I wonder what kind of plant that is...The fish dont touch it, and I can take babies from it all the time and replant it....

By the looks of the roots coming out of the plant thats a Java plant

Thanks Koko! Thats what I was wondering....Not even low light can kill it!

I am thinking of getting a Java fern or two (and removing my 2 old plastic plants), I've read a lot of good things about it on this forum.

I'm worried, the only underwater plants I've ever had were the anacharis/elodea and they always got really stringy and looked bad. I don't have a problem growing terrestrial plants at all, do aquatic plants have any special needs?

that sounds like the kind of plant i need. i cant grow horse weeds. but i love the look of planted tanks. im just scared of killing more and more stuff.

Some plants need high light, people will give you all kinds of measurements on how much they really need (usually in watts/gal). Some plants do have a specific range of pH or KH that they like, or don't tolerate salt. Some need their roots buried in the gravel, others will die if you do that. There are plenty of websites that can give you that kind of information on plants... this page has some nice pictures of plants that link to information about them.

I personally haven't even tried growing plants yet, because my 20 gallon doesn't have any lights on it... but my 5 gallon (soon to hold 2 bettas with a divider) has a light in the hood, so I've been researching plants trying to decide what to get.