# Question on Which is Smallest Grass Foregroud Plant



## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Out of all the grass like foreground plants, which of them is the smallest. I have dwarf sags, which are very nice but not as small as I'd like, I also just purchased Echinodorus tennelus (narrow leaf chain swords), but they don't look as small as they do in photos I've seen. In fact, some of them that I recieved are very tall, like background plants but I assume they were grown emersed.

There is also dwarf hairgrass and also the micro sword (Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae), so which out of all these plants is the smalles in the aqaurium? Anybody?

Many thanks!
Linda


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

The shortest form of dwarf hairgrass - eleocharis parvula is the smallest grass foreground plant. They are easy to grow and spread provided with 2+ wpg, co2 and dosing. Just make sure you dont have 1) any other forground plants, because they WILL take over hairgrass 2)any fish like the sae who likes to pull up the plants. 

With a standard rasboras/tetra planted tank, those are excellent carpet plants and require almost zero maintainence in term of trimming/replanting etc.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

I agree the parvula is the shortest of all the grassy style foregrounds. Acicularis being the next shortest. FYI I have some parvula that I am going to be selling soon. Were you just asking which is the shortest or were you looking to get some? 

I personally have my hairgrass with Sae's and they dont seem to bother it at all. Of course there is plenty of food for them to eat so maybe thats why. Also, I have found that if growing conditions are good my hairgrass has actually started to take over other plants. This only happened when I put alot of light over it. At 2wpg it should be just fine. One other note is with less lighting it will tend to grow a bit taller, but not alot.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I think Lilaeopsis is smaller, shorter, than hairgrass. Lilaeopsis is not talked about much anymore, but when healthy makes a very attractive "lawn". It is more challenging to grow because it grows and spreads slowly and tends to attract algae, but it grows in the thickest of any grass like plant and never gets more than 2 inches tall


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

I have to put my vote in for lileaopsis as well. I have some in a ten gallon that stays 2-3" tall and only rarely need thinning.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

I'm almost certain that ranalisma is shorter than the previously mentioned plants.

And I'm even more certain that Utricularia grammnifolia is shorter still. Out of all the plants that are known to work as grassy foreground plants, I think utricularia is the smallest.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Utricularia grammnifolia is the shortest, the ranalisma is aroun 2-3.5in while the Utricularia at most is 1.5inches.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

greenmiddlefinger said:


> I'm almost certain that ranalisma is shorter than the previously mentioned plants.
> 
> And I'm even more certain that Utricularia grammnifolia is shorter still. Out of all the plants that are known to work as grassy foreground plants, I think utricularia is the smallest.


I dont think I have seen either of these species. Care to attach a link?


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

ranalisma is a smaller and green version of e. tenellus micro, and Utricularia grammnifolia is featured on tropica and there is a thread in the new plants section of this forum with pictures on it which I don;t have the link to as of now.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Just for info, Utricularia graminifolia is a carnivore plant (a type of bladderwort).

More info can be found in an article on Tropica's home page:

Tropica


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Robert Hudson said:


> but it grows in the thickest of any grass like plant and never gets more than 2 inches tall


I believe Utricularia grammnifolia is also the thickest growing plant as well-- thicker than glosso or HC. Hell, water has a tough time moving through that plant.

However, U. grammnifolia is rather hard to find. In the context of more readily available plants, I'd have to say lileopsis is the thickest and shortest.


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

chiahead said:


> I agree the parvula is the shortest of all the grassy style foregrounds. Acicularis being the next shortest. FYI I have some parvula that I am going to be selling soon. Were you just asking which is the shortest or were you looking to get some?


Both, I am trying to find out the smallest of the grass foreground plants so that I can purchase the right one, so if you do put some up for sale soon, I would be very interested.

Thank you all for your responses, this was very helpful


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Neither Utricularia or ranalisma are grass like plants, which is what she was asking, and neither are available from any commercial source in the USA.

Utricularia, (bladderwort) is a carnivourus plant that eats fish fry, daphnia and so forth, although I know absolutely nothing about this particular variety. I had never even heard of it until recently when someone asked me for it and I began reading here that various people were growing it. Ranalisma is a cool looking plant, but extremely slow growing and I did not have great success with it.

