the ultimate (?) plant thread

[UncleChester]

I need to find a sturdy one that stays lower to the ground. A 24 inch tall peperomia is going to need trimming a lot in all but the largest tanks. Peperomia sandersii and caperata seem like they would provide a great amount of cover with stronger leaves than the scandens. The scandens grows really well but the new leaves are so small and delicate the frogs break most of them off.

Do the sandersii and caperata leaves form large before opening like the obtusifolia?

The leaves of my P. caperata are pretty small, but it would be good for a ground cover to hide under. P. sandersii leaves are larger, I haven't put one in a tank with a frog yet to see how they hold up. They seem more delicately attached for their heavy size. I haven't actually paid close attention to how the leaves form on these.

There are some that look like P. obtusifolia but collapse and sprawl around earlier, I think I've seen these labeled as P. magnifolia, but don't know how accurate that is.

There's also P. clusiifolia which has thick elongated leaves, usually coloured like your variegated one but with red edges. I've seen these described as growing more upright and taller than P. obtusifolia, but mine seems to be growing so slow that getting too tall would be less of a concern.

When your P. obtusifolia get too tall, you can chop it off just above where a leaf branches out and stick this top part straight in the ground. You'd have a short little forest in no time this way, but would take monthly or bi-monthly pruning depending on how aggressively you prune and how tall your tank is.

A Maranta, or prayer plant, might be another nice option for a large leaved low growing plant for you. The leaves are paper thin, but it has a low sprawling growth pattern. The 'fishbone' variety, M. leuconeura massangeana, is very colourful and widely available. It will grow vertically if it has a branch or something to drape on, and the leaves can even overlap and support one another to span a space. These also bloom, but little tiny flowers spread out on a generously sized bloom stalk. You have to be looking to find them but they're a nice surprise. If I ever get enough blooms at one time I'm going to make the worlds tiniest bouquet.

[fish4all]

P. clusiifolia looks like a really stout one. with a top trim I imagine it might get REALLY thick and dense. Prayer plant, maybe, but the stems to the leaves seem kinda thin. I will have to find one at my local shop and see how it grows the leaves and how strong they are. My frogs like to jump all the way across their 10 gallon tank and land on the plants. I have seen them jump over 3 feet in the wild so once they get a larger tank the plants will take even more abuse.

I am thinking of a pathos too but not sure which one. Most I find locally would be too large for even a 25 so a strong compact version would be useful to find. I saw a creeping/vining version at my local store that looked like it could work well as both a ground cover and a vine to cover the back and really make a nice full look. It had 4 different color variations in the one at the local store.

So many options but not seeing them in person make me leery.

[UncleChester]

The leaves of a prayer plant are thin able to withstand crashes as they are quite flexible. After a few more leaves grew in, I arranged the prayer plant in this viv (see attached picture) to form a canopy over the water feature in the bottom right. It's 20" high in total and this gave the Hyla cinerea living in it a nice surface to land on instead of the rocks of the water feature. Breakages shouldn't be a problem if that's your concern. In the same picture a P. obtusifolia seen on the left branching away and P. clusiifolia just barely visible behind it that is planted higher up in the background.

Pothos are vines that left to their own devices will grow as long as you will allow them, they'll all need trimming eventually. They're happy growing along the ground but will also seek to climb. There is a 'neon' pothos version that is bright yellowish and has smaller leaves than the standard green/marbled one, but doesn't grow anywhere near as fast (and are more expensive). Fast growing is a blessing or a curse depending on whether you are trying to propagate it or have it behave well in a confined space.

[fish4all]

For a second I thought you meant the prayer plant was 20 inches tall.

Seems like prayer plant might be a good one to plant right next to the water to act as a canopy over the water and maybe even give the frogs a natural way to get out.

I will likely get a pothos or two, nothing like another fast grower. I don't mind trimming and once I set up the new tank I will be able to make it possible to lift parts of the top to limit the escapement possibilities.

I am surprised all of those plants are happy in the same little cramped amount of substrate. But they all like to be a little root congested so why not.

Last thing should be to find a ground cover, I love mosses but I have never had good luck with them.

[UncleChester]

For a second I thought you meant the prayer plant was 20 inches tall.

Haha- it will climb that high if I let it lean on the branch or the other plants, but it can't support itself that high

I am surprised all of those plants are happy in the same little cramped amount of substrate. But they all like to be a little root congested so why not. .

Peperomias all seem pretty happy with very little space, or at least they tolerate it. The vines in this tank are pothos and an English Ivy that's wrapped around the tank about 3 times. Both are happy with aerial roots all over the place and don't need much or really any substrate to live in. There's a bit of pothos in the top right that I've trimmed all the leaves off of and it has thick roots extending from the top of the tank all the way to the bottom, like little vines. They even branch in a couple of places.

[Bdimas]

Can someone try to identify this plant please.
http://

[deranged chipmunk]

Chris, you could also go with a vining philodendron as well. they look like pothos, but have subtle variations. here's a pic for comparison. pothos on the left, philodendron on the right.

[deranged chipmunk]

Can someone try to identify this plant please.
http:// [img]https://www.frogforum.n....jpg[/img]

i will work on it. you have any info on it??