# Good Foregrounds?



## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Personally, I'm sick of seeing Glosso in everyone's tank...I mean isn't there anything else? What are good foreground plants?


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Baby tears makes a great foreground. C. Parva would too if you had the patience or $ t get a bunch of it. I'll soon be trying some Petite nana as a foreground. Marsalia (sp?) makes a great foreground. I can't sa that I am overly thrilled with hairgrass.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Some choices

- Eleocharis parvula
- Glossostigma elatinoides 
- Marsilea sp
- Echinodorus tennelus "regular"/"micro"
- small Cryptocoryne sp. 
- Hemianthus callitrichoides
- Hemianthus micranthemoides 
- Monosolenium tenerum 
- Vesicularia dubyana 
- Riccia fluitans 
- Lobelia cardinalis "dwarf"

And some others but it all depends how much time you want to donate towards foreground.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Some good foreground plants, not including Glosso:

Ranalisma rostrata -- stays shorter than E. tennellus v "micro," light green color. Grows quickly and forms dense carpets once it gets going.

Marsilea quadrifolia -- "lazy man's glosso" which is a dark, glossy green color. New leaves are a golden color. Can withstand very low light (less than 2 wpg). Tends to shoot out really tall leaves occassionally. Simply snip these off as they show up. For those who don't know, Marsilea is actually a fern. 

Lobelia cardinalis 'small form' -- very fast to propagate given intense lighting and lots ntrate+phosphate. Tends to concentrate more energy on producing many sideshoots rather than vertical growth. To propagate, simply snip off these sideshoots and plant. Very unique!

Other choices that Jay didn't list:
Anubias barteri v nana
Sagittaria subulata 'dwarf'
Eleocharis acicularis
Blyxa japonica
Hydrocotyle verticellata

Carlos


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## Magnus (Feb 4, 2004)

You have a problem with hairgrass, Gomer?  
I think Hygrophila difformis makes an interesting foreground. Also, Rotala rotundifolia can create a very exciting yellow/orange foreground. I had this in the past and it was the fastest growing foreground I've ever kept.


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## JLudwig (Feb 16, 2004)

Jay Luto said:


> - Echinodorus tennelus "regular"/"micro"


Nothing much to add but I would like to count this one twice...  it is an ideal aquarium plant in every way... nice red color under bright light, compact fast growth, easy to prune, maintainence is a breeze.... an underused plant. My next scape I think I'm going to try some of the Marsilea sp. for variety.

Jeff


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

JLudwig said:


> Jay Luto said:
> 
> 
> > - Echinodorus tennelus "regular"/"micro"
> ...


Ditto Jeff.

I have a small portion growing between my _Eleocharis parvula_ and it definitely stands out with its "reddish" color.

Echinodorus tennelus "micro" could be combined with any foreground listed above for great effect.


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## Wheeler (Feb 8, 2004)

Hehe-- I finally have a glosso tank that I like. Funny, I combined it with tenellus!!

Anyway-- My faves are:

Hemianthus micranthemoides
Hairgrass
E. tenellus (the real tenellus-- not that 8" tall stuff)
Java moss
Riccia

Riccia seems to have gone out of style a little. I think it may be because of a certain AGA judge's aversion to the maintenance and subsequent point docking :? 

Java moss is the ultimate plant, and the ultimate low-light foreground-- The most versatile plant that we have by any measure.


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Lilaeopsis sp.? Is it really that hard to form a huge lawn, or is it better taking the easy way out using Eleocharis? :?


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## JLudwig (Feb 16, 2004)

Raul-7 said:


> Why hasn't anyone mentioned Lilaeopsis sp.? Is it really that hard to form a huge lawn, or is it better taking the easy way out using Eleocharis? :?


Out of the 100 or so plants I've tried to grow, this one did absolutely nothing for me (Blyxa japonica was on this list also, altho I think I might have pulled it off)... maybe three or four new blades in two months. I haven't tried it in a few years, maybe its worth a revisit... this is unfortunate since its one of the few plants Florida Aquatic Nurseries regularly grows...

Jeff


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

How about Elatine triandra. Elatine is a neat plant because of some of the things mentioned in other threads. It gets little plantlet balls at the leaf nodes which fall off in the current and sprout up in other places of your tank. It is a good replacement for glosso since it is slower growing and easier to manage.


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## aquaverde (Feb 9, 2004)

JLudwig said:


> Out of the 100 or so plants I've tried to grow, this one did absolutely nothing for me


Liliaeopsis is kind of weird. It did nothing for me until I left some underneath a bunch of rotala for a couple of months. It did great in the shadows, sent out runners, etc. but just languished when I put it in good light, or algaed up.


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

Carlos

Do you have a photo of Sag subulata 'dwarf'? I think I may have that plant. The plant I have tends to stay shorter in height and it grows closer to one another than the regular sag subulata.


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