Japanese Cress

Cardamine lyrata

Round leaves on a thin trailing stem, growing in a clover-like pattern, with fine white roots hanging in the water. A marsh plant from East Asia that took well to aquariums, and one of the few that prefers cool water.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 20 – 30 cm (7.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 4 – 27 °C (39 – 81 °F)

Leaf colour: white markings
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 5 – 15 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +1 background, midground, nano tank
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Round leaves alternate along a soft stem 20–30 cm long; the stem trails rather than stands, and roots appear along it in mid-water. The look is light and airy, unlike most background plants.

Keeping

Easy, with one condition: it dislikes warmth. Above 28 °C the leaves shrink and the stems go leggy, so it suits an unheated or cool tank best. Dim light is enough; carbon dioxide and stronger light keep it low and dense instead of stretched. It can also be left floating, where it shelters fry and shrimp.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a clump rather than as single stems — a group is what makes the trailing habit read. Fits a nano tank as well.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut a piece of stem and plant it, or pull a dense clump apart and split the roots.

Water conditions match

The water suits 977 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 Spined Loach 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 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: Cardamine lyrata Topf, Cardamine Lyrata Vietnam

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Cardamine argyi
Cardamine lyrata: Bunge
Family: Brassicaceae

Japanese Cress

Tank conditions

Care and keeping