Dwarf vallisneria

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a hardy, undemanding background val that stays shorter and finer than common Vallisneria, making it well suited to smaller and mid-size tanks. Push the roots into the substrate without burying the crown, keep it fed with root tabs since it feeds mainly through the roots, and it will carpet the back into a grassy meadow via runners. It does not need CO2 and tolerates a wide range of hardness and pH, so it works in most community setups.

In the wild

Vallisneria nana is native to the tropical rivers and billabongs of northern Australia (Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia) and extends through New Guinea, the Philippines, Cambodia and New Caledonia. It roots in sand and silt along the margins of slow rivers and pools, sending up narrow ribbon leaves. It is a fully submersed rosette plant that spreads by underground runners into dense grassy stands.

Good to know

The accepted name is Vallisneria nana R.Br., described by Robert Brown, with Vallisneria gigantea Graebn. treated as its only synonym. It is one of the narrowest-leaved members of the genus, with leaves usually under 1 cm wide, separating it from the broader V. australis. Like other tape-grasses it is dioecious, with separate male and female plants.

Did you know

Vallisneria flowers underwater but sends its female blooms up to the surface on a long coiled stalk that springs back down after pollination, pulling the fertilised flower back underwater to set seed.

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