Favorite plants

Maryland Guppy said:

Out of about 65 varieties I like them all, quite a bit.

3 I have been intrigued with.

A friend gave me some cuttings of Staurogyne Bihar.
Some small clipping not yet showing submerged growth.
Amazing plant with serrated edges once transitioned.

Willow hygrophila now has 3/8" stalk with foot long leaves.
Time to trim this up into about a dozen .

pogostemon stellatus octopus.
It has great ability to branch off of nodes very quickly to multiply.

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Haha. I've never kept any of those but they look really cool.

Pearlweed
It's the best "Multipurpose" aquarium plant out there. and one of the hardiest.
Functions
-You can make a VERY defined carpet out of pearlweed, small leaves and turns out nice, naturally bumpy and when you push down on it with your hand. feels like a head hitting a pillow. Soft as all get out! You can make a carpet out of by simply planting them Horizontally then when they grow up more than 1" or desired height cut it 1/2" shorter so it has room to split out and grow. it will soon naturally grow Horizontally knowing that if it grows straight up, it will just get clipped.
-You can use this as a background plant.
Do this by planting them vertically and letting them grow to a desired height, clipping them half way. replanting the trimmings, and bam there you go a background plant. do this many times over time (with co2 preferably) and you will have a "no-see through" background plant.

Here is a link to Jacobs Aquarium showing off his Rotala and pearlweed carpet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0y5h5COwB8

Requirments
Pearlweed IMO only requires fish for nutrients. Doesn't need ferts or Co2 (although it helps tremendously), not many requirements as its so hardy. Low light you may not be able to pull off the carpet though.

You really can't go wrong with regular old Java Fern, it's so versatile, and really doesn't need high light levels or a fertilized substrate and Co2. And there is a number of different morphs of the plant, from needle leaves to large leaved varieties and many other different shapes.

I'm a big fan of my red tiger lotus.

One of my favorites in my tank is Star Grass - Heteranthera Zosterifolia. It grows extremely well for me, in both my high tech and low tech tanks. It's a nice bright green color with a star shaped leaf pattern. With high light, it can get really bushy and dense. Or in low light it can grow higher like a normal stem plant. It's very easy to trim too, just clip it and shape it however you want. It well send out new shoots, and get even bushier. You can replant/replace the clippings or toss them out.

BettaBettas said:

Pearlweed
It's the best "Multipurpose" plant out there. and one of the hardiest.
Functions
-You can make a VERY defined carpet out of pearlweed, small leaves and turns out nice, naturally bumpy and when you push down on it with your hand. feels like a head hitting a pillow. Soft as all get out! You can make a carpet out of by simply planting them Horizontally then when they grow up more than 1" or desired height cut it 1/2" shorter so it has room to split out and grow. it will soon naturally grow Horizontally knowing that if it grows straight up, it will just get clipped.
-You can use this as a background plant.
Do this by planting them vertically and letting them grow to a desired height, clipping them half way. replanting the trimmings, and bam there you go a background plant. do this many times over time (with co2 preferably) and you will have a "no-see through" background plant.

Here is a link to Jacobs showing off his Rotala and pearlweed carpet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0y5h5COwB8

Requirments
Pearlweed IMO only requires fish for nutrients. Doesn't need ferts or Co2 (although it helps tremendously), not many requirements as its so hardy. Low light you may not be able to pull off the carpet though.

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Cool, I've been looking for a nice carpeting plant for a while now, might have to consider pearl weed. I had DBT but my tank was to low tech at the time.

GrampsGrunge said:

You really can't go wrong with regular old Java Fern, it's so versatile, and really doesn't need high light levels or a fertilized substrate and Co2. And there is a number of different morphs of the plant, from needle leaves to large leaved varieties and many other different shapes.

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I'm about to get some, now that I'm rescaping/adding driftwood.

d33pVI said:

Downoi.

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Nice, how fast does it grow? Kind of reminds me of wisteria.

Moss. Very controllable rate of growth via amount of light. No additional nutrients required, just running water.
Mini Christmas moss is amazing looking, very dense. Hope it grows in my tank.

toadpher said:

I'm a big fan of my red tiger lotus.

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Yeah, I love Red Plants.

elusive77 said:

One of my favorites in my tank is Star Grass - Heteranthera Zosterifolia. It grows extremely well for me, in both my high tech and low tech tanks. It's a nice bright green color with a star shaped leaf pattern. With high light, it can get really bushy and dense. Or in low light it can grow higher like a normal stem plant. It's very easy to trim too, just clip it and shape it however you want. It well send out new shoots, and get even bushier. You can replant/replace the clippings or toss them out.

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Grasses are one of my favorite varieties, although I've never had much luck with them.