Front to back layout questions *aquascaping*

[New 2 fish]

Yesterday I took a lot of American Vals out of my tank bc it keeps becoming a jungle in there. I also got rid of a bunch of weird looking rotala macrandas.
My question is: I have white clouds and harlequin rasboras in my tank. I know they want room to swim, and before they were all jammed up against each other. How do people space their plants with regard to open swimming areas? Do you just do a row of taller plants in the back and leave the middle and front areas mostly open with shorter plants?
I understand the general placement when looking from the front of a tank, with one side higher, or both sides high and open in the midle, but how do people scape the back and leave open swimming areas?
Thanks!

[Urkevitz]

A good way to add open space is to extend foreground or midground plants to the back of the tank. You can create space by adding wood or rocks, or by having just a beach area in your tank.

[Blinky]

Originally Posted by Urkevitz

A good way to add open space is to extend foreground or midground plants to the back of the tank. You can create space by adding wood or rocks, or by having just a beach area in your tank.

Agreed - yesterday I re-scaped my 65g and did all of these things. There's a large chunk of bogwood near the centre of the tank, some bare areas at the very front of the tank and I've got fast growing stems on either side at the back, with slower-growing stems (Bacopa caroliniana) between (giving a general U shape to the back). I'm not sure I'm completely happy with the layout, but for now it's giving the fish more space than my former 'jungle' look

[New 2 fish]

Thanks- I did extend the pygmy chain swords to the middle, and it definitely has a more open feel to it. The fish seemed happy to be able to check out the back of the aquarium for a change.
However, my filter intake and heater are more visible now. I suppose once my stems plants fill back in, they won't be so obvious. It seems so empty now.
I had my tank so full at one point that the poor rasboras were doing circles around a mass of floating riccia!

[scolley]

New2fish - this is your 30g right? How many inches front to back? Because I know that on my 20g, which is only 12" in that dimension, it has been a real challenge to find a suitable background. Anything big enough to fill in the back, is just too wide, and as you said, tends to take over the tank.

I've kind of gotten around that by letting a java fern take over a large piece of driftwood, and pushing that into a back corner, covering my intake pipe. It is visibly impenetrable (kind of the point of background plants), but the java ferns don't get so big they are taking over the tank.

And thanks for the "Aquascaping" post!

[Wasserpest]

I would like to "second" java fern... it's been a great background plant for me, long-lasting, dense, slow growing... perfect. I like the "Windelov" variety which has it's tips split for a finer texture.

[New 2 fish]

Yes, this is my 30g and it's 12" front to back. I like the look of plants covering all of the gravel, but I haven't had a lot of success with anything really low growing yet. However, the chain swords do have a nice effect and they grow like crazy. They look like a nice lawn, and somehow taking out those plants gives more of an impression of depth.
I've gotten to my collectorits stage of aquascaping, so I've had to really reign myself in for now.

Seems like all the layout articles I've read talk about arrangement across the front, but not from back to front & vv.