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I have a new four foot tank and have some java fern already growing slowly in the bottom (as good as it can with my Liposarcus pardalis having a go at it!!), I want some plants that I dont need to plant in the sand asI have corys and they love sifting through the sand, can anyone suggest some plants for me which are hardy as i am not to green fingered!!! are there some that grow on top of the water??

Thank you

Duckweed are hardy enough, even if your fingers aren't green. Of course, the problem is getting rid of them once they start overrunning the tank.

Thank you

Salvinia is good, and easier than Duckweed to control....
Even better perhaps is Ceratopteris, commonly known as Indian Fern although the genus is pretty well cosmopolitan in tropical areas.

Another alternative would be Riccia, which grows well under artificial light.

Ian

Thank you thank you thank you everyone

JO

Water Sprite can be very nice as a floating plant.

Mark

What about Pistia stratoides?
the Floating Water Lettuce, I think it's called in English.
it almost always turns into a dwarf-form, once in a tropical tank (wich is an asset!), but it's pretty, has lots of nice dense rootwork to hide small fish; soaks up nitrates by the gallon (!!) and it's far easier to control than duckweed, but less fragile than Salvinia.

Ricca is great... and if it takes off you can always trade some of it to your lfs for store credit.

hi

coelacanth wrote

Even better perhaps is Ceratopteris, commonly known as Indian Fern

and corybreed wrote

Water Sprite can be very nice as a floating plant.

if iam not mistaken indian fern and watersprite are the same plant.
i had one piece that covered 70% of a 4foot tank surface
however take note that they lay down long roots, that
sometimes looks unsightly

Ceratopteris and Water Sprite one in the same.

Mark

as sidguppy says, i can't recommend water lettuce enough. i pull handfuls of the stuff out of the tank each week. this is where my nitrates end up!! my tank has a zero nitrate reading as a result!

the cover and more subdued lighting will also encourage your shy fish to be much more active.

and it looks nice. gives the tank a very natural feel.

try some frog-bit if you can find it. It is attractive and easy to keep under control.

I agree with the other folks on water lettuce. It is attractive and easy to grow. One warning though: it needs bright light to do well. This is great if you have it right near the hood lamp, but if it isn't getting sufficient direct light, it slowly shrinks, leaf by leaf.

Look here

http://www.dennerle.de/ENGLISCH

under plants
Dennerle plant code: sch

recently I aquired another great floater:
Limnobium spongae; a South American floater wich SLORPS nitrates and is MUCH easier easier to control than duckweed and less messy than Pistia (no "dust" or broken bits and pieces, less blue-greens).

Asset: it really likes soft, acidic water; as it originates in the Amazon Rainforest

but -as most floaters- it's also well at home in any other tank, save brackish ones.