Background plant for 20 gallon

[Barb Bell]

Hello.

The aquascape in my 20 gallon freshwater aquarium is in transition. My health took a bad turn, and I wasn’t able to keep up with some plant maintenance. Anubius rot ran rampant and I lost a lot of plants. I think I need to replace some high maintenance plants with lower maintenance plants, anyway. I have mostly low maintenance plants: Crypts, Java ferns, Anubias, Bucephalandra, Frogbit. But I can’t keep up with all the runners that Dwarf Sagittaria puts out. I like that it forms a wall to hide the back of the aquarium, but it puts out runners too fast and is really too tall. I clip the leaves so they don’t shade the whole tank, but I think the clipped leaves look ugly. 

There’s 12 inches of water column height for a “background” plant to use in this aquarium. Any suggestions on what would make a nice background wall of plant but less work to maintain? Something I could just chop the top off of when it grows to the surface? 

I planted tissue culture star grass on the left side a couple weeks ago, and it isn’t thriving like I thought it would. The whole package was clearly roughly handled during shipping, and possibly even frozen. Everything arrived damaged or dead, and the tissue culture gel for the star grass looked like scrambled eggs. Part of the problem for the star grass, though, is my Pleco keeps uprooting it. I’ve scattered rocks around them hoping to deter her, and I’m trying different “Pleco caves” in hopes she’ll stop digging. She used to have a great hiding place “Bonsai tree” made of Anubias tied to a resin tree that she could burrow under, but I had to remove it, and have been trying to find a replacement she likes for the past month. But that’s not the focus of this post. My main question for this post is: what plant do you recommend that either gets about 12 inches tall, and is less work to maintain than Dwarf Sagitarria?

I would like to grow a nice plant wall to cover the back of the aquarium like the Dwarf Sagittaria does.

i have attached a picture of the aquarium as it is today. I would also like to add a pop of color with a big red or brown middle height plant in that open space on the left. 8-10 inches tall.  I welcome suggestions for that. I was thinking Scarlet Temple or red dwarf aquarium lily, but I think the lily would get too tall and be high maintenance like the dwarf Sag. 

I’m hoping the star grass will adapt and start growing. I’m envisioning it being the background plant for that empty space on the left side. But if it doesn’t make it, I’ll just use more of whatever I’m going to replace the Dwarf Sag with. 

tank deets:

-20 gallon standard

-Aquaclear 30 filter with disposable prefilter pad, bio sponge, 2 bags of ceramic bioballs, and Purigen

-I use paintball CO2 at a pretty low rate, a little under 1 bubble per second, so that the canister will last longer, and because I don’t think I have any plants in here that require more. My hope had been that CO2 might help the plants compete with algae, but no. That hasn’t happened.

-Fluval 3.0 Plant LED light

-Fluval Stratum for substrate

-I add two pumps of Thrive fertilizer Wednesday and Saturday

-I change 50% water once a week

-Fish: bristlenose pleco, 2 siamese algae eaters, 1 bumblebee goby, 4 pea puffers.

[anewbie]

You can grow italia val - it will look a bit like this (29 with no co2 injection); it would cover the entire tank if i let it but i've been pulling runners out.

-

You dont' want any of the larger sword plants like amazon but there are smaller ones. you could go with aponogeton boivinianus in theory it will hibernate eventually but in three years it hasn't and looks like (see black 29 again no co2):

 

 

 

though given enough time i suspect it will out grow a 20 (or even a 29). Unlike italia val you can't really trim it very easily as cutting a leave will destroy that leave where as with italia val (or wider jungle val) you can give it a hair cut anytime you like nad it will keep growing from the bottom.

 

[Jurrian Hering]

Could look into like you mentioned the dwarf lily. At first they can be a bit much with the shear amount of runners they send with pads on the surface but after not too long of you cutting them off the plant gets “trained” if you will and stops sending em. I have a couple Lilly’s in a few tanks and have done that with all of em. Love the plant!

 

hope this helps!

