For this arrangement, I decided to use a soup bowl.

Since I'm going to add an ozelot sword plant, and those are heavy root feeders, I used around one and a half inches of bagged topsoil from a home improvement store

I selected an Ozelot Sword plantlet that is starting to sprout roots and held it position while I spooned in gravel to cover the soil and roots.

You want the base of the plant to be at the same level as the top of the gravel. I prefer pool filter sand--it's not sand, but is very fine gravel. Use your fingers or the spoon to tamp the gravel down firmly. In this case, I covered the surface with gravel around an inch and a half deep.

Partially for looks (and partially since I may put this pot in the goldfish tank after it gets rooted well), I added a layer of polished rocks on top of the gravel. With fish who don't move a lot of gravel, this step is optional.

The finished product turned out well and I can't wait to see what it looks like when the sword gets larger!

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