Water Violet

Hottonia palustris

Soft, feathery light green leaves in fans along curving stems — a fluffy-looking plant that grows in cool water and dim light. Its brightness makes red neighbours look redder.

Light: low
Difficulty: medium
Height: 10 – 20 cm (3.9 – 7.9 in)
Temperature: 4 – 28 °C (39 – 82 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Finely divided leaves arranged in fans along an upright stem 10–20 cm tall. The colour is a striking pale green. Grown above water it flowers with small lavender blooms held over the surface.

Keeping

Moderate demands and no fuss: dim light is enough, carbon dioxide is optional, and cool water suits it. Light decides the shape — bright light keeps it low and bushy, dim light makes it stretch and thin. Cutting the long shoots is what keeps growth coming from the base.

Placement

The middle of the tank, in a group. Its width makes it a good link between low foreground plants and tall ones at the back.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut a shoot and plant it; the old stem branches and the group thickens.

Water conditions match

The water suits 835 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

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 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 Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid 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: Hottonia palustris Topf, Hottonia palustris 1 2 GROW

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Androsace aquatica, Breviglandium palustre, Breviglandum palustre, Hottonia millefolium, Hottonia palustris rosea
Hottonia palustris: L.
Family: Primulaceae
Conservation status: LC

Water Violet

Tank conditions

Care and keeping