Micro sword
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Also known asBrazilian micro sword · Grasswort · Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae (related species)
Water parameters
Light and nutrients
Substrate type: nutrient preferred. Propagation: runners.
Substrate compatibility
| Substrate | pH effect | Nutrient load |
|---|---|---|
| Aquasoil (ADA Amazonia) | lowers pH | very high |
| Mineralized clay substrate (Seachem Fluorite) | neutral / inert | moderate |
| Dirted tank (mineralized topsoil) (DIY soil substrate) | slightly acidic | very high |
| Inert sand (Pool filter sand) | neutral / inert | none |
With fish
Origin and habitat
A small grass-like aquatic of the carrot family, Apiaceae, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, the Brazilian micro sword or grasswort, native to southeastern South America from Brazil through Paraguay to Argentina, in marshes, river margins and shallow water. It makes rosettes of narrow, flat, bright-green leaves 3–8 cm tall and only 2–3 mm wide from a creeping stolon, spreading along the substrate to bud new rosettes and, in time, a grassy carpet. In the trade it is a foreground carpet, though less popular than dwarf hairgrass or HC because it fills in more slowly and openly, giving a natural-meadow look rather than a manicured lawn. The genus holds several look-alike species, including L. mauritiana and L. novae-zelandiae, and L. minor is often treated as synonymous with brasiliensis; all share the same stoloniferous habit.
Care notes
Moderate care, and really a high-tech carpet at its best. It needs strong light, two to three watts per gallon or the LED equivalent, for a dense carpet, and CO2 makes a big difference; in a low-tech tank it grows slowly if at all, leaving a sparse, open mat that takes many months, while with CO2 and bright light it knits together in six to ten weeks. It is a root feeder, so plant small tissue-culture portions a couple of centimetres apart in a nutrient-rich substrate, and use root tabs. It stays shorter, 3–5 cm, under strong light and a touch taller in moderate light. It spreads on its own by stolons that root new plantlets, which can be cut and replanted. It grows best warm, in the low-to-mid 20s Celsius, but tolerates cooler water better than most tropical carpets, which makes it usable in unheated temperate tanks. Trim the top to control height. Digging fish can tear up the shallow stolon network, so avoid earth-moving cichlids and geophagus. It is an ornamental carpet, not a crop, so it is unsuited to media-bed aquaponics or hydroponics.