Salvinia natans is an easy floating plant that gently shades your aquarium, helping reduce the intensity of bright LED lighting. Ideal for tanks where the light feels a little too strong.
Give your plants everything they need to grow well without pressurised CO2. Neutro Combo is a top seller for low-tech tanks, helping plants stay healthy, grow steadily and compete naturally with algae.
Unique star-rosette Pogostemon helferi Downoi foreground in Tropica tissue culture
Tropica
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Common name:Little Star
Position in Aquarium: Foreground
Growth rate: Medium pace
Grows up to:
Pot size:
Origin: Asia
Pogostemon helferi, known in the hobby as Downoi (Thai for 'little star'), is one of the most distinctive and sought-after foreground aquarium plants, producing compact, deeply wavy-edged leaves in bright green arranged in a tight star-like rosette directly on the substrate. Its unique, highly ornamental form and naturally compact scale make it a standout specimen in the foreground of detailed planted aquariums.
It benefits from medium to bright light and CO2 supplementation for the most compact, well-formed rosettes and the most vivid green colouration. Without CO2 it can be maintained but growth is slower and the characteristic deeply ruffled leaves are less well defined. Soft, slightly acidic water and comprehensive fertilisation support the best long-term performance.
Supplied as a Tropica 1-2-GROW! tissue culture cup, this plant arrives completely free from snails, pest algae, and pesticide residue. Rinse the gel and plant individual rosettes into the foreground substrate. Suits aquariums from 30 litres upward — a unique and visually striking foreground specimen that is fully shrimp safe and a genuine favourite in the aquascape hobby.
The image of the plant you'll be receiving is just an example of what you can expect. Each plant is unique and may vary in size and shape, so it won't be an exact match to the photo. If we provide a size guide, keep in mind that it's just an estimate and that plants can vary in size depending on the time of year.
Tissue cultured plants are supplied young and grown in a sterile environment, so they arrive free from snails, algae and pesticide residue. They may look smaller on arrival, but each cup contains multiple plantlets designed to be divided and planted out, where they establish quickly with minimal melt and grow into place.
1. Grown in a laboratory
Tissue Cultured Plants are unique in so much as they are grown in a laboratory and not a greenhouse. As a result of this, a cast iron guarantee is offered which is 100% so snails and no pesticides.
2. How to handle them
They're a bit different from potted plants because they're grown in an agae solution that contains nutrients and hormones to encrougage plants to grow. Some agar is liquid, others are more solid depending on what the growers prefers. Regardless once they arrive with you, acclimatise to room temperature and then rinse under luke warm tap water. Then plant up.
3. Pot sizes
Nearly all TC pots are 5cm in diameter and the pots will range in fullness depending on many factors such as the natural growth speed of the plant and the time the grower has held them for. Sometimes the pots are exceptionally full and sometimes not so full - something we cannot control. But either way, they're still really good value when you look at the overall plant mass.
Its deeply wavy-edged leaves form a compact star-like rosette at substrate level. There is no other commonly available foreground plant with the same highly ornamental, ruffled rosette form.
CO2 is recommended for the most compact, well-formed rosettes. Without CO2 it grows more slowly and the characteristic ruffled leaves are less well defined.
It is manageable with medium to bright light and ideally CO2. Soft, slightly acidic water also gives the best results.
Yes. As a Tropica 1-2-GROW! tissue culture plant it arrives free from snails, algae, and pesticide residue — excellent for shrimp aquariums.
From 30 litres upward. Its compact scale makes it suitable for nano and medium planted aquariums as a foreground specimen.
Great product, great service and a really good price from Aquaessentials. I can highly recommend this company.
Very nice live plant, arrived looking very healthy, great addition for my axolotl!
Lovely healthy lotus about 8” high with good roots. Plenty of leave and after a week or so of being in the tank it’s kicking out new growth. Great quality and service from AquaEssentials as usual.
Ordered the 120l aquarium kit for a new setup we’d bought my dad for his retirement and I was blown away by the variety and quality of the items provided.
Everything was in perfect condition on arrival and, despite sourcing the wood locally, everything just worked around it.
My dad is over the moon with how it came out and the aquarium looks like it’s been established for a while already.
Highly recommend and would definitely shop here again
Much better than I anticipated , glued to rocks and looks amazing. Been in 2 weeks and new growth apparent. Looks amazing trailing downwards and wow do my shrimps love it.
Delivery great as normal with this company and will definitely buy here again 😀 👍.
Ordered this as I didn’t want to have to start from scratch. Firstly was very impressed with the care that the plant had received during packaging, arrived look fresh and healthy, put in my newly purchased betta tank and was immediately impressed. One week later still looking good and showing no signs of decline. Look to purchase more plants on wood it the near future. Would highly recommend.
Fabulous item and my shrimps were using it within minutes. Arrived earlier than expected and really well packed. Totally covered in healthy moss which is growing already. Have since ordered some plants on rocks and delighted with them too. Would highly recommend
Better than I was expecting and the service was very good 👍🏻
Lovely little plant in great condition and already starting to sprout new leaves. This is one of the best conditioned ferns I have ever got.
So happy with my plants I received chose the 12 mystery box as not disappointed great company and plants will totally recommend
Ive been wanting to plant my not so very planted shrimp tank up for months, and ive been trying to find the best plants to look nice (large in the back to smallest in the foreground) and i come across the scaped for you section. I am pretty much a novice at planting tanks as this is my first ever time doing it. Firstly id say that while this does come with a layout guide, it is only a guide and not a "how to" because it is only an image that is provided and nothing else. This isnt a bad thing of course because your tank is you own and you can do whatever you want with it. It took me about 2-3 hours to fully complete how i wanted it and set it up with the plants and after a few days of settling in looks so much better than i expected it. I love it and i think my shrimps do too :) - one thing to note i would say is if youre buying spider wood, make sure you weight it down or soak it for a long time before putting it in the tank as your first placement will most definitely float and cause some frustration. Id definitely buy this or another scaped for you option in the future if i wanted to do this again.
Did not expect the Lagenandra to look so good I love it. Great order again, fast arrival, & no issues 👌🏼
This is the second time I've bought from this shop and both times products arrived in good time and in very good shape. Plants are always a decent size and healthy
First time ordering plants online and I now have a permanent source. Not only cheaper but so much better than previous purchases I’ve made in store.
Can’t make a single complaint, next day delivery, great packaging no damage anything. And the moss balls are so tiny I love it. Can’t wait to add them to the tank.
They include little care sheets to figure out how to properly care for your plants if needed. Will be coming back when I’m ready to move forward with the next plants. Great company ☺️
All plants arrived in excellent condition and made a perfect addition to my aquarium
Store offers fast delivery, excellent packaging, and high-quality aquatic plants. Customers praise healthy plants, competitive prices, and responsive customer service. Wide range of plants, hardscape materials, and accessories. Most orders arrive quickly in gr...
