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I've been trying to research foreground plants for a low light tank without CO2. From what I've read, this species can survive in low-light. The only marsilea species listed on tropica.com is Marsilea hirsuta. According to tropica.com it is a difficult plant but can be grown in a very low-high light. I found this additional information about Marsilea indicating that it grows well in 1.5 wpg without CO2. based on my reading I don't understand why this plant is considered "difficult" if it can be grown in low light without adding CO2.

Does anyone have personal experience growing marsilea in a low light, low tech tank? What type did you have and what kind of results did you get? Any personal experience, good or bad, that you can share is appreciated.

note: edited to repair link

Last edited by zoeandmaia at 04-Sep-2005 00:02

I'm not sure if there's more than one type of Marsilea as Tropica say that the scientific name has not settled yet, but the one I had for a short while was labeled Marsilea crenata. I think it's the same one.

Anyway, I was growing it in a non-co2 tank with a little over 1wpg. When planting it, at first I thought it was dying, but that was just because it was grown emersed. After a week or two new leaves formed. It was a bit strange as the new leaves actually came out about two centimeters away from where I planted it while the rhizome grew in the substrate, so it was unexpected. In any case, it wasn't very demanding at all and kept on growing until I took it out, not long after. The leaves grow about a centimeter or two from each other, which leaves some space between them. They also grow in a straight line from the centre away from where you've planted it, so you'd need to cut and replant if you want to create a carpet effect.

In any case, I wouldn't call it difficult. I wasn't paying any attention to it and it grew well. Leaves are a bit bigger and taller than those of glosso and as far as I understand the number of leaves (1 - 4) depends on the light intensity.

Hope this helps.

Untitled - Thanks for sharing your knowledge of this plant. Since you removed it from your tank after such a short period, I assume that you didn't care for it. What was it that you didn't like?

thanks again.

I really can't tell you now as it was quite a while ago. It might have been due to a change of heart about the whole aquascape and the poor Marsilea paid the price... I think that for a low-medium light tank it is a great alternative for glosso and it looks much like it, only bigger. It grew quite fast (considering the lights of the tank and the lack of CO2).

If your tank is not too big, I would recommend adding Seachem Excel to the tank as it greatly helps the plants. Start off by adding the recommended dose and after a week slowly up the dose until you add twice the recommended dose. Some plants are said not to like Excel, like anachris, vals and crypts, but I have a crypt in that tank and it doesn't seem to mind the Excel at all.



Last edited by untitled at 04-Sep-2005 05:11

Somewhere on the krib is a conversation about different marsilea species and their origin. I have marsilea crenata. It's not all that fast of a grower but so far has seemed nearly impossible to kill. I've had a few pieces break off and float around the tank for months and still grow when planted again. I've put it in 1wpg up to 4wpg with and without co2. In lower light it grows taller with fewer leaves and very slowly. In higher light it grows shorter with up to 4 leaves and a bit quicker but I don't think it grows much faster than my anubias and crypts. It's my favorite foreground plant because it grows fast enough I don't have to plant the entire front of the tank right off but slow enough it doesn't require much work to contain it.

Okay, thanks for all the information. I'll add this plant to my very short list of possible foreground plants for my low-light, low-tech tanks.

Right now it looks like availablilty may be an issue. It is out of stock under aquarium plants at the online aquatic plant resource that I was leaning towards. They do have it available under pond plants. What would the difference be?

Maybe a different size or slightly different growth from different lighting conditions or 1 is grown emersed and 1 submerged? Other than that I'm not really sure unless it's all sold out and they just forgot to mark it in the pond plants. Even if it was grown under different conditions it should adapt to your tank but it might look like it's completely dying off at first. All the leaves will fall off and it will turn into a mass of stems for a few days until it gets new growth that's adapted to your tank conditions.