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I'm looking to get some floating plants for a sparkling gourami I hope to be getting...I did some surfing on the interenet, and I found three that might work for me:

-Guppy Grass (Najas guadalupensis)
-Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata)
-Stonewort (Nitella flexius)

Can anyone fill me in on these plants? I know that they don't require a huge amount of light or care, but that's it.

Thanks.

Hydrilla and that guppy grass are native to the united states and probably won't, well almost definately, won't be available in a store. Hydrilla is considered an invasive species and I think it might be illegal to sell it in many states. If you want those plants, you may have to contact your local DNR and check the legality of collection. In MD though, hydrilla was everywhere. You could just go to your local resevoir and pull out some. Your DNR might not care as long as it never sees natural waterways again. Definately check with local authorities if you plan on collecting from public property. Collecting from the outdoors presents its own problems from various critters that hitch rides. Here's]http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Plants/native-usa.html[/link] a long discussion on that topic from [link=the krib.

I don't know any specific information on those plants because they are natives. That doesn't mean they won't be good in the aquarium.

You can search for more information via FINs. I searched and found more information, but I closed the browser and am too lazy to open a new window and do all that copying of urls.

Wow, hazy, thank you so much for all the info you've supplied. I've done some reading from the sites you mentioned...and it seems like I won't be getting any of them. It is hard to collect anything from the wild seeing as I live in NYC.

I'll probably go with java fern or hornwort.

Thanks again for the great info.