# Fastest Growing Small Ground Cover?



## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Please share your experience, looking for true ground covers (creepers that hug the ground, small leaves). 

My experience (lowtech) is:

HM/HG (not sure there's a difference) > Hydrocotyle Japan > Marsilea Minuta > Microswords > DHG > HC

Am I missing anything? Never tried glosso.


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## Verivus (Jan 6, 2015)

Micranthemum, 'Monte Carlo'. I just planted mine so I don't really have much experience to share, but I hear it looks similar to HC but not high maintenance, hence why I got it.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Is HJ really considered a carpeting ground cover? I guess it does cover, but it's so big it's hard for me think of it in those terms.

There's also DHG Belem but it's not super fast spreading. It grows vertically quite slowly, though, so it's a lot lower maintenance than regular DHG as a result.

Are you looking for low tech, or high tech?


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

glosso has a reputation for being rampant. Are you doing low tech?


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

Glosso is by far the most aggressive. I don't really consider HM/HG to be a ground cover...

HC is also quite fast, after the initial acclimatization phrase, definitely faster than DHG, but slower than MC.


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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

kman said:


> Is HJ really considered a carpeting ground cover? I guess it does cover, but it's so big it's hard for me think of it in those terms.


I never considered HJ to be a ground cover either. But that's nice it's so big and hard for you. haha


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Tvadna said:


> I never considered HJ to be a ground cover either. But that's nice it's so big and hard for you. haha


Lol, *ah hem*.

H*G* (Hemianthus Glomeratus, and sometimes I think incorrectly called Hemianthus micranthemoides) creeps and covers readily in med-high light, and grows extremely fast for me (big nutrient sucker). But it tends to get very bushy and goes upwards if not constantly trimmed. So I guess it's not a true cover, since eventually it turns into a ball of tangled mess.

I'm going to give glosso a shot. The idea is it will go in ~10g low-tech shrimp breeding tanks. Don't want to gas CO2 but want something covering the substrate fast that doesn't obstruct my view of particular shrimp phenotypes.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

^^ Are you thinking about HG or HJ, which is what we were discussing? We were using HJ as shorthand for _Hydrocotyle tripartita sp. Japan_. (often, and in the OP, just referred to as _Hydrocotyle Japan_ or HJ)


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## Dead2fall (Jun 4, 2014)

Monte carlo is doing well for me.


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## Red Cloud (Nov 11, 2014)

My DHG covered my whole foreground in under two months with co2, but it grew slowly in one of my low tech tanks. The Pygmy Chain Sword grew in low and high tech, but it is a much slower process, and you have to clip the runners. Glosso is the fastest but not sure how it would do in low tech.

Obsession is a matter of opinion


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

How does Micranthemum tweedei/Micranthemum umbrosa 'Monte Carlo' compare to HC? Much easier?

It look like HG/HM to me.


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## Verivus (Jan 6, 2015)

From a couple days ago.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=816809


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks for the link, but I'm still super confused.

According to this Tropical Fish article (http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/plant-of-the-month/hemianthus-micranthemum-micranthemoides.htm) there's really just 3 plant species sold as "baby tears"

1. Hemianthus micranthemoides - aka baby tears, hemianthus glomeratus
2. Micranthemum umbrosum - aka baby tears, monte carlo, micranthemum tweedei
3. Hemianthus callitrichoides - aka dwarf baby tears, cuba

And as far as these 3 goes, it's HM > MU > HC in terms of easy growth

Regarding 3, I know I have HC since that's easy to tell. Regarding 1 and 2, I have no idea if I have HM or MU, since they look similar, also I have no idea which name is the correct name.

Further, I don't think there's a difference between "monte carlo" and tweedei/umbrosum, I mean look at this seller's pic. I wish there was a pic of emersed HM in this pic too, maybe I'll take one later since I already have 2/3.









Can someone correct me if I'm wrong, are there more than 3 different types of "baby tears" described above?


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