Leaf colourgreen, red
floating surface Conservation status: LC
The floating plant everybody knows: flat green discs the size of a fingernail that cover the surface in days. Useful for shade and for stripping nutrients from the water — and almost impossible to get rid of afterwards.
- Light
- low
- Difficulty
- easy
- Height
- 3 – 5 cm
- Temperature
- 4 – 35 °C
Parameters
Plant typefloating
Growth ratefast
CO₂ demandlow
Tolerates lightmedium – high
Carbonate hardness2 – 30 °dKH
Placementsurface
Propagationfragmentation
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Round flat fronds 0.5–1 cm across, green above and dark red beneath, with a few short roots hanging under each. They join into a dense mat on the surface.
Keeping
Nothing is needed at all: any light, any water, no substrate. The real question is how to keep it in check — it doubles in days, blocks light to plants below and clogs the filter intake. Scooping out most of it is a weekly job, and a few fronds are enough to start it all over.
Placement
On the surface. It suits tanks with shy fish and fry, and shades plants that dislike bright light. In a display tank it is usually more trouble than it is worth.
Propagation
By itself, splitting: each frond buds off new ones. Nothing needs to be done.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1043 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
Swordtail GuppiesCobra GuppyBlood Red MollyButterflyfishRed Zebra CichlidJulii CorydorasFeatherfin SynodontisRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraKenyi CichlidCuckoo CatfishGolden SwordtailHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus Brokopondo
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaSpined LoachMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMolly sphenopsBalloon MollyLyretail MollyMarble MollyHi-Fin PlatyHawaii PlatyBlue PlatyPintail PlatyBlack PlatyChocolate MollyMoonlight GouramiMelanotaenia parva
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Spirodela polyrrhiza