# Marsilea minuta, or Marselia quadrofoil



## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Hi there, I am not new to the planted aquarium but would like some info from people who have grown Marsilea Minuta, or Marsilea Quadrofoila. I have grown, in the past a nice carpet of glosso which was over taken by some wicked algae, (round 1, algae wins it!) After the algae cleanup I grew some H.C, with tremendous results, I got a free unidentified piece from aquariumplants.com, it was about 3 inches long and that was it, I put it in the gravel, (not knowing what it would do?) in my 125 gal and it took over the whole front of the tank with little to no maintenance just diy co2 and broad spectrum ferts. I had to move my 125 gal aquarium less then a month ago and thats when the H.C. took a tremendous dive, it just could not tolerate the move, I planted the huge piece of H.C. (probably 12" long by 8" deep) as best I could, I even cut smaller pieces off with good root structure and planted that also, needless to say, round 2, algae wins it again. I think stirring up my tank in the move made it impossible for the H.C. to recover, it just got more and more algae. Now I am left with a piece the size of a dollar and hope it will grow back but I am really doubting it. I just want to know other peoples experience growing Marsilea minuta, or Marsilea quadrofoilia compared to glosso or H.C. (sorry for not knowing the proper name).


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Hello,

At least three members of my NE APS group have grown this, and I've acquired both a small form (M. crenata, I believe) and larger form (possibly M. quadrifolius). Some discussions said M. minuta is a synonym for M. crenata. There is a LOT of confusion and debate about the names of the varieties available. I've recently planted the ones I got into two different "El Natural" tanks with soil underlayers. Apparently most of the available Marselia is grown emersed, as it is an amphibious marsh plant, and several varieties are common in Australia. Eventually, the submerged form will become a runner with pairs of small single-lobed leaves. It is a much, much slower grower than Glosso. But, it also requires less light, and one fellow club member said he has it growing back in among his crypts, and it invades pretty much everywhere but the darkest areas of his tank. I don't run CO2, so I probably wouldn't get that good growth. 

The smaller form has leaves probably 4-5 mm across, the larger about 8 mm across. The clump of smaller form I received had a lot of riccia snarled in it, and between cleaning that up, cutting them into little single or double node segments, depending on how much root they had, and planting it, it was a very, very long night, LOL! So far, so good. Because they're slow growers, black spot algae can be a problem, so I've got nerites in the same tank. I've only had to replant a few that came loose, so I think they've taken root. 

The difficulty is in 

1) getting a form that will stay submerged. Most varieties sold, especially through garden centers, are intended for ponds, where they'll send up floating leaves which have the typical 4-leafed clover look. 

2) getting it to transition to submerged form, in which it has paired round leaves along the substrate surface. This is why I was thrilled to obtain stock that was grown by other hobbyists, eliminating this transition. 

I've tried the plant a few other times, but in starting with emersed grown stock that had the 4-lobed leaves, the transition was SO long it didn't out-strip the algae growth, so in the end, an entire "pot" of the stuff yielded one useable strand of 5 nodes and another of 2 nodes. In my low tech planted tank, these have doubled in size in 4-5 months. Yep, its a SLOW grower! For comparison, even Glosso will double in my low tech tanks in less than 1 month, and some strands faster once they take hold.

So, if you're looking for something that is much slower in growth rate and can populate darker areas of the tank, its a good choice. Try to obtain it from other hobbyists, as the experience of transitioning it from the emergent form to the submerged form can be very frustrating. Although, I'm sure if you use CO2 and ferts this process could be speeded up, with a much better result. 

To my understanding, because of the difficult transition and slow growth rates, not many folks grow it, or if they do, they soon tire of it and pass it along. Lucky for me, I got a very good sized clump of the smaller form, and planting as single nodes, was able to populate a nice "lawn" in a 5.5 gal killie tank. I planted densely enough that even with the slow fill-in rate, it should look nice soon. The other piece I got (the larger form) was a single strand of about a dozen nodes. My sense is that this is what most folks end up with, and it hardly qualifies as a "carpet". So, if you do want to use it, get as much as you can, because it does not fill in very quickly!

Hope this helps!
-Jane


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

I have a submersed Marsilea species growing in the foreground of my 75 gallon. It looks like 1-leaved glosso, when it gets shaded or starts growing on the hardscape, it starts forming 3 or 4-leaved plants which are taller (making it easy to remove). It's spread out in the past 8 months to cover the entire foreground quite well. I have yet to need the "rip out and replant from scratch" method that often happens with overgrowth of glosso. In my setup, it's growing quite well but manageable, which I really like. It does predispose to collecting some algae on the leaves because the leaves last so long. If you have anubias collecting algae on their leaves, the same would likely happen to Marsilea.

