Fanwort

Cabomba aquatica

Fan-shaped whorls of finely cut leaves — the classic feathery plant of old aquariums. It is the least demanding of its family, but light is still what it lives on.

Light: medium
Difficulty: difficult
Height: 20 – 30 cm (7.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 20 – 30 °C (68 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 7 °dKH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: no

Appearance

Each whorl opens like a small green fan; the stems reach 20–30 cm in an aquarium and stand upright. A group of stems looks like a soft feathery screen.

Keeping

The one real condition is light: in a dim tank the lower parts shed their leaves and the stem goes bare, and no fertiliser fixes that. Carbon dioxide is not required. It dislikes being moved and takes a while to settle after replanting.

Placement

The back and middle of the tank, always in a group — single stems look sparse. Give it open water: crowded against a wall it loses its shape.

Propagation

Cut the top of a stem and plant it, stripping the lowest whorls. Cuttings root within a week; the old stem branches from the cut.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1014 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.

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Cabomba schwartzii Rataj, Cabomba aubletii, Cabomba schwartzii, Nectris aquatica, Nectris peltata
Cabomba aquatica: Aubl.
Family: Cabombaceae