Any suggestions for foreground?

[killua7]

Hi,

this is my 4 feet tank that i just setup. Any comments?

http://www2.pbase.com/killua7/280703

i think the foreground is too empty as i didnt add any. Any suggestions for what i should put in the foreground?

[sherchoo]

For foreground plants, there are a few choices of carpeting plants like Glossostigma, Hairgrass, Masilea, Elatine tiandra, Echinodorus tenellus or even Riccia. Do try searching on the web or plant books for these plants and see how they look like and maybe you can select one that appeal you the most.

Most would say that having Ricia looks the best, but those who have actually tried it would not like to try again due to too much hassle in mantenance. And those who have decided to remove Riccia from the tank also had a hard time removing it completely.

Do post if you need more info.

[lorba]

yes, riccia is something that is near impossible to remove. After 8mths from removal, it still grows out of nowhere, in mass.

[binbeto]

Really depends on how much light u have?

Glosso needs lots of light to "crawl" on the gravel.

Tenellus is my personal favorite. Needs moderate light too.

I dun really have much luck wif hairgrass.

Looking at our pic.. The light dun seem high.

Crypts might be good but take long time to stablise.

[killua7]

----------------
On 7/29/2003 12:02:02 AM

Really depends on how much light u have?

Glosso needs lots of light to "crawl" on the gravel.

Tenellus is my personal favorite. Needs moderate light too.

I dun really have much luck wif hairgrass.

Looking at our pic.. The light dun seem high.

Crypts might be good but take long time to stablise.
----------------

i read about many of the foreground plants. i'm just wondering for my setup, which looks nicer. yup, it looks like i do not really have enuff light, which is why i dun really think glosso is a good choice.

i was thinkin about using hairgrass but feel that it doesnt contrast against the japonica in the middle.

for riccia, besides the high maintenance, is there any other bad points to it? the tattoo man at teo tell me riccia grow very fast but i didnt get it coz i didnt setup my CO2 yet when i went there

[killua7]

----------------
On 7/28/2003 11:36:07 PM

yes, riccia is something that is near impossible to remove. After 8mths from removal, it still grows out of nowhere, in mass.
----------------

huh? i dun really understand, is that so bad a thing, having the odd riccia popping out?

anyway is nature aquarium a good place to get riccia? or any cheap shop in the east?

[Goondoo]

----------------
huh? i dun really understand, is that so bad a thing, having the odd riccia popping out?

anyway is nature aquarium a good place to get riccia? or any cheap shop in the east?
----------------

Yes, you will understand why Riccia is classified as AIDS by some of our forumers when you did try it. No doubt its a beauty with it pearls and so on, but well, most of the us whom got sick of it can't wait to remove it totally...

Riccia is a very fast growing plant. You might want to wait for some free trimmings from any of our fellow forumers whom are still in it.

[binbeto]

i read about many of the foreground plants. i'm just wondering for my setup, which looks nicer. yup, it looks like i do not really have enuff light, which is why i dun really think glosso is a good choice.


i was thinkin about using hairgrass but feel that it doesnt contrast against the japonica in the middle.


for riccia, besides the high maintenance, is there any other bad points to it? the tattoo man at teo tell me riccia grow very fast but i didnt get it coz i didnt setup my CO2 yet when i went there
----------------

Hairgrass need lots of light too.

You mentioned that your CO2 setup is not ready yet.

You might want to improve on the light and add a CO2 setup before thinking.

Browse tropical website for "short" plant that suit your condition. Unless you are sure you can tweak your parameter to that required by the plants.

Seen some short tenellus.. Maybe you wanna give it a go?

P.s. Anyone seen these shorter version around?

[peterkoh]

Does anyone have some tenellus to spare ? Like to give it a go before buying more. Thks.

Peter
97851887
[email protected]

[killua7]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I will still go for riccia, its the same with AIDS, you know all the risks but you still go ahead and do it because you cant help it.

Guess i'm really lazy and i should have read more before asking. I didn't know that so many plants could be used as foreground plants. It just depends on how you grow it.

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...ic/default.asp

the author of this article even suggests that hygrophila difformis can be used as foreground plants. I tried doing it but not very successful at it. luckily it grows fast enough that i have a lot of spare difformis to experiment

[mordrake]

ya i agree that riccia is beautiful but if neglected, can really make a mess of your tank.
had it for 3 months but finally removed all last week. tank was becoming like a riccia jungle. too much light so grew really fast. lazy me...
anyway, good luck.

[Irwan78]

Hello there...
Riccia growth can be controlled...
Try combine it wif plants that requires low light.
Like mosses....
Riccia need strong lighting but not long duration of it.
Shorten the lighting hours to 5 hours and then reduce the wattage for other plants like nanas and mosses.

The riccia will grow but only pearl for the 5 hours.
This will give the other plants a fighting chance to grow.
Mine is controlled well....but the floating ones did managed to grow.So does my mosses

Dun try with glosso.
The riccia will overwhelmed the glosso.

Dun forget Mini Riccia...
This is the good riccia...slow grower + pearls too.
Much nicer when compared to the normal riccia , it cost even more too