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Riccia fluitans

Crystalwort

°C
°dKH
Aquarium suitability: yes
Usage: Plant for spawning, Nano tanks, Water surface
Difficulty: easy
Growth: fast
Range and localities: 

Kosmopolit


Common names: 
  • Crystalwort
  • Floating liverwort

Habit, plant type:

  • free-floating submerged plant
  • free-floating (surface)
  • moss / liverwort or fern prothallium
Botanical name [?]: Ríccia flúitans L.

Major group (unranked): Liverworts (Marchantiophyta)
Order: Marchantiales
Family: Ricciaceae
Genus: Riccia

Description: 

Riccia fluitans aka crystalwort is a floating plant found in all the world. It was scientifically described and catalogised as early as 1753 by Linnaeus, however, Takashi Amano from Japan was the first to keep it submersed in his nature aquaria, using it as an epiphyte by tying it to wood and rocks with a thin fishing line. Thus, Riccia became one of the most favourite plants of plant aquaristis. Meanwhile it has found its way into most plant dealers' product catalogues. There are four different varieties (originating from Japan, Europe, Thailand and Singapore), however, only the variety from Japan is suitable for submersed cultivation.

Riccia fluitans is easy to cultivate. Its wide distribution may be attributed to the fact that it tolerates a multitude of different environmental conditions, e.g. water hardness levels of very soft to really hard, pH values between 5 and 8 and temperatures of 15 to 30 °C. As a floating plant it doesn't require high light intensities, and there is no need to fertilise with CO2. However, when cultivated submersed, tied to rocks and wood, the crystalwort's hunger for light increases considerably, and it also needs more CO2. The plant likes a high nutrient supply, nitrate, phosphate, iron and potassium are a must.

When kept as a floater, your Riccia plant may soon develop into an unsightly cluster. It is easy to trim, though, just remove the parts you want gone. Many times, Riccia is brought into a tank fixed to objects like wood or rocks, however. A hairnet is a good means to do so. Riccia is laid on and then covered with the thin net. By weighing down the net with small rocks you can create a Riccia carpet in the foreground of your aquarium. Overgrown parts may be removed with a pair of scissors, thus you can prevent the lower parts of the plant from dying off due to lack of light, too.

Takashi Amano has shown us the great potential of submersed cultivation of this plant when it comes to setting up a nature aquarium. He was the first to create carpets of Riccia in the fore- and the middleground of an aquarium. Used in this way, Riccia creates a warm atmosphere in the aquarium. However, it may also be used as a floating plant, of course, providing newly hatched fish larvae with cover and e.g. gouramis with support for their bubble nests.

References and further reading:
  1. follows
Light medium to high 
Temperature tolerance 4 to 30 °C
Optimum temperature 20 to 27 °C
Carbonate hardness 0 to 21 °dKH
pH value 5 to 7.5 
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 10 to 40 mg/l
Nitrate (NO3-) 10 to 50 mg/l
Phosphate (PO43-) 0.1 to 3 mg/l
Potassium (K+) 5 to 30 mg/l
Iron (Fe) 0.01 to 0.5 mg/l

Growth: fast

Propagation: Fragmentation, Splitting, cutting off daughter plants

Can grow emersed?: yes

Suited for outdoor cultivation / ponds: yes

Winter hardiness: hardy in Germany

There is no detailled information for cultivating this plant yet.
Aquascaping: fine-leaved

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TODO Riccia fluitans is also known as Crystalwort and Floating liverwort. TODO

Wasserpflanzen sind ein fester Bestandteil der meisten Aquarien. Beim Aquascaping, dem Naturaquarium, Biotop-Aquarium oder dem Gesellschaftsaquarium sind Wasserpflanzen nicht nur für die Wasserqualität entscheidend, sondern sorgen auch stets für eine optische Aufwertung des Aquariums.