What kind of surface plant for Dwarf Gourami?

[jiffy]

Hi - I am getting ready to get some fish in my tank, and one of the fish I will be getting is some type of dwarf gourami. The plants in my tank are all fake.

I have read that gouramis like a surface plant in the tank. Is this really required, and what kind of plant (hopefully fake) worls best?

Also, if I do not have a female in the tank, will the male still build bubble nests? How often do they usually do this and are they difficult/messy to remove?

Thanks

 

[Colisa lalia]

No you don't need surface vegatation, but I would highly suggest it. Any fake floating plant will work fine.
Males will sometimes build a bubblenest without the female around, but they usually lose interest after a day or so.
Bubblenests are very delicate and they dissolve into the water if the male doesn't constantly add to them, so you never need to remove them.

 

[Velvet AciD]

Duckweed is great for Dwarf Gouramis, the only upkeep that you have to deal with it is pruning. I was pulling large chunks of Duckweed out of my tank that I traded for other things and sold as 'fresh goldfish food' at least once a week.

It also keeps down nitrates in the water but don't let it block out your light if you have other plants in the tank!

 

[Leopardess]

Duckweed is my first choice. Great stuff. Grows like mad. They love it. Otherwise, you can get hydrocotyle leucocephela ("pennywort") and float it or even hornwort.

 

[jiffy]

thanks for the tips everyone. I will most likely try and rig up somekind of plant to cover some area.