Pygmy chain sword
Helanthium tenellum
PlantsFreshwater
- Care level
- Easy
- Maximum size
- 10 cm
- Temperature
- 20–28 °C
- pH
- 6–7.5
- Light
- Medium
- Diet
- Photosynthetic
Care at a glance
The pygmy chain sword is a grassy foreground plant that creeps across the substrate on runners and forms a dense, ten-centimetre carpet within a few months. Under strong light the leaves stay short and take on a reddish-brown tint; in shade they grow longer and greener.
Plant loose clumps a few centimetres apart in a nutrient-rich substrate and let the runners do the work. It grows without CO2 too, just more slowly. Trim the carpet back now and then and thin out overly dense patches, otherwise the lower layer dies off for lack of light.
Related species
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Values are mainstream hobbyist guidance, not gospel — always watch what your own animals need.