Narrow Leaf Anacharis

Elodea najas

One of the toughest plants in the hobby: it grows in almost any water, at any light, planted or simply floating. The classic first plant, and a fast one at soaking up excess nutrients.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: very easy
Temperature: 15 – 30 °C (59 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: very fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 9
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 20 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: fragmentation, cuttings
Grows emersed: no

Appearance

Long stems covered in short narrow leaves in dense whorls, bright green. It is thinner and finer than the common elodea and looks lighter in a group.

Keeping

Very easy and very fast — the two go together. It puts up with cool water, hard water and dim light, and it eats nitrate quickly, which helps a new tank settle and starves algae. It does need cutting back, or it fills the tank. It can be left floating instead of planted; then it shelters fry and shrimp.

Placement

The back and middle of the tank, in a group, or floating at the surface. Because it grows so fast, keep it where it is easy to reach with scissors.

Propagation

It breaks up by itself: any piece of stem carries on growing. Cut a length and plant it, or simply let it float.

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 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 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: Egeria najas, Egeria najas Topf

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Anacharis hilariana, Anacharis naias, Egeria najas, Elodea guyanensis longifolia, Elodea kochii, Elodea paraguayensis
Family: Hydrocharitaceae

Narrow Leaf Anacharis

Tank conditions

Care and keeping