Plant Question

Welsh

Background, Middle and Foreground plants?

My plants have always just been scattered in the tank and now I want a more layered colourful look but I have no idea what plants to use. The main plant I have is in the centre of the tank, I dont know the name but its a tall grassy plant lol

Any suggestions?

Thanks

JohnnyD44

are you looking for easy plants to keep?

background plants (off the top of my head):
amazon swords
vallisneria
pennywory
ludwigas


i'm blanking on mid-ground plants...

some good foreground plants could be:
dwarf sagatria
narrow leaf chain swords

I"m sure others will be along to throw some others out there too...

I just looked at my tank and named what I could

Austin

I have some crypt wendtiis in my tank and they are about maybe 6-7 inches tall..... might be decent middle ground? They have red and green and bronze colors and look nice. Not sure if this is considered foreground....Also not sure if mine are just small for some reason! :p All vallesneria usually gets pretty large and good grassy plant for background. Also everything JohnnyD said. You could put a driftwood in the middle with some java ferns (these get somewhat big though, at least mine) or some annubias or Java Moss. Also Rotala indica can get tall and looks nice. I have some.

redchigh

well it REALLY depends on the tank size.

Dwarf sag is a really nice midground plant in my 5G :)

Personally, I like stem plants as midgrounds, because you can just trim them in half when they nearly reach the surface, and double the number of plants or sell/trade them.

I wouldn't reccomend dwarf sag as foreground, simply because it's perfect for a while, then suddenly shoots up to the top of the tank overnight.
Perhaps Pygmy chain sword? (echinodorus tenellus)
In small tanks low-tech tanks you're pretty much limited to mosses.
I have stargrass as a foreground plant (planted it sideways) but once a week I have to bury the parts that start growing straight up.

It basically comes down to tall plants in the back, short plants in the front, and the ones that are in the middle, well, go in the middle.
Have to think about the max size though unless you want to move things around later.

Austin

What do you mean shoots up to the top?

bones14

Grows tall very fast.

redchigh

sorry, yea.

:)

Welsh

Thanks for the replies, I can't wait to get started :)

I want to make a Java Moss carpet but can't find plastic mesh anywhere, is there any type of household fabric that I could use to get the same effect, I'm getting really impatient lol

Austin

I didn't know dwarf sag got that tall? o_o

bones14

Under high light it stay shorter.Under lower light it will grow taller to reach more light.