I have noticed alot of people asking about carpet foreground plants. I use a plant called "Echinodorus tenellus" pygmy chain swordplant. It is great, I bought a single plant and withen 2-3 months it had carpeted the foreground of my tank. It is only about 3-5 cm high and sreads very fast by way of of baby runner plants. I think this plant is ideal if your going for that carpeted lawn like look.

yeah i have that type already, its good to be able to pu t a name to it. it does grow fast though.

i just got another nz native a week ago that looks exactly like lawn grass ill have to find the name

Hi guys,

Thanks for sharing your info. By the way, where did you guys get those tenellus? I have been looking for them for quite some time now. Even my local fish shop couldn't get it for me.

Please let me know as I would really like to have some in my tank.

Many thanks

Ed

I got mine from a lfs down here called Organisms, they specialise in exotic and tropical plants.

i think the best carpet plant ive ever seen is the one i found yesterday at palmers, i forgot the name but i have the tag at home so ill post it when i can remember it

Another very good carpet plant (and a native of New Zealand) is Glossostigma elatinoides. It too can be found at many garden centers. It has a very small almost round leaf. It's leaf is much smaller when grown as a bog plant, but get to 5-7mm diameter in an aquarium. It grows quite fast.

I recently put a small pot I got at Organism into my tank and it's already spread from about 50mm diameter out to 600mm. It grows about 300mm a month in good conditions.

it says rotola indica on the tag, i think this name is incorrect from what i see in the searchs on google

thanks Doc for your reply. I called Organism yesterday and they are currently out of Tenellus. Hopefully they will be able to get some in early feb. Seems like Tenellus is rare in NZ.

Ed