Creeping Spotflower

Acmella repens

A small marsh plant from the American south with an upright, neatly symmetrical habit. New to the hobby, and easy — a compact stand-in for the far bigger plants it resembles.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Paired green leaves on a straight stem, evenly spaced, so the plant looks tidy from every side. Above water it flowers in yellow — it belongs to the daisy family, and a close relative is grown as a herb.

Keeping

Moderate demands, no harder than the usual stem plants: medium to strong light, a nutritious substrate, carbon dioxide optional. Growth under water is unhurried, which makes it easier to shape than the vigorous plants it looks like. Note that shrimp are fond of the soft above-water leaves and will strip a freshly planted specimen.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a group; its regular shape suits the ordered rows of a Dutch-style layout, and its modest size fits tanks where bigger stem plants would take over.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and replant it.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1015 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Zebra Mbuna

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Aulonocara maylandi Aulonocara multicolor Aulonocara Orchid Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearlscale Cichlid Pearl Cichlid Redbelly Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Chuco godmanni Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Other varieties: Acmella repens in Vitro

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Anthemis repens Walter, Acmella oppositifolia var. repens (Walter) R. K. Jansen, Spilanthes americana var. repens (Walter) A. H. Moore, Acmella nuttaliana, Acmella occidentalis, Acmella oppositifolia oppositifolia, Acmella oppositifolia repens, Acmella repens, Acmella repens beccabunga, Acmella repens repens, Anthemis repens, Anthemis trinervia, Ceratocephala beccabunga, Ceratocephala repens, Ceratocephalus beccabuna, Ceratocephalus beccabunga, Ceratocephalus repens, Ceratocephalus subhirsutus, Spilanthes americana ciliatifolia, Spilanthes americana lanitecta, Spilanthes americana longiinternodiata, Spilanthes americana parvula, Spilanthes americana repens, Spilanthes beccabunga, Spilanthes beccabunga beccabunga, Spilanthes beccabunga parvula, Spilanthes ciliata diffusa, Spilanthes cocuyensis, Spilanthes diffusa, Spilanthes diffusa diffusa, Spilanthes disciformis disciformis, Spilanthes disciformis phaneractis, Spilanthes lateraliflora, Spilanthes lehmanniana, Spilanthes nuttallii, Spilanthes orizabaensis, Spilanthes phaneractis, Spilanthes repens, Spilanthes subhirsuta
Acmella repens: (Walter) Rich. ex Pers.
Family: Asteraceae

Creeping Spotflower

Tank conditions

Care and keeping