Plants for Nest

[Olycius]

I currently have a 125(473L) tank, and my male gold gourami has matured and is beginning to try making a nest. I went ahead and picked up 3 gold females to prepare for breeding(they are not mature yet). My tank is well planted and I noticed he is cutting up up some of my nice plants at the bottom for a nest in the top corner. I don't mind this, but is there a floating plant that I can place in there that he will instinctively want to make the nest on instead of cutting up the plants at the bottom? I also have some duck weed in my tank but it only covers about 30% of the top.

 

[Byron]

Duckweed isn't practical for this, as it lacks substance. The best plant is Water Sprite, Ceratopteris cornuta, which happens to be native to this species' habitat. The dangling root masses are excellent fort gourami, to feed from (live microscopic food) and build bubblenests.

Similar though maybe not quite as good would be Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes).

Something else that can work is a stem plant left floating rather than planting the stems. Or a stem plant that is planted but allowed to grow trailing over the surface. Some stem plants are better than many others for either; Pennywort and Wisteria come to mind.

 

[Olycius]

Duckweed isn't practical for this, as it lacks substance. The best plant is Water Sprite, Ceratopteris cornuta, which happens to be native to this species' habitat. The dangling root masses are excellent fort gourami, to feed from (live microscopic food) and build bubblenests.

Similar though maybe not quite as good would be Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes).

Something else that can work is a stem plant left floating rather than planting the stems. Or a stem plant that is planted but allowed to grow trailing over the surface. Some stem plants are better than many others for either; Pennywort and Wisteria come to mind.

What is the difference between Ceratopteris Thalictroides and Ceratopteris cornuta? None of the shops near me will sell it and I will have to order some in.

 

[Byron]

What is the difference between Ceratopteris Thalictroides and Ceratopteris cornuta? None of the shops near me will sell it and I will have to order some in.

Ceratopteris cornuta is better as a floating plant. If you find it available somewhere and it is named C. cornuta, get it. The following is cut/pasted from a profile of this species I wrote for another forum some time back.

The leaves, or more correctly fronds since this is a true fern, can be somewhat variable in shape due to light, nutrients and water parameters. This makes identification of this species difficult, and it is often encountered in the literature under the names Ceratopteris pteridioides and C. thalictroides, although both these are now accepted distinct species. C. pteridioides has blunt-lobed fronds (leaves), while C. thalictroides has fronds that are deeply pinate with tips more slender than C. cornuta. There is some uncertainty over the taxonomy and distribution of Ceratopteris thalictroides and C. cornuta with some botanists considering these as one single species.

Formerly there were five species recognized [some authorities only recognized four] in the genus Ceratopteris that was placed in the monogeneric family Parkeriaceae, thought to be unique because of its aquatic adaptations. Subsequent genetic analysis has shown the Ceratopteris species to be clearly allied with those in the genus Acrostichum, and Ceratopteridaceae is the family name for the clade that is now known to include these two genera. Some authorities place these two genera within the Pteridaceae family.

At the time of writing (revised, 2018) there are five species recognized as accepted by The Plant List: Ceratopteris cornuta, C. pteridoides, C. richardii, C. succulenta, and C. thalictroides. Six other species names are synonymous with one of these, and there are three unresolved species names.​