I've tried the opposite - going from submersed to emersed - and find it takes forever as well. This spring I'll try again outdoors, hopefully with more success.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

thankyou, both of you, the info you have supplied me with is excellent, now that I know what it is all about I think I am going to have to try to plant some. Again tahnkyou very much. Nate


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Another variety is marsilea crenata. It has very tiny leaves and much shorter stems than quadrifolia. How successfull you are with it will depend on how much lighting you have and how tall your aquarium is. It grows much faster in more shallow water. Where are you located? Are you outside the USA? You should put your location in your profile! How is the availability of this plant in your area? Which one you choose may depend on availability more than anything else.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Robert Hudson said:


> Another variety is marsilea crenata. It has very tiny leaves and much shorter stems than quadrifolia. How successfull you are with it will depend on how much lighting you have and how tall your aquarium is. It grows much faster in more shallow water. Where are you located? Are you outside the USA? You should put your location in your profile! How is the availability of this plant in your area? Which one you choose may depend on availability more than anything else.


I am in the USA, I found out that it is no lomger available for export to the USA (M. quadrofilia). I have 440 watts of cf on 125 gal tank diy co2 and regular ferts.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

quadrifolia.... I don't think either one of us are spelling this correctly, is commonly available in the USA. Its grown by Florida aquatic nurseries, so is crenata. I sell both of them. Perfectly legal. The other one you mentioned is not sold in this country. There is no restriction on importing it as far as I know, but none of the Asian plant farms grow it to my knowledge either.

Oops, I didn't read all of Janes post... if crenata and minuta are the same specie, I concede I have no knowledge of it one way or the other, before Cavan or someone else jumps all over me. Perhaps Cavan could clarify the point if he has any knowledge of this particular name.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

aquaspot was telling me that he could not export them from Singapore


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## Aquaspot (Jan 19, 2006)

It's M.quadrifolia and yes, we grow tons of it here. We grow tons of most aquatic plants here anyway.

However, we don't export it to USA mainly because it's banned in CT. It seems to resemble another weed so we always need to be extra careful when dealing with the USDA (Plant Police :heh: ).

Sorry for not explaining this to you in detail earlier gibmaker!


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Well state and federal restrictions are totally separate, so unless you are shipping it into CT, you can still ship it into this country.

Both crenata and quadrifolia are available potted from Florida, there are other forms of M. as well sold for the pond industry here and are not suitable for the aquarium. They are quite a bit larger and grow only as a marginal plant.


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## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

I bought some Marselia Quadrifolia from Aquabotanic two months ago and have been very pleased with it. I have a 75g with 3wpg, Flourite, and C02.

I started with 5 pots and it has covered my foreground completely. While my Anubias may get some spot algea/green sheet algea, the M. Quadrifolia has not.

Since I don't have any experiance with Glosso I really can't compare the growth rates.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

*Re: Marsilea Minuta, or Marselia Quadrofoil*

thankyou, all of you!


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Marsilea minuta* in my foreground is very slow growing. It took about one month to get it established and rooted down, and now it's taking its sweet time spreading. But it looks good!

*HC*'s growth rate grows a bit quicker then the Marsilea. More small stem patches help it fill in efficiently. Once it gets set, it spreads quickly.

*Glossostigma* definitely grows quicker and spreads more easily than any of the above. Only problem is it grows too fast and can get vertical if there isn't enough light.

Gib, what foreground did you chose and have work for you?

-John N.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I have one of the Marselia species with the typical submersed form growing close to the substrate, dark green, with usually one, sometimes two or three leaves. One thing I found out about it is that it is incredibly resistant to the 5% bleach treatment, showing no damage after 3 or four minutes in the bleach. So, you can treat any Marselia you get without any fear of damage. If the bad hair alga is already in your tank, then treating new plants makes no sense. But, if you might be bringing in the bad hair alga with the new plant, you won't have any setback from the bleach treatment if the new plant is Marselia.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

Marsilea minuta and quadrifolia are tolerant of lower light levels but will spread more quickly with more light. If keeping a tank without CO2 supplementation, then Marsilea would be the best option of the three.

Hemianthus callitrichoides is a delicate plant and more sensitive to abuse by fish and inverts. It has a shallow root system and will grow bushier with less light. If keeping a smaller tank the tiny leaves of this plant will make the tank look larger.

Glosso is the faster growing plant. It requires replanting to keep it looking nice. This plant is more sensitive to showing signs of CO2 deficiency. If setting up a tank to create an aquascape that can be photographed after a couple of months and then tore down then this is the plant of choice.


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## Sketch (Jan 18, 2011)

i've been wanting MM for quite some time now, seeing how they form a beautiful carpet and low maintenance. i got lucky this afternoon, found a shop selling marselia minuta (labelled so, so i assume it is), its growing out of the pot. what's cool is in the entire bunch, theres some leaves which are the emersed form and some submersed. so this particular pot was in the midst of transition from emersed to submersed. i separated them, planted the single leaved stems in my tank, and planted the four leaved ones emersed. looks real good, if you ask me.

the other two (HC and glosso) forms beautiful carpets too, but would take more maintenance.


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## Jeffww (May 25, 2010)

M minuta does not like being pulled up very often. The rhizome or roots will brown up if you pull it up for some reason. But the plant will still be viable at the nodes.


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