Say hello to Bacopa caroliniana!
Today let's talk about a very ornamental plant. Bacopa caroliniana is a great choice for beginners in aquascaping hobby. Read this article to see how to care for bacopa caroliniana in your home aquarium!
Bacopa caroliniana has quite thick and fleshy leaves, which makes it a plant very resistant to damage by fish. In good lighting, its leaves turn brown, while the shaded ones are light green. The root system is poorly developed, it grows up to 60 cm in height. The leaves are arranged opposite on the stem, two in whorls. The base of the leaves slightly wraps around the stem, which is hairy above the water surface. The leaves are oval to ovate with a rounded apex with a slight indentation. The dimensions of the leaf blade are 2-3 cm long and 1-1.5 cm wide. They have clear veins, they are light green, fleshy and stiff, with a delicate sheen. The stem is long, weakly branching, producing roots at the nodes. It blooms only above the water surface, producing dark blue or purple flowers with short petioles. Bacopa caroliniana almost always produces seeds. The above-water part of the plant has less foliage than the underwater part, and the leaves are dark green with a copper-red tinge. The leaves of the plant, rubbed in fingers, smell like lemon balm.
Planting
Bacopa caroliniana should be planted in a group. Single cuttings should be placed in the substrate with tweezers at a distance of 2-3 cm at an angle of 70 degrees towards the rear glass of the aquarium.
Trimming
As this plant is rather growing slowly, trimming is not often. The upper parts of the plant should be trimmed and the cuttings can be replanted in the substrate to create a more compact group.
CO2 injection
Bacopa caroliniana likes strong lighting which means that fertilizing with carbon dioxide is very beneficial for its health. Moreover it's a slow growing plant so CO2 injection is beneficial in terms of the growth rate.
Lighting
The lighting should be intense, about 6W/26 gallons of the tank water. In nature it occurs in marshes exposed to the sunlight so we should try to create similar conditions in the aquarium.
Water parameters
Water temperature 75-77 ° F, which should be hard in the range of 5-15 ° N, pH level 5-7.5. The plant tolerates periodic lowering of the temperature even to 61 ° F, while at high temperature it becomes gentle and may die, then the lighting should be stronger without fear of algae bloom. It's recommended to fertilize with iron.
Summary
If you're looking for a nice, blooming plant suitable for the background in your aquarium, bacopa caroliniana is a great choice. The advantage of this plant is surely its availability in aquarium trade. We always recommend to buy aquatic plants from in vitro cultivation. This will guarantee that they are free from pests and diseases.