[Rube_Goldfish]

If you want minimal maintenance but still want height and "presence", for lack of a better word, I'd try a big Java fern, probably a narrow leaf or trident. They grow slow, which means they won't need much from you, but also means that you'll either need a bunch of them to start or buy a big one from someone with, well, a big one. They don't even really have to be on hardscape, per se; you can just weigh them down with a dab of glue on a pebble just heavy enough to keep them from floating away.

[JoeQ]

Crypt spiralis!

[Patrick_G]

A red tiger lotus might work. They can get tall, but they’re easy to trim and after a while the become “trained” to stay small. 
It’s the red foreground plant in my sig. 

[Barb Bell]

These are all great ideas, thank you. 

[Barb Bell]

On 1/19/2023 at 7:37 PM, JoeQ said:

Crypt spiralis!

I read that Crypt spiralis leaves can get up to 24 inches long, and I’ve only got 12 inches of water column. Have you had a different experience?

[JettsPapa]

On 1/20/2023 at 6:47 AM, Barb Bell said:

I read that Crypt spiralis leaves can get up to 24 inches long, and I’ve only got 12 inches of water column. Have you had a different experience?

You didn't ask me, but that's probably about right.  I have one in a 10 gallon tank.  The leaves reached the top and then across the width of the tank.

Crypt usteriana might be another option to look into.  It's a very attractive plant.  The leaves are green on top and bronze on bottom, with ruffled edges.  It will send out runners to make new plants (which the Crypt spiralis doesn't do, at least not for me).

[JoeQ]

On 1/20/2023 at 7:47 AM, Barb Bell said:

I read that Crypt spiralis leaves can get up to 24 inches long, and I’ve only got 12 inches of water column. Have you had a different experience?

I had mine for awhile, (atleast 6months) in my 36g and it barely grew. I finally put some in my 10g figuring even if it hit 24" the growth would be so incredibly slow maintenance shouldn't be an issue. IMO you will have trouble trying to find a background plant that only grows 12" which is an oxymoron. I'd focus more on tall plants but with an incredibly slow growth rate. 

[Barb Bell]

On 1/20/2023 at 9:33 AM, JoeQ said:

I had mine for awhile, (atleast 6months) in my 36g and it barely grew. I finally put some in my 10g figuring even if it hit 24" the growth would be so incredibly slow maintenance shouldn't be an issue. IMO you will have trouble trying to find a background plant that only grows 12" which is an oxymoron. I'd focus more on tall plants but with an incredibly slow growth rate. 

Ah, good to know about how slow the spiralis grows. Even if it took a year to grow to 16 inches, I would still need to cut those leaves short at some point. My other Crypts don’t tolerate leaf trimming. Trimming a leaf will make the leaf die. Is spiralis different in that regard?

[JoeQ]

On 1/20/2023 at 12:49 PM, Barb Bell said:

Ah, good to know about how slow the spiralis grows. Even if it took a year to grow to 16 inches, I would still need to cut those leaves short at some point. My other Crypts don’t tolerate leaf trimming. Trimming a leaf will make the leaf die. Is spiralis different in that regard?

I have trimmed leaves with algae on both Wendtii and spiralis with no ill affects. 

Edited January 20, 2023 by JoeQ

[Barb Bell]

On 1/20/2023 at 12:53 PM, JoeQ said:

I have trimmed leaves with algae on both Wendtii and spiralis with no ill affects. 

Good to know, thanks.

What do folks think about these as possible lower-maintenance replacements for a background plant in my tank:

Bacopa caroliniana

Bacopa monnieri

water sprite

pearl weed

IF I recall correctly, none of them send out runners and you can just chop their tops off when they get too tall. Please do correct me if I’m wrong on that.

I’m still in the “data collecting” stage of picking a replacement background plant. I’m not ignoring the suggestions made so far, I’m just continuing to gather more info until I feel I have enough to make an informed choice. 🙂 

[Barb Bell]

Okay, I feel silly having to ask this, but is there a way to respond to someone’s individual reply so it’s nested under their reply rather than the general replies I seem to be posting? I don’t do online forums much. 

[JettsPapa]

On 1/20/2023 at 12:05 PM, Barb Bell said:

Good to know, thanks.

