Carolina Micro Sword

Lilaeopsis carolinensis

Short grass-like blades in small tufts, spreading by runners into a lawn. Native to both American continents, and undemanding except about one thing: light must reach the bottom.

Difficulty: medium
Height: 4 – 20 cm (1.6 – 7.9 in)
Temperature: 4 – 28 °C (39 – 82 °F)

Plant type: rhizome
Growth rate: slow
pH: 6 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 14 °dKH
Placement: nano tank, foreground +1 nano tank, foreground, carpet
Propagation: runners, division +1 runners, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow flat blades 4–20 cm tall growing in tufts from a creeping stem. Height depends on light — the brighter the tank, the shorter and denser the lawn.

Keeping

Moderate demands and slow growth. The one requirement that matters is light at substrate level; shaded by taller plants it stretches and thins out. A nutritious substrate helps the runners spread. It also grows above water on wet ground.

Placement

The front of the tank as a lawn, in a nano tank whole. Plant small tufts a couple of centimetres apart and let the runners close the gaps.

Propagation

By runners: new tufts appear beside the old ones and can be separated.

Water conditions match

The water suits 812 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: Lilaeopsis carolinensis in Vitro XL

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Crantzia carolinensis, Crantziola carolinensis
Lilaeopsis carolinensis: J.M.Coult. & Rose
Family: Apiaceae

Carolina Micro Sword

Tank conditions

Care and keeping