anyone had any experience with baby tears as a foreground. any suggestions on making it grow horizontal? really anyone who has any experience, please tell me all about it.

 

You just plant them as you would with Glosso. Carefully grab a pair or more with a tweezer. Insert into the gravel until you see just the leaves. Carefully withdraw the tweezer nice and slow. The more you start off with the better. Plant them in 2-3cm intervals and in few weeks you should get a nice mat.

 

All so as they start to grow you will see some plants start to grow vertical. Just cut the tips off and replant. It wont take long and you will have a large mate growing horizontal.

Hawk

 

pics anyone?

thanks for the advice guys. does anyone know how much comes when robert sells it to you. it's really cheap only 1.79. but how much do you get?

 

You can also lay the stems horizontal and they will take root.

 

thanks robert. how big are the bunches sold in the ab store for 1.79?

 

Usually around 6" tall, maybe 2" in diameter.

This is actually one of my favorite plants to use as a foreground plant. With moderate to high light and C02 it is undemanding. I know Hawkeye has done real well with this plant as well.

 

Its an excellent plant! If you trim it right you can simulate a green starburst. I would suggest (strongly) to get a few bunches and plant them in such a way that you slope it up from the foreground I hope I can explain this properly, first plant a nice foreground using trhe methods suggested here, then continue with the plant. trim it to different heights, starting with small near the foreground and increasing upwards towards the rear. When planted like this it makes the tank truly stunning, i wish I could take my own advise but I dont have the space.

 

I love Baby Tears one of my favorite plants because it so versatile. I do grow this plant as a ground cover; all that I do is keep it cut down low which causes the plant to spread horizontal.

 

sounds excellent. how many bunches should i buy if i want to plant it pretty thick for the foreground of a 10gal?

 

oh, and baj that sounds like a great idea with the sloping. i am definately going to try it now. thanks guys.

 

It grows pretty quickly in my tank. I'd say it doubles in size every 2-4 weeks. So, depending on how patient you are, one bunch might do ya!

 

IF you cut it up into small peices, probably just a couple bunches

 

wow that puts my hairgrass to shame cost wise.

 

Perfect topic - I am looking for just the same information! One question about lighting: I have a 30 gallon tank with 96 watt compact flourescent bulb (6700 K), ie, 3.2 watts/gallon. Is this lighting sufficient for baby tears? (I also used compressed gas CO2 kept at 20 ppm).

 

Yes, 3.2WPG is enough lighting for Babytears.

 

wow fishfriendly, we are running almost the same setup on the same tank. we must have good taste.

 

Can it grow well in a tank with 2.5 wpg and no co2? I have co2 running to my 55 but not the 20 gal. I might use excel if needed.

 

I havn't gotten it to do much without C02 under any light, but any form of C02 would do.

 

I had some in my daughter's 10 gal w/ only 20w of very old NO lighting and no CO2. It grew up to the top of the tank, but was very leggy. So, I took it out. I'd suspect it would grow in a 20 at 2.5 wpg, but not likely as a foreground plant.

Brian.

 

To get it to grow in the low lying form, high light and CO2 are pretty much a must!

Mike

 

I have some baby tears in my 12G nano cube which has 24 watts of PC lighting with DIY C02 and it does spread horzontal.

 

sounds like i'd better buy some soon before robert runs out

 

What I find is that while it will spread horizontally under good light, it also will send out side shoots at almost every internode so the initial low ground cover gets taller and taller unless you do constant pruning.

 

I used to have a big mound of baby tears in the foreground. Like Bill said, the pile just keeps getting higher and the stems inside start to rot if not pruned often. It is pretty high maintanance as foreground. Now I grow it under the shade of taller plants as a filler plant so it grows mostly vertical. I also have it growing beautifully(vertical) under less than 1.5wpg, no CO2, no substrate.