# Hair Grass



## Tirral (Mar 2, 2007)

Hi.

I am looking for some hair grass for my new tank.
I have just finished doing a DIY slate background and am now looking for plants.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=180796

I am going to get Java Fern and Dwarf Hair Grass for the moment.
Problem is i cant find Dwarf Hair Grass anywhere, i have been and asked my local fish store but they dont seem to know what im talking about. 

I am looking for the dwarf hair grass that stays about (1.5" - 3")

I have also read about people asking for dwarf hair grass but getting a different kind that grows tall (6"+) and i dont want that.

Does anyone know where i could get some in the uk.

Thanks

Tirral


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

I am not quite sure what you mean by "hair grass". I can't help but be reminded by the term of hair algae, which is nasty stuff! Just recently I had a bad outbreak of it in my shell dweller tank, and never took the time to remove it until yesterday, when I found two dead gold occies. They had presumably been chasing each other and got stuck in the dense algae growth. I am not quite sure why both perished, but I think the wretched algae got into their gills and they suffocated. Gotta be more careful and keep on removing the stuff 

Anyhow, I think it's safe to assume that you don't want to plant algae, so my best bet is that you are thinking of Sagittaria subulata, also known as Sagittaria grass or Dwarf Sagittaria. You can read about my own attempts to grow that stuff here, but suffice it to say it has been a disaster for me.

Since you are looking for a grass type plant, I am assuming that you would like to create one of those beautiful underwater lawn in the foreground of you tank that one sees with great envy in the tanks of Takshi Amano and other planted tank gurus. Casting all modesty aside, I would say that I am more successful in keeping life plants than the vast majority of cichlid keepers, but I have never been successful in creating one of these lawns. The problems are twofold. Firstly grass type plants - and in my experience _Sagittaria subulata_ is no exception - are quite demanding with respect to light and possibly also require other boosters like CO2 and fertilizers, so they don't do well in low tech planted tanks as my own. Secondly, cichlids dig! That's more true for some species than others, but in essence applies widely to the whole family of fish! An underwater lawn takes quite a long time to develop, and if it is dug up a lot of invested time an effort is lost.

In short, I don't want to discourage you from trying, but be prepared to fail on the lawn concept and if that happens, don't let that put you off plants altogether. There are many plants that can do exceedingly well in cichlid tanks. First of all those that don't like to be planted in substrate and thus can't be dug up- Jave fern, Java moss, and _Anubias sp._, but also some plants that need to be rooted in substrate, such as _Valisneria sp.' Cryptocoryne sp, and Echinodorus sp._. If you do succeed in creating a nice underwater lawn in a cichlid tank, make sure to take lots of photos and post here about how you accomplished that feet so that we can all admire and copy you :wink:

Greetings

Frank


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

By hair grass I assume you mean Eleocharis sp.

I have a 12" cube, which is planted up with swords, crypts, vallis, sagitaria, java fern and hairgrass,

the hairgrass dominates the tank (filling about 60-70% of it)

this is an old photo of the tank









need to take a new one as the plants have grown a fair bit since this photo (with no prunning...)

its a no tech tank, with a filter and light being the only equipment on it.

there will be a small heater and some fish and shrimp going in at some point, its just running empty at the moment


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## Tirral (Mar 2, 2007)

thanks guys.
I think the one i want is the Eleocharis.

*PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn*...
I would love to see a recent picture of this tank.
Any chance?

Thanks

Tirral


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