Product description
About the species
Marsilea minuta is a small fern from Asia, where it often grows in rice fields. The leaves are very small and rarely more than half a centimetre wide, and the carpet reaches only one to three centimetres in height. It is hardy, tolerates both weak light and high temperatures, and anchors itself firmly in the substrate. Better conditions still make it noticeably denser.
Facts
• Latin name: Marsilea minuta
• Plant type: Carpeting plant
• Origin: Asia
• Height: 3–5 cm
• Growth rate: Medium
• Position: Foreground
Light requirement
Medium light requirement. Reckon on around 0.5 W per litre or a modern mid-range LED unit. Too little light gives sparse, stretched shoots and pale leaves, while the right amount keeps the plant compact and richly coloured.
CO₂ & nutrition
Manages entirely without added CO₂, which makes it as suitable for a simple aquarium as for an aquascape. Liquid carbon or injected CO₂ speeds up growth but is never a requirement. Dose an all-round fertiliser with iron and micronutrients every week.
Planting
Divide the contents into many small tufts and place them two to three centimetres apart across the whole area. The more tufts you split it into, the faster the carpet knits together. Use tweezers and press the roots down without burying the leaves.
Rinse all the gel off in lukewarm water before planting, otherwise it can cause bacterial cloudiness. The cup holds many small plants — divide them up and plant them in several portions.
Care & propagation
Trim the carpet with curved scissors once it starts building upwards — that keeps it low and dense and stops the lowest shoots dying from lack of light. Siphon off the clippings right away, otherwise they root where you do not want them.
Position in the aquarium
Its low mature size makes it a foreground plant. Place it right at the front where nothing shades it, and let it form a continuous surface in front of the taller plants.
Difficulty level
🟡 Moderate — wants stable lighting and regular fertilisation to look its best.
Delivery format
Delivered as 1-2-Grow! — a laboratory-grown cup holding many small plants in nutrient gel. Because the plant is cultivated in vitro it is completely free of snails, algae, planaria and pesticides, which makes it the safest choice for a shrimp aquarium.
Recommendation
The lowest of our Marsilea and therefore a good choice for nano aquariums and small foregrounds. It sits so firmly in the substrate that digging fish and shrimp cannot pull it up.
