Pygmy Chain Sword

Foreground Plant Height 2-3 cm 
Copes with hard or soft water 
Temperature 18-28c 
pH Range 5.5-7.5 
Prefers well lit aquarium 
Easy to care for 

Pygmy Chain Sword  is the smallest of the Echinodorus family growing to three to four centimetres in height and is a great aquarium plant for the foreground of your tank.  It originates from North America and is a prolific grower which will quickly multiply under most conditions, 

It likes good lighting but will also live under other plants fairly happily.  The young plants are sprouted from runners which push out under the gravel and will pop up and surprise you.  Let the plants get to a decent size and then cut the runner so that it is independent of the parent plant.

Easy to make friends with these as most people will appreciate a spare plant or two.

This can be kept in a pot if you want to avoid it trying to colonise the whole aquarium but letting it do its own thing can give a nice natural look to the front of the tank and help to break up the look of the gravel. 

It will need a fine gravel or sand ideally as a substrate to avoid any damage to the roots.

Read about Dwarf Hair Grass next