Pellia

Monosolenium tenerum

A liverwort that looks like a giant riccia which never floats: thick dark green lobes forming cushions on the bottom. Undemanding once it is anchored — and brittle until then.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 3 – 5 cm (1.2 – 2 in)
Temperature: 18 – 26 °C (64 – 79 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: moss
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: on stone and wood +2 on stone and wood, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Flat forked lobes a few millimetres wide, 3–5 cm tall in a clump, deep green and slightly glossy. Unlike riccia it has no interest in rising to the surface.

Keeping

Easy in every way except handling: the plant is brittle and breaks into pieces at a touch, and loose pieces drift around the tank. Tie it to a stone with fishing line or wedge small clumps between other plants until it settles. Dim light is enough and carbon dioxide is optional.

Placement

The front or middle of the tank, on stones and among low plants. Its size suits a nano tank. It is often sold under the name pellia, which belongs to a different plant.

Propagation

By division: break off a piece and anchor it — the way it spreads naturally anyway.

Water conditions match

The water suits 816 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis 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 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

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: Monosolenium tenerum 1 2 GROW, Monosolenium tenerum in Vitro XL

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Cyathodium tenerum Steph., Dumortieropsis liukiuensis Horikawa, Dumortieropsis liukiuensis
Monosolenium tenerum: Griffith
Family: Monosoleniaceae

Pellia

Tank conditions

Care and keeping