Stargrass

Heteranthera zosterifolia

Narrow pointed leaves spreading from the stem like little stars. It branches by itself into a bushy thicket and grows in dim light, which few fast plants do.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 20 – 30 cm (7.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 10 – 30 °C (50 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, white markings
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 21 °dKH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Light green leaves 3–5 cm long, set at sharp angles along a soft stem 20–30 cm tall; the underside often darkens almost to black. Fine white roots appear along the stem in mid-water.

Keeping

Easy and fast. Dim light is enough, carbon dioxide speeds it up; the more light, the denser it grows. That density is also the one thing to watch: an untrimmed clump shades its own lower leaves and they die off, so cut it back before it closes up. In an open tank, shoots that reach the surface produce small blue flowers.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a group. It grows into a soft bushy screen rather than a wall, and it takes hard pruning without complaint.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut a top with a few roots already on the stem and push it into the substrate — it carries on without pausing.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1009 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: Heteranthera zosterifolia 1 2 GROW, Heteranthera zosterifolia in Vitro XL, Heteranthera zosterifolia Topf

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Heteranthera osteniana, Heteranthera zosteraefolia, Schollera zosterifolia
Heteranthera zosterifolia: Mart.
Family: Pontederiaceae

Stargrass

Tank conditions

Care and keeping