Can Someone Recommend A Plant, Please?

[FishBlast]

My dad said he will buy a new plant for the tank, but I do not know what would work. I need a plant that likes sand substrate and doesn't mind a rock keeping it down.
Also, the plant must be able to survive with a 20W 6500K fluorescent light left on for around 10-12 hours, nitrate and whatever is found in the tank, lots of iron available, no CO2 injection, 9 dgH hardness.

I've done some research and the two that I was considering at first seem to have some undesired cons:
Cabomba - is said to be fragile, needs strong light, fish can eat it (and it would end up like the Elodea incident where swordtails ate my whole plant's leaves). It also seems to like gravel more than sand.
Hornwort - is said to eat all the nitrate and ammonia and then just die off unless given food. It hates being planted and its base will rot (similar to my current water sprite plant that seems to dislike being planted).

Can someone tell me if there are any low-light, low-nutrient demanding plants out there that can be planted on the substrate, please? My water sprite just decided to move to the surface so I need the bottom of the tank covered by something.

 

[CichlidLover1995]

An Amazon sword would look BEAUTIFUL! THey are super undemanding, i have 2 growing, one in a 5 gallon and one in a 10 gallon, they are amazing!

 

[kylealastairlove]

i would also suggest amazon swords great space filling plants also you should check out some crypts, most are easy and very undemanding, couple of my favorites are crypt wendtii and crypt becktii check them out

 

[FishBlast]

Yeah but they must like sand substrate, or at least not mind if rocks sit on their roots. Because my water sprite sure minds... it escaped from its basket and now it runs away from my rocks. I'll look up the swords, thank you for the replies.

 

[Cazgar]

+1 on the swords & crypts, both are undemanding & easy to grow.
I haven in most of my tanks & they're thriving.
As for Cabomba, I've found it does best at lower temperatures. But that's just in my experience of it

 

[Gilli]

Ive always found its all very well naming plants but when you go to the shops they dont have them!! As a rule of thumb choose dark leaved plants as they fair much better with low lighting and no CO2.

 

[FishBlast]

The temperature varies according to seasons in my tank, but it is never below 18C during the winter (I had a heater but gave up on it because it wasn't even on during winter, my house is usually heated at 20C and now it's 28C and water's probably around that too due to summer coming, the fish I have are used to low temps and the heater was taking up space in the background for no reason).


I hope they sell swords / crypts for a low price though, else my dad won't buy them and I might need to settle for one of the two initial ones mentioned (cabomba or hornwort)
Also, I've heard that the purple / red plants are not recommended as they require more nutrients (although iron should not be a problem, there is plenty of that in my tap, around 50-55 mg/L according to water report).

My current plant has dark leaves, but it doesn't seem to have liked the low lighting. It seems to have resumed growth again once I put the new light on, but one apple snail ate a sprout that barely extended .

Some articles about amazon swords say they don't do too well without fertilizers though and start to die / go yellow. Not sure if they'd survive in my tank. I might end up with a flattened plant if it doesn't get used to it.

 

[FishBlast]

I'd try Java Ferns, but not sure how it would do if I'd support it with rocks instead of tying it to the rock, it would probably just lose the whole root...
And I didn't see any java moss on sale. Just moss balls but those will be used some other day to form some hills or something, can't afford them yet.

 

[OldMan47]

Low light and low fertilizer reads Anubias nana or java fern to me unless you like things like java moss which is very care free. This is one of my Anubias in bloom in a low light setting.

 

[FishBlast]

Low light and low fertilizer reads Anubias nana or java fern to me unless you like things like java moss which is very care free. This is one of my Anubias in bloom in a low light setting.

O.O That's an awesome looking plant!
I wonder if the shop near my home has these, because I cannot go to the pet shop that's further today.
Java fern needs to be tied to something though and it might get damaged by the fish until it grabs a rock or something.
I'll look up the anubias to see about its care. Thank you.

edit: What I've gathered about it: Slow grower, multiplies through rhizome, grows 1 leaf a week or a month, is ignored by most fish. But it does mention that fertiliser is needed, not just nitrate / ammonia. Also, no idea if my apple snails would find it tasty, the little critters just ate another sprout from my water sprite, and that thing barely opened up.
It is also mentioned as foreground plant, while in my setting I need a background plant that will stay in the center of a long tank, preferably with a rock for support but also that likes to have its root buried in sand substrate.

 

[FishBlast]

I think I'll give Java Fern a try. There are some mentions of sticking just part of it under a rock and leaving the rest of the roots free to grab hold of the rock, so that might work if I leave the rhizome free. The hoplo might pose a threat to it though, but I'll try to put it where he doesn't mind. He's very picky when it comes to decor, even going as far as moving the rocks to certain places he wants. -.-

 

[FishBlast]

So I got this... Is it Java Fern? The guy at the shop had no idea what it is as a common name but I think the scientific name Microsorum was written (barely seen due to the text being faded off the tank wall). Could only see the price. LOL.

Not quite 100% healthy, hope it gets better though. Most of them were eaten by snails.

Looks like my hoplo is scared of the plant. He's staring at it like he's seen a ghost. He did this with the fry cage too when I added it. Won't be long before he drags it around though...

 

[stu40]

It is.It'll be aright, just slow growing

 

[FishBlast]

It is.It'll be aright, just slow growing

That won't be a problem, I just hope the rhizome will survive. I've bunched the 3 rocks to kind of "hug" the plants together but not sit on the rhizomes. There are 3 separate ferns (and I thought I only bought one).

I see some pretty fast growth on my old plant too, seems the new light is working.

 

[FishBlast]

My beloved "mollusk" Kadenza, having fun with the plant. Guess he got bored of jumping off the walls and landing on random rocks or on the sand. He's not finding it tasty so he just likes to hang on it.