Brazilian Pennywort

Hydrocotyle leucocephala

Round leaves the size of a coin on long stalks — one of the fastest and least demanding plants in the hobby. Plant it, float it, or let it climb out of the tank.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: very easy
Temperature: 5 – 30 °C (41 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 6 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 15 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground, foreground +1 midground, foreground, surface
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Rounded leaves with a scalloped edge, each on its own upright stalk from a creeping stem. In a group they build a loose bush of green discs, and the roots hang freely in the water.

Keeping

Very easy and very fast — that is both its strength and the catch: left untrimmed it fills the tank and shades everything under it. It needs no carbon dioxide and puts up with a wide range of water. Under strong light and with regular trimming it stays low and creeps along the bottom instead of climbing.

Placement

The middle or front of the tank, or simply floating at the surface, where the hanging roots shelter fry and shrimp.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut anywhere along the stem and replant. Cutting often is what makes the plant thicker rather than longer.

Water conditions match

The water suits 816 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: Hydrocotyle leucocephala in Vitro XL, Hydrocotyle leucocephala Topf, Hydrocotyle leucocephala in Vitro, Hydrocotyle Leucocephala Variegated

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Hydrocotyle dux, Hydrocotyle emarginata, Hydrocotyle hazenii, Hydrocotyle larranagii, Hydrocotyle leucocephala nervis, Hydrocotyle leucocephala peltata, Hydrocotyle leucocephala intermedia, Hydrocotyle leucocephala minuta, Hydrocotyle leucocephala obtusiloba, Hydrocotyle leucocephala truncatiloba, Hydrocotyle leucocephala villosa, Hydrocotyle maxonii, Hydrocotyle minuta, Hydrocotyle multicaulis, Hydrocotyle polyrhiza
Hydrocotyle leucocephala: Cham. & Schltdl.
Family: Araliaceae

Brazilian Pennywort

Tank conditions

Care and keeping