Dwarf Val

Vallisneria nana

The narrowest of the vallisnerias: leaves a few millimetres wide, more like tall grass than ribbons. It spreads by runners and makes a fine-textured green wall.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: very easy
Height: 30 – 60 cm (12 – 24 in)
Temperature: 15 – 30 °C (59 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: rosette
Growth rate: fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 6 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 21 °dKH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: runners
Grows emersed: no

Appearance

Very narrow dark-green leaves 30–60 cm long grow from rosettes on the bottom. From a distance a stand of it reads as tall grass swaying in the current.

Keeping

Very easy: it grows fast in moderate light and does without carbon dioxide. It feeds through the roots, so a nutritious substrate matters; a root tablet does more than anything added to the water. Sudden changes in the water may cost it leaves, which then grow back.

Placement

The back and side walls. The leaves are narrow and cast little shade, so plants in front of it keep their light.

Propagation

By runners: a shoot creeps under the substrate and a new rosette appears beside it. Cut the runner once the youngster has its own roots.

Water conditions match

The water suits 983 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 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 Zebra Mbuna

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 Spined Loach 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

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Aulonocara maylandi Aulonocara multicolor Aulonocara Orchid Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearlscale Cichlid Pearl Cichlid Redbelly Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Chuco godmanni Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

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

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Vallisneria nana 'Tiger'

Other varieties: Vallisneria gigantea, Vallisneria gigantea 'Curly', Vallisneria gigantea 'Marmor', Vallisneria gracilis, Vallisneria Gigantea 'Rubra', Vallisneria ''Striped''

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Vallisneria nana auct. non R.Br., Vallisneria americana biwaensis, Vallisneria asiatica biwaensis, Vallisneria asiatica higoensis, Vallisneria gigantea, Vallisneria gracilis, Vallisneria natans biwaensis, Vallisneria natans higoensis, Vallisneria spiralis denseserrulata, Vallisneria spiralis subulispatha
Vallisneria nana: R. Br.
Family: Hydrocharitaceae

Dwarf Val

Tank conditions

Care and keeping