Commiserations on your Betta loss - amazing how attached one can become
Maybe look for a HMPK next time around - gorgeous colours but a lot less fin to manage
Just be careful with “dragonscale” Bettas (plakat or “regular”) - breeders attempt to get a full mask, but there will always be some with partial mask, and some where the mask “overgrows” and the metallic scales eventually cover eye and gills as the fish matures (I’ve seen this most often in the “dragons” red,black,gold etc where there’s a high degree of glitter/iridescence on the body scales, and full mask of course)
Have you seen the “hellboy” Bettas - brilliant strong colours
(non dragonscale)
For the MC, try planting very small clumps - my tap is basically rain water and this seems to work best - once I’ve got submerse MC established, I can rip it up and use as minimal replanting stock and it grows like crazy
(Tropica Soil Powder)
Can you add CO2 temporarily? this definitely helps MC
- though I’ve had it do very well in the window low tech tanks in summer: lots of light, no CO2 - even with only a few inches of water, no filter, loads of green algae arrived ... when I finally got back to the tank, water changes etc, the MC and Marsilea crenata were battling for carpet space (and no visible algae
)
Hemianthus micrathemoides does very well in soft water, no CO2
H siamensis 53B Tropica tissue culture did fine initially but without adding GH/KH it gets unhappy after some months
Don’t let the H tenellum invade the MC - without CO2 I suspect the MC will fade in the battle