Leaf colourgreen, red
Native range
- Amur
- Assam
- Bangladesh
- China North-Central
- China South-Central
- China Southeast
- Hainan
- Inner Mongolia
- Japan
- Khabarovsk
- Korea
- Laos
- Manchuria
- Myanmar
- Nansei-shoto
- Primorye
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Vietnam
stem plant semi-emersed background midground
Narrow leaves on thin upright stems that look like young bamboo — a loose, untidy, natural look rather than a neat hedge. In Asia it grows in rice fields.
- Light
- medium–high
- Difficulty
- medium
- Height
- 5 – 20 cm
- Temperature
- 18 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratefast
Tolerates lightmedium – high
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementsemi-emersed, background +1
Propagationseeds, cuttings
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Light green leaves about a centimetre wide and a few long, set alternately along a slender stem 5–20 cm tall. Under strong light the growing tips turn reddish. The plant spreads at angles instead of standing in a row, which is what gives it the wild look.
Keeping
Moderate demands: good light, no carbon dioxide required, ordinary feeding. It grows fast and branches willingly when cut back, so trimming shapes it. It also grows well above water, and in an open tank it will climb out.
Placement
The middle or back of the tank in nature-style layouts and biotopes, where the untidy habit is the point. In a strictly ordered aquascape it will look out of place.
Propagation
By cuttings: replant the trimmed tops. Stems also root at the lower joints where they touch the substrate.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 841 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: Murdannia keisak Topf