Need some input

OK so i need some help selecting a few plants for my 40g its gonna have some german blue rams in it a pleco and im not sure about snails so i thought i'd ask aboutthat too. I want a few short plants to go near the cave area on the left buitt i dont want it to interfer with my filter too much and one for near the arked piece of drift wood you see closet to cave area. and i want a large plant for coverage where that large rock on the right is( also im removing that red rock on top of the large grey one) Which plants would be good for not only my fish but if i choose to get snails what plants would go good together with all. I still yet to do some research but i was hoping for some suggestions... Thanks

Heres a picture of my tank so you can see what im working with

er none right now i was going to buy the lighting adequate for what ever plant life i had, my heater is already enough to maintain good temp. I have previous lighting fixtures with no bulbs... i cant remember what brand it is but it had basically caps to go over each end of the flourecent bulb. it has 4 caps on it so 2 flourecent bulbs that cant stretch the length of my tank. it takes bulbs that are 20mm round i believe... It is a quality system just no bulbss yet. Maybe a suggestion for lighting aswell?
In the meantime i will look into my lighting system and post a pic of it up here...

more than likely going to be high light, figure i can keep more intresting freshwater plants that way??