# Plants for a 10 gallon



## Shady Milkman (May 30, 2006)

Hi everyone. This is my first post but I've been reading this forum quite a bit lately and it seems full of helpful and knowledgeable people. So maybe you guys can help me out? I have a 10 gallon diy CO2 and am about to upgrade my lighting from 15 watts to the coral life 1x28 watt plus my current 15 watt bulb. So with the new improved lighting Ill be ordering some G. Watsons ferts to make sure plant growth can take off without algae. I'd also like to grow something nicer than the usual lowlight plants like egeria densa. In particular I would like to get a nice carpet growing but height is a big restriction in a small 10 gallon. I'm not sure which carpeting plants I should try. In addition to that I would appreciate any suggestions on plants that may be suitable for a 10 gallon. There was a thread about it I found when doing a search but unfortunately most of the plants mentioned I couldn't find on Aquabid or on aquariumplants.com and I'm not sure where else to turn besides those sites. Any help with any of this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

First, let me say welcome to apc, Milkman!

If I read your post correctly, you're about to place 43W on that tank. First off, make sure you keep on top of your diy CO2. It sounds like you're getting your ferts in order. With that much lighting, I would recommend a maximum 10hr photoperiod, though I would suggest you start with 8-9 and see how it goes.

You should be able to grow most any of the carpeting plants with that set-up. It's basically your call depending on how much maintenance you want to do and how fast you want it to grow. Glosso, HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides), Elatine triandra, Marsilea quadrifolia, to name a few. Check out the plantfinder here on apc and check out some of the contest entries from prior years' AGA contests here under the small tank category for ideas.

If you check the 'for sale' forum here, you'll find a lot of members will offer for sale a variety of plants which might be difficult to obtain otherwise. Usually for a very reasonable price.

Welcome, and enjoy!


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

This is actually a question that many hobbyists tend to answer rather vaguely. Most people will simply tell you to get small-leaved plants, and plants that will stay small in the long run. Both of these are ideal for smaller tanks because they make the tank seem bigger. I'm in the same boat as you. I'd like a list of plants that would be ideal for a smaller aquarium.

Here's a small list of plants that seem to work well with smaller aquaria:


Hemianthus callitrichoides (is it sad that I can spell that from memory now?)
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Micranthemum umbrosum
Most of the Rotala sp.'s
Blyxa japonica (very versatile plant)
Hydrocoytle verticillata

I can't think of anymore. If someone could add on to this list, or have any reasons on why one shouldn't be here, please do so! A nice list to choose from would probably help greatly to the masses that own 10 gallons.


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## Shady Milkman (May 30, 2006)

erijnal said:


> Hemianthus callitrichoides (is it sad that I can spell that from memory now?)
> Hemianthus micranthemoides


It's funny you say that cause I was thinking the same thing the other day. I've been over different lists of aquatic plants so many times I practically have most of them memorized. It is sort of sad so I keep my knowledge on planted tanks a secret to most of my friends. Thanks for the help. I've decided to try out some glosso first for carpeting with some riccia tied to rocks. Hopefully my light will be strong enough to keep the carpet low so I wont have to continously pull it out and replant. Now the only problem is finding a good source for plants.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Can anyone add on to this list from experience? Pictures of plants give us a general idea of how they look, but often the size of the plants is harder to get across, even when width is reported. For example, Jay Luto's beautiful close-up photos of R. macranda "Green" made me think that they plants would be sized close to my Bacopa caroliniana lol.

Anyway, hopefully the list will become sweet enough to merit a sticky for those who have the standard 10 gallon tank and are new to the hobby.

By the way, Bert, was Marsilea the plant that you mentioned being one of your favorites?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> By the way, Bert, was Marsilea the plant that you mentioned being one of your favorites?


 It's one of the ones I mentioned, but of those, I would probably vote for the Elatine. I have kept HC in the past, but found it too difficult to keep rooted. Currently I have both Elatine and H. micranthemoides for foregrounds. The Elatine, for me, grows about half as fast as the Hemianthus. That's probably why I prefer it.  Less maintenance.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Just adding onto this for my own and maybe other's use. The suggested placement is based on a standard ten gallon tank.

Hemianthus callitrichoides (foreground)
Hemianthus micranthemoides (midground/background)
Micranthemum umbrosum (background)
Most of the Rotala sp.'s (background)
Blyxa japonica (midground)
Hydrocoytle verticillata (foreground/midground)
Anubias barteri var nana "petite" (foreground/midground)
Elatine trianda (foreground)
Lindernia sp. "India" (background)


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## Shady Milkman (May 30, 2006)

That is a good list Erijnal. Most of those plants on your list are on mine I made after some research on plants suitable for a 10 gallon. Just an update, I've had the 4.8 W/G and ferts for 3 days now. I got results immediately. Everything started pearling. It almost looks as if I have an air stone hidden somewhere in the tank I get so many bubbles. New growth has increased rapidly. My Micranthemum umbrosum which had all but died completely has sprouted new growth that hangs low rather than growing up wards so I think I may be using this as my foreground plant. Today I added some rotala indica which looks nice and some red foxtail which is more a green/brown than red. I'm hoping I'll get some better color out of it than they could get at my LFS.

Only problem so far is a little fuzz algae which I had before I added the extra light and ferts. So far no change in the algae, maybe has gotten a little worse than better. Tomorrow when I do my 50% water change, ill try and remove any leaves that have algae growth and clean it off the sides of the tank where its worse. Do ottos eat hair algae? If so they dont seem to be doing a good job.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

The only algae I've seen ottos eat is the brown diatomic one. They seem to accidentally eat some other algaes while scraping around for diatomic algae.


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