Leaf colourgreen, red
Native range
- Cambodia
- Laos
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Thailand
stem plant semi-emersed background midground Dutch street foreground
A large stem plant with broad bright-green leaves, sold in many forms from narrow-leaved to red. It grows fast, so the pruning shears come out often — that is the price of a full back wall in a month.
- Light
- low
- Difficulty
- very easy
- Height
- 20 – 30 cm
- Temperature
- 18 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratefast
CO₂ demandlow
Tolerates lightmedium – high
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness2 – 18 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementsemi-emersed, background +3
Propagationcuttings
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Sturdy upright stems 20–30 cm tall with long broad leaves in pairs. Forms differ a great deal: some have narrow leaves, some reddish ones, and above water the leaves are firmer and darker.
Keeping
Moderate light suffices and carbon dioxide is not required, but it grows quickly and demands attention: without regular cutting the tops reach the surface, shade everything below and the lower leaves fall. Poor light produces bare stems with a tuft on top.
Placement
The back wall, in a group. In an open tank it readily grows out of the water and goes on above the surface.
Propagation
Cut a stem into pieces about ten centimetres long, strip the lowest leaves and plant them; roots form quickly. New shoots break from the cut stem and make the group bushier.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 841 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
ButterflyfishJulii CorydorasRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus BrokopondoHomaloptera bilineataRed-tailed RasboraBoraras naevusLampeye KillifishSpotted Raphael CatfishCorydoras melanotaeniaFestivum cichlidPseudomugil paskai
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMoonlight GouramiMelanotaenia parva
Will uproot it
These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.
Marble LoachPeacock EelForktail LoachGuntea LoachLong-nosed LoachHorseface LoachPearlscaleBlack Moor GoldfishShubunkinPainted PlecoFeatherfin SynodontisReddish Mystus CatfishBlue AcaraGeophagus altifronsGeophagus winemilleriPearl CichlidRed-spotted CichlidHaplochromis philanderRed ChromideJack Dempsey cichlid
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Hygrophila corymbosa ''Aroma'', Hygrophila corymbosa ''Red'', Hygrophila corymbosa 'Stricta', Nomaphila corymbosa, Nomaphila siamensis, Nomaphila stricta, Hygrophila corymbosa 'Compact', Hygrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis 53B', Hygrophila corymbosa Thailand, Hygrophila corymbosa Stricta Angustifolia Rubra, Hygrophila corymbosa Stricta Green, Hygrophila ''Dwarf''