Product description
About the species
Staurogyne repens was found in the Rio Cristalino in the southern Amazon and is one of the very few genuinely low stem plants. It grows only five to ten centimetres tall, spreads in a bushy, creeping manner and carries small, fresh green leaves. Its closest relative in the hobby is Hygrophila, but Staurogyne is far more compact in habit.
Facts
• Latin name: Staurogyne repens
• Plant type: Stem plant
• Origin: South America
• Height: 3–10 cm
• Growth rate: Medium
• Position: Foreground
Light requirement
Low light requirement. It manages with the lighting that comes with most aquariums and is happy in partial shade behind or beneath taller plants. Strong lighting does not harm it, but raises the risk of algae on the leaves because the plant cannot use all the available light.
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
Split the bunch and set the stems one by one, about two centimetres into the substrate and two to three centimetres apart. Removing the lowest leaves first stops them rotting in the substrate. A group of five to ten stems looks far better straight away than single plants.
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
Top the plant when it reaches the height you want and replant the cuttings — that propagates it and gives a denser group at the same time. Trim regularly so light reaches the lower leaves, and discard the old lower sections once they start thinning out.
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
🟢 Easy — grows in most aquariums without CO₂ and under ordinary lighting.
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
One of the easiest ways to get a green foreground without CO₂ and without demanding lighting. Cut off the upright shoots as soon as you plant it — the plant then puts out creeping side shoots that cover the substrate instead.
