Hemianthus Callitrichoides, or commonly called HC, Hemianthus Cuba or Dwarf Baby Tears, originates from East Havana, Cuba. This plant is currently the smallest carpeting plant that is available for Aquascaping, with leaves that are only around a millimetre in size. . Given enough CO2, lights, and nutrients, this plant will grow moderately fast. Increasing CO2 and light intensity will definitely increase the speed of growth.
HC grows up to three centimetres tall and spreads up to 10 centimetres horizontally. The small sized leaves make it a perfect plant for nano aquariums or for any layout in which a great sense of scale is desired: the small leaves create a vast sense of space within the aquarium, particularly if small fish and shrimp are used.
HC is commonly is also poprular for Iwagumi aquascapes and Nature Aquariums where a sense of depth and vastness is required. This plant is good for filling in tight spaces in your aquascape. We have found that this plant can also be used to fill in crevices between rocks or driftwoods.
How to Plant:
This plant comes in a 5cm pot. To plant them, simply separate each stem and plant individually into the substrate. If this method is too time-consuming, you could plant them in clusters that contain a few plantlets at a time.
Plant Profile:
An example of this plant used in an Nature Aquarium Aquascape: