What Plants?

[RyanV]

I am setting up a 30 gallon/ 110 liter, dwarf cichlid tank. I bought a used light fixture that came with two 10 watt bulbs on it so I had gotten java ferns for a low light setup. Today I was looking at the fixture and it can support up to two 25 watt compact florescent bulbs for a total of 50 watts. My question now is if I upgrade the lights will my java fern still be okay? Also what other plants would you recommend?

 

[INJAF]

Personally I'd stick with other low light easy to keep species such as

Elodea densa
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Echinodorus bleheri (Amazon sword)
Echinodorus amazonicus (Ruffled sword)
Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss)
Anubias barteri

The above list are pretty varied in shape, size and appearance and all are easy to keep.

 

[CezzaXV]

I'd stick with low-tech plants. Plants that need more light usually need ferts and CO2 as well. Java fern and various anubias varieties have always done well in my tank, and Amazon swords have done well too. Vallis is supposed to be a good one too and comes in different varieties, though I've had terrible luck with it in the past.