Leaf colourgreen
Native range
- Brazil North
- Brazil West-Central
- Guyana
stem plant midground nano tank foreground carpet
A low, bushy plant from the Rio Cristalino in southern Amazonia, and one of the few carpets that a beginner can grow without carbon dioxide. It creeps rather than climbs, spreading sideways into a thick green mat.
- Light
- low
- Difficulty
- easy
- Height
- 3 – 10 cm
- Temperature
- 20 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratemedium
CO₂ demandlow
Tolerates lightmedium – high
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness0 – 10 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementmidground, nano tank +2
Propagationrunners, cuttings +2
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Small spade-shaped leaves of a light, fresh green sit on short stems 3 to 10 cm tall. The habit is compact and branching, closer to a cushion than to a stem plant.
Keeping
Hardy and forgiving: it holds up in soft and hard water and grows in moderate light, only becoming denser and lower when light and nutrients are generous. In dim tanks the stems stretch upwards instead of creeping.
Placement
Foreground and midground, in front of taller stems or along a hardscape edge. To start a carpet, cut off the tallest upright shoots after planting — the plant answers by sending out horizontal ones that colonise the substrate.
Propagation
Side shoots root where they touch the ground and can simply be cut away with their roots. Cuttings taken from the tips root just as easily.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 839 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: Staurogyne Repens Variegated