Mayaca fluviatilis
Hardiness: Moderate
Lighting: Moderate to High
Positioning: Midground
Growth rate: Moderate
Size: 12″ – 18″ sometime higher
A beautifully delicate looking plant, which makes a great midground addition to any planted tank. Although it can grow pretty tall, it’s delicate thin stems make it more suitable as a complimentary midground plant rather than a background subject. It especially compliments an aquarium with taller stem plants in the background, creating a transition point or break in the aquascape, aesthetically easing the foreground with the background.
Not a particularly demanding plant, although it does fare better with Co2 supplementation, and through personal experience, iron supplementation is a must. It is a great indicator species on whether or not your aquarium is in need of iron. Potassium would also greatly benefit this species, making for stronger root formations, and thicker growth. Care must be taken not to make surrounding, faster growing stem plants over crowd this delicate plant. Through personal experience this seemed to be an issue in my aquarium, but was alleviated or easily dealt with when planting it next to a not so invasive growing species.
This plant is definitely one of my “Top 5” favorites, amongst aquatic plants, although I’m not ashamed to admit that my experiences with it haven’t been the most successful. Rivaling up there with “Rotala mayaca” as one of the species that’s given me the most headaches, I’ve seem to gain the upper hand in cultivating Mayaca now with the addition of more Co2 and iron as mentioned above.
Also to note, this species once went under the name “Rotala mayaca”, but is now placed in it’s own genus.
LUSH Aquatics 