Dwarf baby tears

Care at a glance

Overview

A demanding foreground carpet that needs high light, pressurized CO2 (around 20 to 40 mg/l), and a nutrient-rich substrate to stay flat and dense. Plant it in small pinches a centimeter or two apart on fine soil and let the runners knit together. Without strong light and CO2 it grows leggy, traps debris, and detaches in sheets, so keep flow steady across the carpet and trim it to encourage horizontal spread. Yellowing shoot tips usually signal iron deficiency.

In the wild

Native to Cuba, where it was collected from a rocky stream roughly 90 km east of Havana and brought into the hobby by Tropica in 2004. In the wild it grows as a low creeping mat along wet rock and gravel, partly submerged and partly emersed at the water's edge.

Good to know

With leaves only 3 to 4 mm across, it is often called the smallest aquarium plant in the world. It was long lumped under the broader Hemianthus genus and placed in Scrophulariaceae, but the lindernia-relatives are now treated under Linderniaceae. The 'Cuba' designation distinguishes this clone from the larger Hemianthus micranthemoides.

Did you know

Pearling is dramatic on a healthy HC carpet: under bright light and good CO2 the tiny leaves coat themselves in oxygen bubbles and the whole lawn shimmers.

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