foreground carpet

**madnugget** · 4th Jun 2009, 23:36

Hi guys,

just rescaped my tank recently and intended to make a nice carpet. its a community tank with many different type of fishes from tetras to loaches. Went into riccia tied on meshes. However whenever the riccia grows out of the mesh, i guess the fishes caused the riccia's to dislodge. I have used up all my riccia on mesh and now im ended up with a large bunch. I think HC is definitely out of the issue as it could be easily disturbed by the fishes.

is there any other foreground plants that i can use or any good method to prevent them from being dislodge?

thanks

**oceanviper** · 5th Jun 2009, 19:26

Hi bro.....
If you have loaches....this plants will not survive because they tends to dig around....
You may consider having different bioload....

**Stoner** · 6th Jun 2009, 16:35

Loaches do dig a around a bit...

If you like reccia, why not hunt for the mini or dwarf type.

The mini/dwarf type grows much slower than the normal type.

**reagan022** · 10th Jun 2009, 23:57

you can try marsilea hirsuta. it suits our local temp quite well.

had them for about 3 wks already. grow fast and well.

my tank temp 27-30, water ph 6.5-7. using gex soil and seachem fert(forgot how to spell the brand of the fert)

only learn about this plant in this forum so went to try it. i'm a happy man.

had to remove both my pleco as they kept digging it up. introduced a few otto instead.

**perche** · 12th Jun 2009, 12:04

hi can i ask where you bought your marsilea from?

**Ram** · 12th Jun 2009, 22:47

Hi, would like to try out marsilea hirsuta too, care to share which LFS shop are selling?

**yongquan86** · 13th Jun 2009, 10:10

hi all.. sorry to intercept..

i'm having loaches in my tank as well.. facing the same problem.. so do you think it's advisable to keep them if i want foreground plants?

**reagan022** · 13th Jun 2009, 22:28

Originally Posted by perche

hi can i ask where you bought your marsilea from?

got it from teo's farm at lim chu kang. i think i bought most of what was left.

if you go back there now don't know if he still have them or not. it should be enough for you to spread over a 2ft tank( spread = plant them apart).

if you are patient enough to clean the plants and separate them from hair grass and some other plants, its a trip worth going. took me 2hrs to complete the whole task plus planting them into my tank.

Do rem if their runners are too long its easier to cut them and plant them individually.

it was a fun experience as i start planting only a few months back.

**Wahlin** · 23rd Jun 2009, 20:24

Originally Posted by reagan022

you can try marsilea hirsuta. it suits our local temp quite well.

had them for about 3 wks already. grow fast and well.

my tank temp 27-30, water ph 6.5-7. using gex soil and seachem fert(forgot how to spell the brand of the fert)

only learn about this plant in this forum so went to try it. i'm a happy man.

had to remove both my pleco as they kept digging it up. introduced a few otto instead.

Hi, care to show your tank picture. I am also planning for difference foreground for my 3ft tank.

**Aquaculture** · 24th Jun 2009, 10:55

Have you thought of trying hairgrass?

**oceanviper** · 25th Jun 2009, 00:10

Hi bro.....
If to plant hairgrass, what would be the main drive factor for this plant to grow?

Any advice?

**shrimppaste** · 26th Jun 2009, 02:22

For hairgrass, I think mainly high light and low temperature. Why not try Tenellus? I think tenellus has to be one of the easiest foreground grass and if enough light, it will turn reddish. Very nice. However it suits a more rugged scape.

**Desewer** · 26th Jun 2009, 09:34

For HG, growth will be slower if your temp is in the high range i.e. 28-30 deg C. My HG started showing signs of growth one month after planting. That is super slow... On the other hand, my crypts are shooting new leaves every other day in the same tank!