Eleocharis sp. mini
Eleocharis sp. mini is the smallest among Eleocharis spieces. For a long time it was believed that Eleocharis parvula is the smallest species of Eleocharis. Recently, however, smaller species was found, which was named as sp. “mini”. At the moment this plant is still very rare. But after a few years it will gain the same popularity among aquarists as its larger version. This article describes the difference in appearance and maintenance of these two species.
While Eleocharis parvula and Eleocharis acicularis are hard to distinguish from each other because of the identical long leaves, Eleocharis parvula and Eleocharis sp. mini have a clear difference in appearance. Eleocharis parvula has straight leaves, growing upwards, whereas Eleocharis sp. mini has curved leaves regardless of its size. Such behavior leads to a completely different look of the green carpet formed by Eleocharis sp. mini from the one formed by Eleocharis parvula. Firstly, green lawn of Eleocharis sp. mini is significantly lower. Secondly, lawn of Eleocharis sp. mini is curlier. Leaves of Eleocharis sp. mini rarely reach a length of 5 cm, normally 3-4 cm.
Eleocharis parvula (left) and Eleocharis sp. mini (right) at the same scale.
The environmental conditions are identical for both Eleocharis sp. mini and Eleocharis parvula, but variation mini grows significantly slower. This is the slowest growing species among other carpeting plants. Its growth rate is even lower than that of the Lilaeopsis. Therefore, lawn of Eleocharis sp. mini requires less trimming. In practice, only slight trimming of the roots is required because otherwise it may grow on top of itself and look a bit messy.
Eleocharis sp. mini is ideal choice for the foreground of nano tank. Its size is so different from Eleocharis parvula that both of them can be used within the same tank, Eleocharis sp. mini in the foreground and Eleocharis parvula in the background.
