Water Sprite Care & Is It Better Than Wisteria?

Water sprite is one of the easiest set-and-forget plants I’ve ever encountered. If you’re on the hunt for some, it also goes by Indian water fern, water fern, or scientifically as Ceratopteris thalictroides.

Regardless of what you want to call it, it works fabulously in goldfish, fry, breeding, and community tanks. It can handle low levels of salinity, harder water conditions, and a wide range of temps.

But it’s not perfect.

For one, people usually mislabel it as water wisteria (Hygrophila difformis.) PSA:

But, more frustratingly, it can quickly outgrow your tank, has a tendency of browning, and sheds tiny leaf fragments worse than an old Christmas tree. On its best behavior, it rewards you with its rapid growth, crazy oxygen output, and ability to keep your water clean and algae under control.

So today we’re going to answer two important questions. Number one: is it worth having? And – more importantly – is it better than water wisteria?

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Table of contents

Distribution & Natural Habitat

Most sources claim you can find Indian water fern on almost every continent. And that’s kind of true. You can find small, confined, populations of water sprite on almost every continent.

In reality, the majority is contained to the central and southern portions of India – hence the other common names. Though small populations exist in Florida (naturally) as well as in California (invasive.)

Indian water fern is usually found in marshes, swamps, and slow-moving bodies of water. But it can grow in ditches, puddles, irrigation canals, and basically anywhere else where the water is near-stagnant.

Its versatility makes it great for aquariums, but it also puts it fairly high on the list of potentially invasive species list. Though, it’s reported as invasive in relatively few locations.

Aquarium Care

You can float or plant water sprite. If you’re stead-fast that you’re gonna plant it, be aware that it does have a tendency to uproot itself. You’re likely going to need several plant weights or consistently replant it. Probably both.

The constant uprooting and replanting will eventually kill it. So my preferred method is to leave it floating. It seems to grow better that way. But – more importantly – it’s just less work.

And you guys should know by now that I’m all about less work.

Lighting

For water sprite, you don’t need any crazy or fancy lights. If you’re planning on floating it, you’ll probably want some less intense lighting. Once they start throwing rosettes, they can and will burn new leaves on your lights.

If you’re going to plant your water sprite, you can go a bit more intense if you want. But low to moderate light is fine. If you want to invest in some decent lights simply because you can, I have my top light picks below for you.

Fertilizers & Substrates

I’ve never felt the need to fertilizer these guys. But if you’re set on using fertilizer, you’ll want liquid.

Even if you plan on planting your water fern, you’re going to want to grab liquid fertilizer. Like most plants, they can use substrate, but they do best with liquid.

You could run Co2 if you want, but they don’t need it and it’d be a pretty big waste of money. In my opinion, at least. But if you’re really struggling with it, you could give it a go.

One of the best parts about plants like these guys is that they grow too quickly for algae to take hold. So you can bump up your fertilizer regime however you see fit with little to no repercussions for it.

However, if your tank is heavily stocked (like a grow out tank,) you might want to consider going a bit light on the fertz.

Again, I wouldn’t suggest fertilizers, per se. But if you really want to use them, here’s what I’d suggest grabbing:

Common Water Sprite Problems

One of the biggest issues people run into is browning. Which isn’t typically an indication of a problem with your plant or your tank.

These plants grow fast and they produce a ton of leaves. Even under the best of conditions, these leaves will eventually turn brown and die. But, in some cases, people think their entire plant is dying because of a few leaves.

With Indian water ferns, that’s rarely the case.

If your plant is unable to hold itself upright, then you likely have an issue going on. Clip off the dead parts, if you can, and check your water parameters. Typically fluctuation in parameters is what will get these guys to melt on you.

That’s the most common issue people report, but there’s a few others you might run into on the way:

Rapid Growth

Plant Debris

Water Sprite Maintenance

Maintaining water sprite is as easy as turning the lights on and off. It’s not hard.

However, it’s easy for this stuff to take over your tank. This is especially true if you leave yours to float. There’s a better than average chance that you’ll need to thin it out a bit.

The tricky part here is that water sprite grows new rosettes from its center. The leaves spread outward to make room for new rosettes. Each rosette eventually forms its own root systems and can be seperated into new plants.

But if you thin it too heavily, they all look… leggy.

Eventually it’ll fill in again. And eventually you’ll have to start the cycle all over. Though disposing of it is probably the biggest pain.

You can opt to melt your extras in a bleach and water mix, soak them in salt to kill them, or simply let them dry out. But in any case, you should be wary of just tossing them in the trash. They can eventually make their way down to your local waterways that way!

Propagating Water Sprite

Getting water sprite to make more of itself is an easy task. All you need to do is leave it alone.

If you’re in a rush, you can take relatively large clips of leaves and let them float. They’ll typically develop roots that way as well. But be careful to get a chunk of leaves that sit evenly on the water, otherwise you’ll get lopsided mother plants eventually.

If you water wisteria is planted, you’ll need to wait for roots to form from the joints of the plant. Once a defined root structure appears, you can safely break off the portion at the joint and plant or float the plantlet.

In most cases, however, it’s best to just let it spread.

What About Fish?

Most fish do fine with water sprite. But there are a few things to think about before you decide to go tossing it in every tank you own.

The first being that it does best with little to no water movement. So flow-loving species will be out of the question here. Or you’ll end up with plant pieces everywhere and nothing to show for it.

Additionally, it does best as a floating plant. Fish that needs lots of ground cover likely won’t love the fact that you can’t actually plant any plants in their tank.

And, as a final note, because these things get so big, you’ll want at least a 20-gallon stocked with fish that don’t need oxygen from the surface of the water. Or, if they do, you’ll want to be on top of trimming this bad boy back.

Again, there’s a ton of fish that this will jive with, but here’s a few if you’re lost for ideas.

Water Sprite V. Water Wisteria

Distinguishing water sprite from water wisteria is a bit tough. Especially when one was grown submerged and the other was grown floating. Since the leaf structure of both plants depends on how they were grown, it does make matters considerably more confusing.

So. As promised in the beginning. Which one is better?

If you want the ability to plant or float these, with a broad range of environments, and a wider range of water movements it’ll tolerate, with less maintenance and less mess, I’d say water wisteria. Sorry, water sprite.

Further Reading & Resources

Invasive.org – Water Sprite

IUCN – Water Sprite