Dense Mayaca

Mayaca sellowiana

Needle-fine leaves packed tightly along the stem, denser than on the common mayaca. A little-known plant, mostly because it is usually sold under the name of another one.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 6 °dKH
Placement: midground, nano tank
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow needle leaves set singly and very close together, so the shoots look compact and furry. The plant it is confused with carries its leaves in whorls — that is the way to tell them apart.

Keeping

Moderate demands: good light, soft slightly acidic water, and carbon dioxide for dense growth. It grows quickly, so trimming is regular. Little is written about it precisely because few keepers know which plant they have.

Placement

The middle of the tank, in a group, where the fine texture contrasts with broad-leaved neighbours. Fits a nano tank.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and plant it.

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: Mayaca Sellowiniana

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Mayaca boliviana, Mayaca brasilii, Mayaca endlicheri, Mayaca lagoensis, Mayaca sellowiana longipedicellata, Mayaca sellowiana sellowiana
Mayaca sellowiana: Kunth
Family: Mayacaceae

Dense Mayaca

Tank conditions

Care and keeping