Hornwort
Ceratophyllum demersum
Aquatic Plants Difficulty: Very Easy
📖 About this plant
One of the easiest and most resilient aquarium plants, featuring whorls of stiff, dark green needle-like leaves along its branching stems. It can be left floating or anchored, provides excellent hiding places for fry, and actively absorbs excess nutrients and algae-promoting compounds. Often used in outdoor ponds and water gardens as well.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
☀️
Light
Low to high
💧
Water
Submerged in water
💨
Humidity
Aquatic (100%)
🌡️
Temperature
15-30°C
🪴
Soil
None required — can be free-floating or loosely anchored in substrate
🧪
Fertilizer
Absorbs nutrients directly from water, thrives without additional fertilization
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- Cosmopolitan — native to every continent except Antarctica
- 📏 Max height
- 60-180 cm
- 📐 Spread
- 30-120 cm
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Non-flowering
- 🎨 Bloom color
- Insignificant (tiny, rarely observed)
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Dark Green
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Perennial
- 📈 Growth rate
- Fast
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Non-toxic to fish and humans, spines may irritate bare skin
- 🌱 Propagation
- Stem fragmentation — any piece of stem will grow into a new plant
🛡️ Health & Safety
🐾 Pet safe
✅ Non-toxic
Non-toxic to fish and humans, spines may irritate bare skin
Common issues
- Shedding needles (leaves) when conditions change rapidly, Becoming too bushy and blocking light, Overwintering by sinking to the bottom and losing all foliage
💡 Care tips
- Excellent oxygenating plant for aquariums and ponds,Floats freely or can be anchored in substrate,Grows rapidly helping to control algae by absorbing nutrients,Can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures and conditions
🪴 Add to My Plants
One click — added instantly. Watering every 7 days, fertilizing every 30 days.
