“Hemianthus callitrichoides, sometimes known as ‘dwarf baby tears’, or more commonly as ‘HC’, was discovered by Tropica founder Holger Windeløv during an expedition to a small rocky stream east of Havana, Cuba; it was described in aquaristic literature for the first time in 2003. Since its introduction into the hobby, HC has become increasingly popular and a foreground plant of choice, making this once rare plant moderately easy to obtain.” - Aquatic Plant Central.
I was first introduced to the world of aquascaping and Iwagumi through Takashi Amano. I find the field quite inspiring and complex. One of the first few aquatic plants I fell in love with were HC. As an initiate, I found that while there were a number of resources for reading available, they were not aggregated into a single coherent and comprehensive guide for these delicate beauties. This report I intend for initiates or as a reference to those unfamiliar with the species. I hope it will be of some help for anyone seeking to successfully replicate and cultivate a beautiful dense carpet of HC.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed” - Gandhi
“Detriments? Well I want to remind you that it was detriments like us that built this bloody Empire…” — Peachy Carnehan, Gentleman At Large