5 Gallon Tank Good midground plant recommendation?

Hi everyone!

im wondering if anyone can help me with some recommendations for midground plants for a 6 gallon cube housing a tiger nerite and a female koi betta. I had some Pearl Weed as my midground, but recently took it out because it just wasn’t taking. I have a strong feeling my substrate just wasn’t right for it because it was decaying from the bottom up. Right now I just have some anubias barteri in there but they’re quite big lol, and I already have 3 anubias nana in the foreground and mounted on my driftwood. It looks fine, but I’d rather have some diversity. It’s an anubias jungle! I have very hard alkaline well water with pH around 8.0-8.2. my substrate is some pea gravel supplemented with flourish tabs. And I dose .50ml of flourish every week. It’s working for me so far. I have a Java fern in the center background and a windlov variant next to it in the back. I also have water sprite in the back left corner that’s surprisingly doing well and growing. For the surface, I have red root floaters and salvinia minima that are both doing so well they’re multiplying.. Everytime I do a water change there seems to be more to remove so I can access the water column with my hose lol

I was thinking of getting more water sprite for the midground since I’ve had some success with it. But I also was considering dwarf Sagittaria. However, I’m new to live plants. Any help would be wonderful. Thanks!

 

You may want to look into one of the Cryptocorynes as a good midsize plant as they also have a different leaf structure. Dwarf Sagittaria will work as well, though in my tank it stays ground cover height.
Some Swords stay smaller as well.

 

I wonder why your pearl weed didn't work, hmmmm.

In terms of plant suggestions, look into crypts, or maybe some ludwigia. If you want it in the midground though, you might have to trim it frequently, as it is a stem plant that can grow pretty tall. Also, if you have any places you can jam it into, get an anubias nana/nana petite, as they are pretty small, which makes them favorable for foreground/midground. I'm not the best to recommend plants, as I'm a beginner too, but these are stuff I've seen.

 

You may want to look into one of the Cryptocorynes as a good midsize plant as they also have a different leaf structure. Dwarf Sagittaria will work as well, though in my tank it stays ground cover height.
Some Swords stay smaller as well.

What crypts would you recommend? I have tended to stray away from these plants because people always say they tend to melt a lot and are fragile. But I’m new and perhaps that’s misinfo. I mean, I was told pearl weed is indestructible and here we are haha. Good to know about the dwarf sag. Maybe I’ll push some to the foreground as a “carpet”.

I wonder why your pearl weed didn't work, hmmmm.

In terms of plant suggestions, look into crypts, or maybe some ludwigia. If you want it in the midground though, you might have to trim it frequently, as it is a stem plant that can grow pretty tall. Also, if you have any places you can jam it into, get an anubias nana/nana petite, as they are pretty small, which makes them favorable for foreground/midground. I'm not the best to recommend plants, as I'm a beginner too, but these are stuff I've seen.

I wonder as well! I think it’s a really gorgeous bushy plant. But it just didn’t survive like my other plants. Is Ludwigia relatively easy to care for? Ive always been under the impression colored plants have a higher care requirement.

 

Cryptocoryne 'Kompakt' would be an excellent choice for a tank of that size

 

I have a cryptocoyne costata that does not exceed 10". But also Echinodorus parviflorus is a small sword plant not exceeding 6" (at least in my tank)
Plants are trial and error, some plants are growing like weed in some tanks, and totally won't survive in others. Experimenting is the name of the game.

 

What crypts would you recommend? I have tended to stray away from these plants because people always say they tend to melt a lot and are fragile. But I’m new and perhaps that’s misinfo. I mean, I was told pearl weed is indestructible and here we are haha. Good to know about the dwarf sag. Maybe I’ll push some to the foreground as a “carpet”.

I wonder as well! I think it’s a really gorgeous bushy plant. But it just didn’t survive like my other plants. Is Ludwigia relatively easy to care for? Ive always been under the impression colored plants have a higher care requirement.

From what I can tell, "red" plants have pretty much the same care guide, just that when they experience decent to high lighting, they turn red.

 

Thanks everyone! I’ll look into these recommendations.