Water Spangles

Salvinia minima

A small floating fern from tropical America, with paired oval leaves covered in water-repellent hairs. It grows very fast, which makes it a good nutrient sponge and a nuisance in equal measure.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 3 – 5 cm (1.2 – 2 in)
Temperature: 18 – 32 °C (64 – 90 °F)

Plant type: floating
Growth rate: very fast
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 21 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: surface
Propagation: fragmentation, division +1 fragmentation, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: no

Appearance

Rounded leaves 1 to 2 cm across float in pairs along a short stem, their upper surface covered in fine hairs that keep water off. A submerged, feathery third leaf works as a root.

Keeping

Undemanding and very fast in good light and nutrient-rich water. Pale leaves signal a shortage of trace elements. The mat has to be thinned regularly: left alone it seals the surface and shades out everything below.

Placement

Surface cover for open tanks, and a way to soften harsh lighting. The trailing roots shelter fry and shrimp.

Caution

Outside its native range the species is a serious invader of still waters, and several countries regulate it. Never release surplus plants into a pond, a ditch or a drain — dry them out or compost them instead.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1033 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 Featherfin Synodontis 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

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

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Salvinia minima gaillardiana
Salvinia minima: Baker
Family: Salviniaceae