TankBud

Dwarf hairgrass

Eleocharis parvula

Also known as Dwarf spikerush

FreshwaterCarpetingRunners

Dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis parvula)
Aquarium Plants Factory · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Light
Medium light
CO2
CO₂ beneficial
Temperature
59–82°F
15–28°C
Max height
3.9 in
10 cm
Growth rate
Medium
Placement
Foreground
Type
Carpeting
pH
6.0–7.5
Hardness
2–12 dGH
Spread
2 in (5 cm)
Nutrient uptake
Root + water column
Growth region
Submersed or emersed
Difficulty
Easy
Family
Cyperaceae
Origin
Cosmopolitan (temperate and tropical wetlands worldwide)

Overview

Plant it as a foreground carpet by separating tissue-culture or potted stock into small tufts of a few blades and pushing each into the substrate a couple centimeters apart so the runners can knit them together. It will grow in moderate light without CO2 but stays shorter, denser, and carpets much faster with strong light and added CO2. A nutrient-rich or capped substrate helps, and giving the new carpet a trim once it establishes encourages it to thicken rather than reach for the surface. Patience is the main requirement, as the initial spread is slow before it suddenly fills in.

In the wild

A genuinely cosmopolitan spikerush found in marshes, ditches, and the muddy margins of brackish and fresh water across temperate and tropical regions worldwide. It is a marginal wetland sedge, growing emersed in saturated mud and tolerating periodic submersion. Because of that wide native range it copes with everything from cool to warm water and soft to moderately hard conditions.

Good to know

A true sedge in the family Cyperaceae, not a grass despite the common name. The thin green blades are actually leafless photosynthetic stems, and the plant spreads aggressively by horizontal underground runners that pop up new shoots all around the parent. It is the smallest of the commonly sold Eleocharis species, distinct from the taller E. acicularis and E. montevidensis.

Did you know

Those slender blades are not leaves at all but modified leafless stems, so a hairgrass carpet is essentially a lawn of green stalks doing all the photosynthesis.

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