Amazon Biotype...

[Kula]

So I'm trying to come up with a South American biotype aquarium, which is 55 gallons. I'm working on plants right now, and I need some ideas - mostly on what type of plants are good for ground cover in the foreground area? Especially what type of South American plants grow to be one to two inches in height? Also, if you have any ideas for midground plants with medium to large leaves, please let me know!

Lighting is 2/2.36/4.36 wpg, depending on which lights I have turned on. I also use Flourite substrate, Flourish root tabs, and Flourish Excel.

Thanks for any help!

[Sharkman]

microswords stay rather small and would be good foreground plants.(pumpkin)

[PUNISHER VETTE]

oooo I love my microswords....if they're actually from the amazon.

[OscarFan]

microswords stay rather small and would be good foreground plants.(pumpkin)

Micro swords are a pain if you have any active bottom fish. The end up everywhere.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

WAIT. I HATE my microswords

It's the chain swords that i love....my bad.

[Kula]

Micro swords are a pain if you have any active bottom fish. The end up everywhere.
Yep, I have cories.

[Kula]

Echinodorus tenellus looks nice, but I have no clue how tall it gets. Some sites say 2"-3", while others say 3"-8", though all the sites say height depends on the amount of wpg. So if they get 4.36 wpg, would they stay rather short (like 2")?

[Dave66]

With your total lighting, tennelus would stay about two inches high, and the tops of the leaves would turn an attractive rusty red color.
E. bleheri could be your feature species in a 55, but you'd have to trim the runners to keep it from spreading. Trimming them will cause the plant to put out tons of leaves, easily a hundred or more. The dark green of bleheri will contrast well with the lighter green and rust of the tennelus.
There are many South American plants that would be appropriate for an Amazon faux biotope. Cabomba caroliniana, Alternanthera reineckii and Gymnocoronis spilanthoides are three that come to mind.

Dave

[Kula]

Right now I just have three Echinodorus osiris (two are ~16" tall, and the other is ~8" tall) in the tank, and they are growing like mad. How do I go about trimming them so they don't grow taller than the height of the tank? Just clip off the tallest stems? And if so, at what part of the stem do I cut? I'm also planning on getting another type of sword, probably Echinodorus Rubin.

I'm definitely planning on getting Alternanthera reineckii. I think the reddish color of the leaves adds as nice splash of contrasting color. I've never been much of a fan of Cabomba caroliniana... I guess because I've never seen it placed well in an aquarium, and it always looks kind of nasty in the store.

[Dave66]

Kula,
You clip the leaves as close to the base of the plant as you can get, and use the sharpest scissors you can find. Tearing the flesh at all will cause decay, so make sure it's a clean cut.
If you've a standard 55, isn't the osiris just close to the top of the water, not through it?
You'll need some low plants to disguise the leggy lower stems of the reineckii. I know you want to stay in the Amazon, plant-wise, but Anubis barteri var. nana would be the perfect plant for that use.
You'll of course need liquid fertilization of chelated iron if you want to keep that red color under the reineckii leaves.
Trick with the Cabomba is really intense light, which you've got, and 30 ppm Co2. If you've tetras, they'll spawn over it.

Dave

[Kula]

Awesome, thanks Dave! I think I'm going to cheat a bit and stray from South American plants because I really like Aponogeton boivinianus. I'll have to check out Anubias barteri var. nana!