# Dwarf Hairgrass - Eleocharis parvula seeds



## SirLancaster (Feb 21, 2010)

Hi. I want to put some hairgrass or similar carpet plant in my planted aquarium. The problem is that I'm in Panama, Central America, and the few LFS that we have here don't have anything similar. Inventory is very very limited (you would think it should be the opposite here in the tropics). 

Is it possible to grow this plant from seeds? If so, where can I buy them? I would mail order them.

Thanks.


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## Noto (Oct 26, 2009)

You should be able to find several _Eleocharis_ species growing wild in Panama, though I don't believe _E. parvula _is one of them. Other small species such as _E. acicularis, E. minima_, and _E. minutissima _can be found along sunny pond margins, mudflats, and wet ditches.

This company in Utah has_ E. parvula _seed. You will have to contact them for prices.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

If you can find them growing in the wild you'll have better luck than with seed. Just start hunting in all the wet areas you can find locally.


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## SirLancaster (Feb 21, 2010)

The lake nearby is invaded with hydrilla. Besides that, I have seen some floating plants, nothing else. Will take a better look. The other day, I went to a river inside one of our national parks and saw no plants. Perhaps because it was at the end of our dry season. I am a beginner in this topic, so maybe I'm confusing them with non-aquatic grass and plants (they could just be emersed due to the dry season).


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## Noto (Oct 26, 2009)

_Eleocharis_ seldom grow in normally submersed areas; they are immersion-tolerant marginals or emergents, and will only be submersed when the water level is high. Look along mudflats exposed by receding water lines, and along edges of ponds or sluggish streams.

They can be most easily identified by the cone-like inflorescence borne at the tips of the stems. When not flowering/fruiting, the stiff, round or triangular stems look very similar to some _Juncus_ or _Scirpus_ species. I don't know of an easy way to tell them apart. However, any of these genera is likely to do reasonably well submersed, so you may as well dig it up and try it!


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## SirLancaster (Feb 21, 2010)

Hi. Long time since my last post. I think that I found some eleocharis growing emmersed. Any tips on how to introduce it into the aquarium, in other words to transition it to emmersed?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

ideally you should put it into a high humidity emersed tank setup which really could just be some dirt, saran wrapped top and some lights. you want to avoid submersing it right away because the shock will kill a lot of it.


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## SirLancaster (Feb 21, 2010)

Neil, thanks for your reply. Obviously, I meant to transition from emmersed to immersed. Just noticed an error on my post.


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