Lemon Bacopa

Bacopa caroliniana

A sturdy stem plant with thick leaves that smell faintly of lemon when crushed. It grows slowly and needs little attention, which makes it one of the calmest plants for a first tank.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 10 – 60 cm (3.9 – 24 in)
Temperature: 4 – 29 °C (39 – 84 °F)

Leaf colour: green, bronze or brown
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 18 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +1 background, midground, Dutch street
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Upright stems 10–60 cm tall with paired oval leaves, thick and slightly succulent. In strong light the tips take on a copper or rosy tint; otherwise the plant is a plain fresh green.

Keeping

Undemanding: dim light and hard water are fine, carbon dioxide is not needed. It grows slowly, so unlike most stem plants it does not need constant pruning. In an open tank it grows out of the water and flowers there.

Placement

The back and the middle of the tank, in small groups. It branches from the base, so a few stems soon close into a bush.

Propagation

Cut a side shoot and plant it in the substrate. Roots follow within a week or two — slower than with fast stem plants, but just as reliable.

Water conditions match

The water suits 839 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

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 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 Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid 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: Bacopa caroliniana Colorata, Bacopa Caroliniana Red, Bacopa Amplexicaulis

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Bacopa amplexicaulis (Pursh) Wettst., Herpestis amplexicaulis (Michx.) Pursh, Hydrotrida caroliniana (Walter) Small, Obolaria caroliniana Walter, Bacopa amplexicaulis, Bacopa carolineana, Herpestis amplexicaulis, Herpestis caroliniana, Hydrotrida caroliniana, Hydrotrida crenulata, Macuillamia amplexicaulis, Moniera amplexicaulis, Moniera caroliniana, Moniera crenulata, Monniera amplexicaulis, Monniera caroliniana, Monniera crenulata, Schulzia obolaroides, Septilia caroliniana, Septilia crenulata
Bacopa caroliniana: (Walter) B.L.Rob.
Family: Plantaginaceae

Lemon Bacopa

Tank conditions

Care and keeping