Leaf colourgreen
Native range
- Andaman Is.
- Assam
- Bangladesh
- Cambodia
- China South-Central
- China Southeast
- India
- Japan
- Jawa
- Lesser Sunda Is.
- Malaya
- Myanmar
- Nansei-shoto
- New Guinea
- Philippines
- Sulawesi
- Sumatera
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Vietnam
- West Himalaya
stem plant background midground foreground Conservation status: LC
A tangle of thin brittle stems that grows almost anywhere and asks for nothing. It floats or is tucked into the substrate, takes nutrients out of the water and gives fry the safest cover there is.
- Light
- medium–high
- Difficulty
- easy
- Temperature
- 18 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratefast
Tolerates lightmedium – high
Carbonate hardness1 – 14 °dKH
Placementbackground, midground +1
Propagationfragmentation, cuttings +2
Grows emersedno
Appearance
Fine branched stems with narrow leaves form an untidy bright-green thicket. The stems snap easily, and each broken piece grows on.
Keeping
One of the least demanding plants there is: any light, any water, no carbon dioxide. The trouble is the speed — it fills the tank in weeks and needs thinning by the handful. In a filter intake it also collects and clogs.
Placement
Floating or pushed into the substrate anywhere. It is above all a breeding and shrimp plant: fry and shrimp live inside the tangle and grow up unharmed.
Propagation
By itself: any broken stem carries on growing. Nothing needs doing.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1016 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 BotiaMarbled 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