Pipewort

Eriocaulon cinereum

A small cushion of very narrow leaves that flowers readily under water, sending up a crowd of thin stalks. Rare, striking and genuinely hard to keep.

Light: high
Difficulty: difficult
Height: 3 – 10 cm (1.2 – 3.9 in)
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Plant type: rosette
Growth rate: slow
CO₂ demand: high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 7 °dKH
Placement: midground, nano tank +1 midground, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: seeds, division +1 seeds, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

A tight rosette of needle-narrow leaves 3–10 cm across, growing low like a cushion. Flower stalks appear often and give the plant a look nothing else has.

Keeping

Difficult. It feeds mostly through the roots, so a rich substrate matters more than anything dosed into the water, and it wants strong light with carbon dioxide. Soft water suits it best, though this species tolerates medium-hard water better than its relatives. Flowering drains it — after a heavy bloom the plant sits still for a while and then starts again from the base.

Placement

The front or middle of the tank, where its small size is visible. It fits a nano tank, and it needs neighbours that will not shade it.

Propagation

Large cushions can be split into several rosettes; plants also set seed after flowering.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1016 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: Eriocaulon cinereum 1 2 GROW

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Eriocaulon amboense, Eriocaulon ciliiflorum, Eriocaulon cinereum sieboldianum, Eriocaulon formosanum, Eriocaulon heteranthum, Eriocaulon heudelotii, Eriocaulon redactum, Eriocaulon reductum, Eriocaulon sieboldianum, Eriocaulon steinbachii, Eriocaulon stuhlmannii, Eriocaulon taiwanianum, Leucocephala spathacea, Paepalanthus steinbachii
Eriocaulon cinereum: R. Br.
Family: Eriocaulaceae
Conservation status: LC

Pipewort

Tank conditions

Care and keeping