Riccia fluitans - Dennerle InVitro

Pond liverwort (the scientific name is Riccia fluitans) is originally a floating plant. It also colonizes moist soils. Riccia is often used in aquariums where young fish are raised. Here they find shelter and hiding places. Also, fighting fish and other labyrinth fish such as gourami like to build their foam nests between the floating cushions.

The great inventor of the natural aquarium, Takashi Amano, introduced Riccia as a foreground plant and made this use world famous: Tied to flat pebbles or clay slabs, pond liverwort can also be cultivated underwater. The beautiful light green and fine structures thus form a great carpet in the foreground, which contrasts nicely with darker plants with larger leaves.

For the shrimp offspring such a carpet is not only ideal for hiding, the little ones always find something to nibble on, because suspended matter collects in the finely branched branches and because biofilms are formed here, which baby shrimp like to eat and which are a vital rearing food for them.

This pond liverwort was grown invitro in the laboratory. This way it is safe to use in shrimp aquariums without quarantine. It is guaranteed to be free of contaminants and will not bring any unwanted co-inhabitants with it. Carefully rinse the transparent nutrient gel under running water - and the plant is ready to be attached.

Riccia does not grow firmly to the substrate due to a lack of adhesive organs and should therefore be trimmed and re-tied at regular intervals. In this way you prevent the pads from detaching from the substrate and floating up. This is also a simple way to propagate Riccia: cut off excess and re-tie onto new stones.