The nice thing about lilaeopsis is you can buy it in sod peices, so you can lay it down in a pre grown lawn, just like going to the garden store and buying rolls of grass turf. I have it growing in large rubermaid tubs. Its real easy to grow emersed.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type=aquaristic&id=731


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## frozenoak (Jul 30, 2005)

This is the page that brought my attention to U. gaminifolia http://www.pbase.com/plantella/hc60


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Robert-- If you've never seen grammnifolia, I can understand why you wouldn't think it's a grassy-looking plant. However, this ain't no gibas-- many terrestrial and amphibious bladderworts DO take on a grass-like appearence.










Pretty nice eh? Like the previous links to Oliver Knott's tank, I'm pretty sure you can see he was going for a grass-like look, and that grammnifolia is much thicker than lileopsis. Personally, I'd rather plant my foregrounds separately initially, not in sods. They spread out more quickly when separated.

BTW-- The question wasn't "what's a short grass-like plant that's readily available in America from American suppliers." The question was, "What is the smallest grass foreground plant," and I do know that utricularia is not a true grass. However, I doubt forumers care about taxonomy as much as appearence.

I was just posting the best advice I could give based on the knowledge I had-- it's important for an aquascaper or plant destributor to be aware of the newest developments/discoveries in plant availability after all so I try fairly hard to stay on top of it.. While it's rare in America, there ARE hobbyists who have U. grammnifolia, so it's not an impossible plant to get, so it's good for people to have a complete answer to their questions.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

Interesting plant, thanks for the info on the new species.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

> Robert-- If you've never seen grammnifolia, I can understand why you wouldn't think it's a grassy-looking plant. However, this ain't no gibas-- many terrestrial and amphibious bladderworts DO take on a grass-like appearence.


Wow! That is cool looking! Looks more like moss to me than grass. So will the plants eat fish fry? I have never seen this plant offered by anyone I deal with before.



> I was just posting the best advice I could give based on the knowledge I had-- it's important for an aquascaper or plant destributor to be aware of the newest developments/discoveries in plant availability after all so I try fairly hard to stay on top of it.. While it's rare in America, there ARE hobbyists who have U. grammnifolia, so it's not an impossible plant to get, so it's good for people to have a complete answer to their questions.


I was not questioning your post at all, and if I sounded the least bit condencending I apologize. I was just trying to make it clear it is not a plant that is commonly available for sale. I think the only way you can get the plant is from other hobbyists. To me, grass like means blades of grass. I don't even think hairgrass looks like grass, certainly not HC or micranthemoides. There are all kinds of ground covers, but a ground cover is not the same as grass. This plant is a cool looking plant and I am glad you introduced it here.


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## Ibn (Oct 20, 2004)

The Utricularia looks pretty much like a smaller version of the Lilaeopsis and does make a very nice and short foreground plant. I picked some up awhile back from Aqua Forest from their display tank and grew some out for distribution to others in the local club.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I thought thats where George got it in the first place was from one of your fellow club members! It still looks more like moss to me  

So Linda, with all the altermatives being discussed here, what sounds the best to you? Hairgrass? Are you looking for a specific type of look?

BTW, I have had parvula and acicularis grow to over 10" tall. In general parvula is shorter than acicularis, but it varies. In Amanos books you can see him using hairgrass in both the foreground and background.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

No prob Robert, I knew what you meant-- I also didn't mean to sound like that as I have gotten great service from AB in the past.

IMO, U. graminifolia looks . . . too unnatural for my taste. I mean it's thick, it's beautiful, but to me it falls into the same class of plants as toninas/eriocaulons/insane red stems in being "too over the top." My favorite is e. tenellus because it's not too skinny, but also fairly conservative-looking.

IMO, tenellus doesn't have the "Too amazing to be true" feeling that lileopsis and graminifolia give me . . .


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## Ibn (Oct 20, 2004)

Not that I'm aware of; if anyone it might have been from Sha. 

I got mine from George and then grew it out and distributed about a couple sandwich bags worth over the course of two months.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Not the smallest, but micro tenellus can grow quite small under the right conditions.

For tanks 30" wide and larger, I think it is probably the best choice.
The tank below is 36" wide.


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## imatrout (May 12, 2005)

I am getting into Crypt. Parva lately. In high light it grows virtually horizonatl and make a wonderful foreground. It grows very slow and is not as prone to hari algae infestations as some of the grasses.


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