Coloured Carpet Plants

[NC10]

Hi all,

I wondered if anyone had any suggestions for a red, purple, or even a brownish! carpet plant. Or something which could be persuaded into a carpet look with a bit of work?

The only thing I've come up with up to now is Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' , which isn't ideal, but up to now would have to do.

Any suggestions appreciated, cheers.

 

[alto]

Tropica's Hygrophila 'Araguaia' - I put in the 1,2-grow & it has proven extremely tolerant & consistently returns despite my repeat attempts at torture & destruction ... as I rip the tank apart to catch fish, to add in T's Plant Growth Substrate beneath the EC (none available when I set up the tank), rescape, run out of CO2, go away & run out of CO2, hmmm change scape again ...

It seems very happy just crawling along rather than getting much elevation so I suspect you could trim & train to get a decent carpet, it's not fast like the ground covers though - Tropica describes it as "medium" growth rate & that's what it seems to do

 

[stefanprisacariu]

I've seen in online shops, Echinodorus tenellus red...haven't tried it though...

 

[Mick.Dk]

Caloglossa cf. beccarii is a possibel candidate - it's an algae, though, and quite invasive if happy. Colour can vary from boring brown to vibrant "liquerich purple". Not very easy to obtain, I guess - and rather expensive, too !!

Alt. 'mini' can do a "tall carpet" of 5-ish cm. if trimmed consistantly.

Hyg. 'araguaia' (likely a Hyg. lancea variety) is very easy to "hold down", indeed.

Standard Ech. tenellus (now actually Helantium tenellus) will produce red-ish newest leaves in high light intensity, which is not the case for the variation Ech. tenellus 'green' (now Helantium tenellus var. parvulum). This will stay bright green.

 

[NC10]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll go and have a look now.

 

[naughtymoose]

My attempt at using a bit of Caloglossa cf. beccarii was a disaster. I'm sure that it has contributed to rampant hair growth (of the algae kind) in my tank. Also, it went from being a nice dark purple in the supplied bag to a naff slimey brown colour when put in the tank!

 

[zozo]

Don't know about the UK but main land Europe it is very hard to find and sold out in most shops.. I was lucky to find and get it via a forum where people also share some cutings.
Anyway take a look at the "Rotala Mexicana Goias"" . It's a very beautiful small Rotala and under the proper conditions it will turn redish - purple and even some light brown shading. So far i know is it the smallest stem plant (available) used for foreground, doesn't grow taller than 2 inches

I also purchased a recently new hybrid called the "Rotala marcandra mini type II" a small dark red en slow growing max. 4 to 6 inch according the shop (Germany) i bought it from.