Hygrophila Chai

Care at a glance

Overview

Treat Chai as a showpiece for a high-energy tank, planted as a small group in the foreground to midground where the pink tips read against darker plants. It needs strong light, injected CO2 and a steady supply of macro- and micronutrients in mature, clean aqua soil; in a tank with a heavy organic load it melts easily. Growth is slow even when everything is right, so keep faster neighbours and algae off it and do not expect quick cover. Pinch the shoot tips now and then to keep the group low and branched, and replant the healthiest cuttings. If the pink washes out or stems stall, look at CO2 and fertilisation before light.

In the wild

Chai is a variegated selection of Hygrophila lancea 'Araguaia' that appeared in cultivation at South Island Aquarium in Singapore; it does not exist in the wild. The parent species is an East Asian marsh plant that grows along ditches and wet stream banks, emersed for much of the year and submersed when water levels rise. As with Araguaia itself, the South American river name on the label says nothing about where the plant actually comes from.

Good to know

A cultivar of Hygrophila lancea in the family Acanthaceae, sold as Hygrophila sp. Chai and sometimes Pink Chai. The variegation strips most of the chlorophyll from the leaf margins, leaving a green to olive-red centre edged in white and pink, an effect much like Cryptocoryne 'Flamingo'. Because the pale tissue contributes little photosynthesis, the plant is inherently slower and less forgiving than plain Araguaia.

Did you know

A mutant this low on chlorophyll would struggle to compete in the wild, but sterile tissue culture lets growers keep and multiply it, which is how Chai reaches the hobby. The same route sustains Cryptocoryne 'Flamingo' and most of the hobby's other pink plants.

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