Plant typerhizome
Native range
- Borneo
- Jawa
- Laos
- Lesser Sunda Is.
- Malaya
- New Guinea
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Philippines
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Thailand
- Victoria
- Vietnam
- Western Australia
rhizome carpet Conservation status: LC
A small fern from Asian rice fields whose leaves look like tiny four-leaf clovers. It creeps along the substrate and makes one of the lowest carpets in the hobby — slowly, and without much fuss.
Parameters
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementcarpet
Propagationrunners, division +1
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Leaves divided into four small leaflets on thin stalks, growing from a creeping stem. Under water in a well-lit tank the leaves stay low; in shallow water or above the surface they stand upright.
Keeping
Tolerant of a wide range of conditions, which is what makes it a good first carpet plant. It spreads slowly, so a lawn takes months rather than weeks — but it also means it needs almost no trimming, unlike the faster creeping plants it is usually compared with.
Placement
The front of the tank as a low carpet, and around the base of stones and wood, where it fills the gaps.
Propagation
By runners: new leaves appear along the creeping stem, and a piece of it with roots can be moved elsewhere.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1017 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
Swordtail GuppiesCobra GuppyBlood Red MollyButterflyfishRed Zebra CichlidJulii CorydorasRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraKenyi CichlidCuckoo CatfishGolden SwordtailHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus BrokopondoZebra Mbuna
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaSpined LoachMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMolly sphenopsBalloon MollyLyretail MollyMarble MollyHi-Fin PlatyHawaii PlatyBlue PlatyPintail PlatyBlack PlatyChocolate MollyMoonlight 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 AcaraAulonocara maylandiAulonocara multicolorAulonocara OrchidGeophagus altifronsGeophagus winemilleriPearlscale CichlidPearl CichlidRedbelly CichlidRed-spotted CichlidChuco godmanniHaplochromis philanderRed ChromideJack Dempsey cichlid
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Marsilea crenata 1 2 GROW, Marsilea crenata in Vitro XL