Staurogyne repens

Water parameters

Light and nutrients

Substrate type: nutrient preferred. Propagation: lateral shoots, stem cuttings.

Substrate compatibility

With fish

Origin and habitat

A compact, creeping plant of the acanthus family, Acanthaceae, Staurogyne repens (Nees) Kuntze (formerly Ebermaiera repens), native from Guyana through western Brazil, including the Rio Cristalino, on riverbanks and in shallow water. It is sometimes called Brazilian water ivy. The small, bright-green oval leaves, 1–3 cm, sit on short stems that creep along the substrate and throw up side shoots into a dense, low bush 3–8 cm tall, looking much like a miniature Hygrophila. It reached the hobby around 2008-2010 from Brazilian collections and became popular as a foreground-to-midground plant easier than most true carpets while still staying low, giving a natural, organic look rather than a manicured lawn.

Care notes

Easy to moderate. It does best in medium to high light, around 30 to 50 PAR; under low light the stems stretch up and it loses the compact creeping form. CO2 is not required but makes a big difference, roughly tripling the growth rate and tightening the internodes, with a carpet closing in four to six months with CO2 versus eight to twelve without. Plant small portions a couple of centimetres apart, pressing the stems in so they root at the nodes, and feed the vigorous roots with a nutrient-rich substrate or root tabs. Trim the tops to hold a height of 3–5 cm, which pushes side shooting and density. Propagate by cutting and replanting the tops or separating lateral shoots. Keep it around 20–28°C in soft to moderately hard water. It is a good middle ground between demanding carpets like HC Cuba or dwarf hairgrass and taller stem plants, staying low without extreme light and CO2. It is an ornamental, not a crop, so it is unsuited to media-bed aquaponics or hydroponics.

Further reading

• CO2 injection for planted tanks: what it costs, what it does, and when to skip it