Leaf colourgreen
Native range
- Bahamas
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Puerto Rico
stem plant nano tank foreground carpet
The smallest plant in the hobby: round leaves a couple of millimetres across, creeping into a velvet-green floor. The classic carpet of show tanks — and one that will not forgive a dim lamp or a missing carbon dioxide bottle.
- Light
- high
- Difficulty
- difficult
- Height
- 3 – 5 cm
- Temperature
- 18 – 28 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratemedium
CO₂ demandhigh
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness0 – 18 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementnano tank, foreground +1
Propagationrunners, cuttings +2
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Threadlike stems with paired leaves the size of a pinhead form a mat 3–5 cm deep. In good conditions the leaves hold bubbles of oxygen, and the carpet looks as if it has been sprinkled with beads.
Keeping
The most demanding plant in this catalogue. It needs strong light reaching the bottom, added carbon dioxide, fertiliser and some water movement; without them the mat thins out, lifts off the substrate and floats away in patches. A first carpet is easier with a clover or a hairgrass.
Placement
The front of the tank, and in a nano tank the whole floor. Plant it in small tufts a couple of centimetres apart and let them grow together — a whole pot pressed down in one piece rots from below.
Propagation
The mat spreads on its own. Cut a piece off with tweezers and plant it elsewhere; each fragment carries on creeping.
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: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba', Micranthemum callitrichoides 'Cuba', Hemianthus Callitrichoides