Leaf colourgreen
Native range
- Assam
- China North-Central
- China South-Central
- China Southeast
- India
- Iraq
- Japan
- Korea
- Manchuria
- Nepal
- Primorye
- Taiwan
- Vietnam
rosette background midground Conservation status: LC
Narrow ribbon leaves rising from a small rosette, spreading by runners into a stand of underwater grass. Undemanding, quick, and tolerant of cool water.
- Light
- medium–high
- Difficulty
- easy
- Height
- 20 – 40 cm
- Temperature
- 4 – 28 °C
Parameters
Plant typerosette
Growth ratefast
Tolerates lightmedium – high
Carbonate hardness2 – 21 °dKH
Placementbackground, midground
Propagationrunners
Grows emersedno
Appearance
Green strap leaves 20–40 cm long, narrower than those of the big vallisnerias. There is also a well-known form from Lake Biwa in Japan with spirally twisted leaves, kept in the hobby as a smaller, more delicate plant.
Keeping
Easy: it grows in a wide range of water, including cool tanks, needs no carbon dioxide and asks only for decent light. It spreads by runners across the substrate and will fill the space it is given — thinning the colony is the regular job, not feeding it.
Placement
The middle or back of the tank, where the long leaves lean along the surface. Good as a green backdrop for tanks with fish that need cover.
Propagation
By runners: daughter rosettes appear beside the parent and are separated once rooted.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1008 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 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
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
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Vallisneria asiatica var. biwaensis, Vallisneria sp asiatica, Vallisneria sp asiatica Topf