Leaf colourgreen, red +1
Native range
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Cuba
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Mexico Southeast
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
stem plant background midground foreground
A grass-like plant with long stems and narrow leaves that turn reddish brown under strong light. Undemanding, and it grows in almost any water.
- Light
- medium–high
- Difficulty
- easy
- Temperature
- 4 – 28 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratefast
Tolerates lightmedium – high
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementbackground, midground +1
Propagationcuttings, division +1
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Thin leaves in tufts along a creeping stem; green in moderate light, red-brown when the light is strong and trace feeding is good. The whole plant looks like a loose bunch of grass.
Keeping
Easy: it tolerates a wide range of water and cool temperatures, needs no carbon dioxide, and grows steadily rather than explosively. Light is what changes it — from plain green to red-brown — and trace feeding deepens the colour.
Placement
Anywhere from front to back, depending on how long you let the stems get: trimmed short it works as a low tuft, left alone it reaches the middle of the tank.
Propagation
By cuttings, like a stem plant: cut a piece and plant it. Clumps can also be pulled apart.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 835 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: Juncus repens Topf, Juncus repens 1 2 GROW