it's quite nice in a 10 gallon. With lower light it won't grow quite as painfully fast, so it won't need to be trimmed nearly as often.
 
Purrbox said:
I'd go for Rotala rotundifolia. There are several color varients and it's quite nice in a 10 gallon. With lower light it won't grow quite as painfully fast, so it won't need to be trimmed nearly as often.
Click to expand...


oooo! I didn't think I'd be able to grow Rotala rotundifolia because my light was low-medium. But I'll certainly give it a try! Thanks!
 
well I've got some sunset hygro that's doing pretty well, but I'm not sure how to prune/propagate it so it makes a bush.
 
I think you just need to snip off the tallest reaching growth and let that float to gain some roots to propogate it. I understand further that cutting pattern tends to make the parent plant bushier.

I've had this result in my tank. I also will plant the cutting without even waiting for it to root, and invariably, I plant it close to the parent to achieve a bushier look even more quickly.
 
I just threw out most of my cabomba... it's a pond plant that grows fast, tall and doesn't seem to care too much about light. I was using it as a background in my 29 gallon tank. It looked good, and filled in the space I needed it to. But the overall setup is to emulate a mountain stream, and the flow eventually destroyed it; cabomba bits and stems all over. Didn't stay rooted either, even with plastic plant anchors.

On the other hand, it works fine in my 5 gallon fry tank.

Just my two cents in case you see it in the store and it looks good there; could work for you in a low flow setup.
 
The tall plant on the rightmost looks good in my 14GL low light. They are bright green and in low light leaves stay small.
I went to vietnamese grocery store and get this plants for almost free but i dont know what they call it in English. My mom usually buy it to cook sour soup!!
p2ov8.jpg
 
shrek_vn2002 said:
The tall plant on the rightmost looks good in my 14GL low light. They are bright green and in low light leaves stay small.
I went to vietnamese grocery store and get this plants for almost free but i dont know what they call it in English. My mom usually buy it to cook sour soup!!
p2ov8.jpg
Click to expand...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a cool plant and story. Nice tank -- it looks great in there. Can you take a closer pic?
 
It looks a lot like Rotala Ramosior, which Cavan Allen was pimping around back in 2004/5 but never caught on for some reason. I don't think I ever saw it in our plant club and stuff, and can't recall seeing it in any tanks online recently, for example. I really liked that plant but it grew too wide leaved for my tank. Is it the same plant? I think Travis grew it too for a while.

This is emersed (missouriplants.com):

Rotala_ramosior_plant.jpg


This is submerged (APC):
RotalaramosiorCAVAN1.jpg


Its a North American plant though. At least one other Rotala is in Vietnam. I wonder if yours is a Rotala at all? Its pretty :)

I bet every plant nerd in the universe would like the story of your plant, by the way. If you're serious about IDing it you should post around. :)
 
I found it here Limnophila aromatica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I just call my mom and she said they grow them in the mud in vietnam, the root is in the mud but the stem grow out of water....
I knew people grow this plants in the tank on this forum long time ago. Sorry I couldnt remember who posted.
They have tiny flowers too http://www.earthcare.com.au/images/limnophila_aromatica.jpg
I dont suggest to put it in high light tank as it will grow out of control!! but in low light leaves stay small..


The plant next to it in my pic is Moneywort as i believe and it is also a special vegetable in vietnam too. They usualy don't grow it. It likes weed just grow next to lake or whatever near water. I bought Moneywort $7 for 5 stems. My mom said with 10cent you got a .... full bucket of 2GL ... hehehe...
 
wow..I like the looks of that plant you guys...where can I find it? Happy to hear it would do well in low-medium light.

Thanks to you all so far for excellent suggestions! The guy I get plants from (Lowcoaster) is thrilled to see all the new requests coming in :)
 
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