What do folks think about these as possible lower-maintenance replacements for a background plant in my tank:

Bacopa caroliniana

Bacopa monnieri

water sprite

pearl weed

IF I recall correctly, none of them send out runners and you can just chop their tops off when they get too tall. Please do correct me if I’m wrong on that.

I’m still in the “data collecting” stage of picking a replacement background plant. I’m not ignoring the suggestions made so far, I’m just continuing to gather more info until I feel I have enough to make an informed choice. 🙂 

Those should all be fine.  Water sprite does better floating for me instead of planted in the substrate, but I know it does fine in substrate for some people.

Water wisteria is another one you might want to take a look at.

On 1/20/2023 at 12:11 PM, Barb Bell said:

Okay, I feel silly having to ask this, but is there a way to respond to someone’s individual reply so it’s nested under their reply rather than the general replies I seem to be posting? I don’t do online forums much. 

As far as I know replies are always listed in the order they're posted.  I've been on some forums where you had an option to have posts arranged with all replies to a post directly under it, but I don't think this one does.

When replying to someone I always try to hit the "Quote" link at the bottom left corner of their post so it's obvious what I'm replying to.  Not everyone does that, so it can get confusing.

[Jurrian Hering]

On 1/20/2023 at 10:05 AM, Barb Bell said:

 

Bacopa caroliniana

Bacopa monnieri

water sprite

pearl weed

All would be great options I’d say

[knee]

Stem plants won't send out runners but you will also have to trim them. If it's not too much for you to trim then I suggest hygrophila corymbosa. It's a nice background cover and is eary to trim.

[JoeQ]

On 1/20/2023 at 2:05 PM, JettsPapa said:

Those should all be fine.  Water sprite does better floating for me instead of planted in the substrate, but I know it does fine in substrate for some people.

Water wisteria is another one you might want to take a look at.

As far as I know replies are always listed in the order they're posted.  I've been on some forums where you had an option to have posts arranged with all replies to a post directly under it, but I don't think this one does.

When replying to someone I always try to hit the "Quote" link at the bottom left corner of their post so it's obvious what I'm replying to.  Not everyone does that, so it can get confusing.

Pro tip! @Barb Bell

I actually just found this today, if you highlight then pick Quote selection, you will be able to just reply to a segment of the post you want to reply to!

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by JoeQ

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/20/2023 at 1:05 PM, Barb Bell said:

Good to know, thanks.

What do folks think about these as possible lower-maintenance replacements for a background plant in my tank:

Bacopa caroliniana

Bacopa monnieri

water sprite

pearl weed

IF I recall correctly, none of them send out runners and you can just chop their tops off when they get too tall. Please do correct me if I’m wrong on that.

I’m still in the “data collecting” stage of picking a replacement background plant. I’m not ignoring the suggestions made so far, I’m just continuing to gather more info until I feel I have enough to make an informed choice. 🙂 

The only one I have first-hand experience with is Bacopa caroliniana and I love it. I've got it growing well in low tech ten gallon and low tech 55 gallon tanks. It does not send runners but will need periodic trimming depending on how fast it grows. The other three stems you listed should be the same.

[Barb Bell]

On 1/20/2023 at 2:05 PM, JettsPapa said:

Those should all be fine.  Water sprite does better floating for me instead of planted in the substrate, but I know it does fine in substrate for some people.

Water wisteria is another one you might want to take a look at.

As far as I know replies are always listed in the order they're posted.  I've been on some forums where you had an option to have posts arranged with all replies to a post directly under it, but I don't think this one does.

When replying to someone I always try to hit the "Quote" link at the bottom left corner of their post so it's obvious what I'm replying to.  Not everyone does that, so it can get confusing.

Thank you, I thought I must be missing something because I can’t nest replies. Apparently not! 

[Barb Bell]

On 1/20/2023 at 2:57 PM, JoeQ said:

Pro tip! @Barb Bell

I actually just found this today, if you highlight then pick Quote selection, you will be able to just reply to a segment of the post you want to reply to!

 

 

On 1/20/2023 at 2:57 PM, JoeQ said:

 

I actually just found this today, if you highlight then pick Quote selection, you will be able to just reply to a segment of the post you want to reply to!

Oh, hey, look at that! It works. Thanks!