# Background plant?



## Proteus01 (Mar 12, 2017)

Jungle val, anachris, cabomba, hornwort, bacopa, ludwiga - lots of options. Many aquarium plant seller sites can me sorted by fore, mid, background.


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## RyRob (May 30, 2015)

What’s you’re tank size? What shape of plant are you looking for? Tall and slender? Grass like? Bushy? 

Water Wisteria (hygrophila difformis) has always worked well for non-co2 background plant for me. It grows relatively quickly, gets tall, kind of bushy, and is extremely easy to trim and propagate. It can have a tendency to take over of you let it. It’s a very versatile plant that can tolerate several different tank conditions from low to high light and co2 or non-co2. In should do very well in a dirted substrate. 

You do have quite a bit of choices here though. Having more information on what you want to look at (plant shape and size) along with other tank specs would help a lot. Also, what’s you’re lighting specs?


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## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

RyRob said:


> What’s you’re tank size? What shape of plant are you looking for? Tall and slender? Grass like? Bushy?
> 
> Water Wisteria (hygrophila difformis) has always worked well for non-co2 background plant for me. It grows relatively quickly, gets tall, kind of bushy, and is extremely easy to trim and propagate. It can have a tendency to take over of you let it. It’s a very versatile plant that can tolerate several different tank conditions from low to high light and co2 or non-co2. In should do very well in a dirted substrate.
> 
> You do have quite a bit of choices here though. Having more information on what you want to look at (plant shape and size) along with other tank specs would help a lot. Also, what’s you’re lighting specs?


Standard 55G, with Finnex Planted, wisteria is probably one of the options though I have had it in the past, I'm not sure how jungle vals work, would it take off completely? I'm wanting the background be tall and slender like, but cannot make up my mind! Bacopa was one of the options but not sure which bacopa works best that gets tall, etc?


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## litzel (Oct 25, 2017)

vallisneria americana and vallisneria gigantea are also tall and slender (and pretty beautiful in my opinion)


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## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

Thanks for the suggestions, looking forward to more.


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## FuryMonkey (Nov 5, 2017)

+1 for Vals.

I have Tiger Vals which have a bit more colour texture than the regular jungle variety.

They are so easy to grow, don't make massive root systems (they're easy to pull out), and you can cut the leaves at the surface if you need to.

Only downside is that they can take over if you don't pull out the runners every few weeks - but still less maintenance than trimming and replanting stem plants.


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

Vals will fill in! Here's the back of a tank that I had with Tiger Vals.


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## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

RWaters said:


> Vals will fill in! Here's the back of a tank that I had with Tiger Vals.


Can I see the entire tank?


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

Raith said:


> Can I see the entire tank?


I don't have a picture of the whole tank. I took pics for someone who was buying about 40 of these vals from me. Unfortunately , after I pulled out the plants the tank dynamics seemed to change and the remaining vals didn't grow as well. That particular tank was since re-scaped. Here's a side view pic I took at the time of the sale.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Consider taking a trip to the Hudson River shoreline (close to where you live I think?) in Spring. Rooted segments of Valisneria Americana wash up on sandy beaches along the Hudson all the time, particularly after a big storm. Just make sure you perform a robust quarantine!


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## jellopuddinpop (Dec 12, 2016)

Crypt Balansae works well too, and will take off like a rocket in a dirted tank.


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## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

jellopuddinpop said:


> Crypt Balansae works well too, and will take off like a rocket in a dirted tank.


Are they really crypts? They look so nice, they're not like the standard crypts right? They won't have transition melts?


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## jellopuddinpop (Dec 12, 2016)

They're definitely Crypts. You'll probably have transition melt, but they should bounce right back.

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## splattered (Jun 7, 2017)

I have balansae in eco-complete with root tabs and no co2- doing great. Bacopa seems to need co2 to do well. Mine really took off with high ferts/co2/light in dirt. Jungle val is probably the way to go. I'm doing the same thing with it now. Trying to fill up the background. I hope it does "take over". I've seen it thick like that before in a no-tech setup so we'll see how it goes in my big planted high tech

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