Best plant for carpetting 12 L tank

[fiaery]

Need help selecting a plant that will carpet my 12L tank. criteria as follows:

• low maintenance
• fast growing
• easy to pearl
• 1-3cm max
• tolerant of moderate lighting

I experimented with HC, but think my lighting was wrong; it grew very slowly. HC's started to die and made my gravel and filter clogged with decaying material.

Preferably, if there is a species that would spread from the wire mesh to the rest of the tank that would be lovely.

I have considered dwarf hair grass and US fissiden, but I'm having problems navigating the pros and cons, and really could use some help.

current set up:

• 12L 30X20X20cm tank
• BOYU EF-05 filter with rain unit
• Fauna: 7 CRS, 11 neon tetra 4 guppies currently under white spot quarantine
• 1 paramesotriton chinensis (Chinese warty newt)
• tank is currently in mid cycle.

[Mizu World]

Fast growing and low maintenance just doesn't go together. You will just have to choose between one of the two.

[fiaery]

ok, i shall not want a super plant then... low maintenance then. dwarf hair grass?

[Jervis]

Preferably, if there is a species that would spread from the wire mesh to the rest of the tank that would be lovely.

This is a good idea since you have 7 CRS inside your tank. Try not to mess up your substrate now.

[JadeIceGreen]

Riccia will be good.

[vinz]

A slow growing foreground plant would be Cryptocoryne parva. But you must plant densely from the start as they take forever to spread out.

E. tenellus is a nice short one for your size tank. Grows and spreads fast, but easy to maintain (see below).

As for the term "low maintenance", there's three ways to look at it:
1. Easy to trim or thin, but require work frequently. E.g. Echinodorus tenellus... they grow and spread fast but with shallow roots and runners are above substrate. You can easily pull up strings of them or simply cut the runners and remove individual plants from the carpet every 2 to 4 weeks, without making a big mess. (As oppose to S. subulata which has deep roots and runners under the substrate... grows fast, hardy but hard to remove.)

2. Infrequent maintenance needed: Usually slow growing plants that do not need to be trimmed frequently, but when it does, may require a lot of work. E.g. moss... often tied to rocks, wood, mesh, etc. Pretty much can be left alone for months or years... but when we want to maintain them, we often have to spend a day re-tying them, etc.

3. Both slow growing and easy to maintain. Cryptocoryne parva.

Of course, an ideal plant would be the 3 option, but few foreground plants fit as we generally like them to spread fast.

[vinz]

Riccia will be good.

Ummm... what I call beginners bane. So many of us start off wanting this plant because they look so beautiful in many photos.

Then we grow them and wise up when we have to clear floating clumps or leaves weekly, have them choke our filter inlets, get stuck in other plants, grow where we don't them, re-tie them when they dislodge from their anchor...

[bossteck]

Fiaery,

Have you considered mosses? They make pretty good foreground cover if you tie them to slates. They will soon overgrown and cover your entire foreground, most mosses do not require high light.

[limz_777]

i think a newt in a community tank is not advisable

[Amder]

why didnt u add a poll? u get instant results!

[fiaery]

why didnt u add a poll? u get instant results!

Alamak, I need advice not statistics.

Thanks Vinz; yeah I read how Riccia would break away and float... its not a low maintenance option although it really looks good enough to eat...

Echinodorus tenellus sounds like a really good candidate; the other one is US fissden on mesh, but I don't think fissiden's would grow fast, I don't have chiller, my shrimps would probably love me though.

Funny how no one thought dwarf hair grass is a good candidate...

[Plant_Geek]

Could you try Utricularia Graminifolia?

[Verminator]

Could you try Utricularia Graminifolia?

Concidering the many complications with this plant its not for the faint hearted. A few people on this forum have tried it recently with mixed results. It would certainly be an attractive plant to use, just questioning the care required to get positive results.

Cryptocornye parva is a painfully slow grower. I swear mine looks the same in my tank now as it did exactly 3 years ago. Possible 1 new leaf every couple of months i seem to get.

E. tenellus is a great candidate. If you can keep it healthy which isnt that difficult it'll reward you with a decent lawn.

[kevinicus]

i like the idea of UG because mine gores in a non co2 or fert tank and is fine, green and lush.

given that the tank doesnt get much light or ferts i would consider it as low maint.

[Plant_Geek]

Concidering the many complications with this plant its not for the faint hearted. A few people on this forum have tried it recently with mixed results.

Ok, i guess it could be different water etc in different countries maybe?

I grow UG in non co2 tanks with CRS and it grows slower but very healthy and green in ADA soil, no problem's. I consider it an easy plant.

[Shadow]

interesting, I failed this plant in high tech tank and both of you successfull in low tech tank. does it mean this plant don't like high light, CO2 and fert?

[skyluck2001]

interesting, I failed this plant in high tech tank and both of you successfull in low tech tank. does it mean this plant don't like high light, CO2 and fert?

But you saw Hideki's UG in Aquascaping World. He grows it high-tech, didn't he?

[vinz]

*** I've copied the posts about UG requirements to a new thread. Kindly continue that discussion over there. ***