The red stuff? I'm pretty is was in the alternanthera genus, but I'd have to look again. Not sure on the common name. In front of that is H. Difformis, growing very quickly of course.
Yeah dwarf hairgrass, that's the one. I don't know why I couldn't think of it...duhhh. That's pretty much the plan, kinda alternate regions with DHG and tellenus. I also plan to add some rounded stream rocks, scattering them throughout to break things up and give pockets of dark color, about 3in dia.
Love those corys, they crack me up. They go all the way to their gills in that sand, and I've never seen corys with longer whiskers.
I want to get a thin driftwood branch for the area you mention, or a cypress knee. They are hard to come by though, since cypress is either alive or drifting miles downstream haha. The piece I have now is local, from the river. I just washed it off, let it soak overnight, and then attached a slab of rock and dropped it in the tank. The pleco LOVES it, and so did the upside down cats, until I introduced CO2 and the pH change killed them
Here is another piece of the same log. It was a stump that was turned sideways and just a few inches from the water. Moss everywhere, which is still alive on both logs as you can see.
image is link to fullsize
I might use that, but it's hard to figure out how or where.