Lance-leaf Hygrophila

Hygrophila ringens

Narrow pointed leaves packed tightly on a branching stem, in green through reddish brown to purple. Sold under several trade names, and simpler to keep than its reputation suggests.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 10 – 20 cm (3.9 – 7.9 in)
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple +1 green, red, pink or purple, bronze or brown
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 18 °dKH
Placement: background, midground +1 background, midground, Dutch street
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Compact, close-set leaves along a stem 10–20 cm tall, so the plant looks dense from top to bottom. Colour runs from plain green to red-brown and purple under good conditions. Several plants in the trade belong here under different names, and their underwater forms look quite unlike one another.

Keeping

Moderate demands: medium light, carbon dioxide helpful rather than essential, ordinary feeding. It branches willingly, and pinching the stems is what keeps the bush tight. Growth is average for the genus — quick enough to fill a space, slow enough not to take over.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a group; its even, compact shape also suits the ordered rows of a Dutch-style layout.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and plant it; the old stem branches below the cut.

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: Hygrophila lancea "Araguaia", Hygrophila lancea "Sarawak", Hygrophila salicifolia, Hygrophila stricta, Hygrophila lancea ’Araguaia’, Hygrophila lancea Chai, Hygrophila lancea Araguaia, Hygrophila lancea Araguaia Topf, Hygrophila lancea Araguaia 1 2 GROW, Hygrophila salicifolia in Vitro XL, Hygrophila lancea Chai in Vitro, Hygrophila salicifolia Topf, Hygrophila Lancea 'Araguaia' Sp Chai, Hygrophila Lancea 'Araguaia', Hygrophila Lancea Araguaia, Hygrophila Salicifolia Narrow Leaf

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Hygrophila sp. 'Sarawak', Ruellia salicifolia Vahl, ? dimidiata, Dipteracanthus ringens, Hygrophila angustifolia quadrivalvis, Hygrophila assurgens, Hygrophila barbata, Hygrophila ciliaris, Hygrophila dimidiata, Hygrophila incana, Hygrophila lancea, Hygrophila malabarica, Hygrophila megalantha, Hygrophila obovata, Hygrophila phlomoides repens, Hygrophila quadrivalvis, Hygrophila radicans, Hygrophila ringens, Hygrophila ringens longifolium, Hygrophila ringens ringens, Hygrophila ringens assurgens, Hygrophila ringens cochinensis, Hygrophila salicifolia, Hygrophila salicifolia assurgens, Hygrophila salicifolia cochinensis, Hygrophila salicifolia dimidiata, Hygrophila salicifolia glabra, Hygrophila salicifolia hirsuta, Hygrophila salicifolia megalantha, Hygrophila salicifolia quadrivalvis, Hygrophila stricta, Hygrophila undulata, Justicia lancea, Ruellia angustifolia, Ruellia ciliaris, Ruellia dimidiata, Ruellia hirsuta, Ruellia longifolia, Ruellia obovata, Ruellia quadrivalvis, Ruellia radicans, Ruellia ringens, Ruellia salicifolia, Ruellia undulata, Ruellia upudalii
Family: Acanthaceae

Lance-leaf Hygrophila

Tank conditions

Care and keeping