Hydrocotyle Tripartita “Japan”: My Experience with This Fast Little Runner

Hydrocotyle tripartita “Japan” is a small, clover-like plant that always looks busy.

It sends tiny leaves and runners in all directions, filling empty spaces between wood, rocks, and other plants. In a shrimp tank, it becomes a soft carpet where shrimplets like to hide and graze.

This is how I keep it under control and healthy in a simple, low-to-medium tech setup.

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Quick Profile

• Common name: Hydrocotyle tripartita “Japan”

• Type: Stem / creeping plant

• Placement: Foreground, mid-ground, around hardscape

• Growth speed: Fast when happy

• Light: Medium–high for a dense carpet

• CO₂: Optional, but helps a lot

• Good for shrimp? Yes – fine roots and dense growth for hiding

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How It Looks in the Aquascape

Hydrocotyle tripartita grows as:

• Thin, creeping stems

• Tiny three-lobed leaves that look like small clovers

• Runners that climb over rocks, wood, and other plants

I like to use it:

• As a foreground patch in front of driftwood

• Around the base of rocks to soften edges

• In small “islands” instead of a full carpet, so it’s easier to control

It can become a full carpet if you let it grow freely and give enough light.

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Water Conditions It Tolerates

If you’re using normal tap water and wondering whether shrimp can still do well, you might like 

No RO, No Distilled: Can I Still Keep Shrimp?

In normal Indonesian/Malaysian tap water (no RO):

• Temperature: 22–28°C

• pH: about 6.0–7.5

• GH / KH: Soft–medium hardness is fine

• Flow: Gentle to moderate

It doesn’t demand special parameters, but it does react clearly to light and nutrients.

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Light and CO₂: How Demanding Is It?

Hydrocotyle tripartita will usually survive in lower light, but:

• It grows upward and leggy, not as a nice carpet.

• Leaves get larger and spacing between leaves gets wider.

For a compact, bushy look:

• Use medium to strong light that reaches the foreground.

• Aim around 7–8 hours of light per day.

• CO₂ injection is not strictly required, but:

  • With CO₂ → leaves are smaller, growth is tighter, color is brighter.

  • Without CO₂ → growth is still possible, but slower and more “wild”.

In shrimp tanks without CO₂, I treat it as a creeping mid-ground plant rather than a perfect golf-course carpet.

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Planting and Getting It Started

When you buy Hydrocotyle tripartita, you might get it:

• In a pot with rockwool, or

• As loose stems.

1. Preparing the plant

• Remove rockwool gently from the roots.

• Rinse in tank water to clear any remaining bits.

• Separate it into small clumps (each clump with several stems).

2. Planting method (substrate)

You can plant it directly into:

• Nutrient-rich aquasoil, or

• Sand/gravel on top of a soil base

To plant:

1. Take a small clump with tweezers.

2. Push it gently into the substrate, leaving the leaves above the surface.

3. Space each clump a few centimeters apart – they will connect as they spread.

You can also wedge it between rocks where it will slowly crawl around the hardscape.

Propagating Hydrocotyle Tripartita from Just One Stem

Sometimes we only start with a single, lonely stem. The good news: that is enough.

Hydrocotyle tripartita naturally sends out nodes along the stem – each node usually has:

• One tiny leaf (or more), and

• A point where fine roots can appear.

If you treat each node as a potential “baby plant”, you can slowly turn one stem into a small patch.

1. Choose and prepare the stem

• Pick the healthiest stem you have, with several leaves along it.

• Trim away any melting or very damaged leaves.

• Aim to keep at least 5–8 cm of stem with a few nodes.

If the stem is very long and already has strong roots in a few places, you can cut it into 2–3 shorter pieces. Each piece should still have at least 2 nodes/leaves.

2. Plant it low and horizontal

Instead of planting it straight up like a normal stem plant, I:

1. Lay the stem horizontally on the substrate (like drawing a soft “S” shape).

2. Gently press parts of the stem into the substrate using tweezers.

3. If it floats, I pin it under small stones or pieces of hardscape.

The idea is to get several nodes touching or very close to the substrate so they can send out roots.

3. Let it settle and creep

Over the next 1–3 weeks (depending on light, CO₂, and nutrients):

• New leaves should appear at the nodes.

• Fine roots start to grab the substrate.

• The tip of the stem will usually creep forward like a runner.

In a low-tech, no-CO₂ shrimp tank, I don’t rush it. I just keep:

• Light around 7–8 hours,

• Gentle fertilizing, and

• Stable water changes.

4. Encourage branching by trimming the tip

Once the stem is rooted and has several healthy leaves:

• I trim just the very tip of the stem (a few centimeters).

• This small cut often encourages side shoots from some of the nodes behind it.

• The trimmed tip can be replanted somewhere nearby as a new mini-clump.

This is how one stem slowly turns into a “cluster” instead of a single line.

5. Divide and replant when it’s thicker

After some time, you’ll notice:

• Several nodes have their own small bunch of leaves and roots.

At this stage, you can:

1. Lift the stem very gently.

2. Cut between nodes so that each piece has:

   • At least 2 leaves, and

   • Some roots, if possible.

3. Replant each piece a few centimeters apart in the area you want to fill.

I only do a little bit of this at a time in shrimp tanks, so I don’t disturb the whole foreground at once.

6. A few small notes for shrimp tanks

• Try not to uproot everything in one go – shrimp don’t like sudden, messy changes.

• Replant cuttings in the same tank they came from so parameters stay familiar.

• Don’t bury the stem too deep; leaves should always sit above the substrate.

With patience, that single stem becomes a soft, busy patch of Hydrocotyle tripartita – and shrimplets will treat it like their own tiny forest.

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Fertilizing: Keeping It Green But Not Overdosing

Hydrocotyle tripartita is a fast grower, so it likes:

• A bit of nitrogen (N)

• Potassium (K)

• Trace micronutrients, including iron

In a shrimp-focused tank I prefer:

• Small, regular doses of liquid fertilizer

• Watching how quickly the plant grows and how algae responds

• Avoiding big jumps in dosing

Because it has fine roots near the surface, water column fertilization is usually enough. Root tabs are optional if your substrate is very inert, but not always necessary.

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Trimming and Controlling the Spread

If you don’t trim, Hydrocotyle tripartita will happily climb everywhere.

How I trim:

• I cut the top runners that climb too high or shade other plants.

• I lift and remove thicker clumps if they start smothering slower plants like moss or Java fern.

• After trimming, I replant some of the nicer pieces in empty spots.

You can also gently pull up whole sections if you want to reset an area. It usually regrows from bits left in the substrate.

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Common Problems and Simple Fixes

1. Long, messy stems with big gaps between leaves

Usually a sign of:

• Light too weak

• Or plant constantly shaded by floating plants or overhanging stems

What I do:

• Move the plant closer to the center of the light

• Control floating plant cover

• Trim tall stems and replant tips to refresh the area

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2. Yellowing or pale leaves

Possible causes:

• Low nutrients, especially nitrogen or potassium

• Very frequent, large water changes with no fertilization

What I do:

• Add a gentle all-in-one liquid fertilizer in small doses

• Reduce massive water changes (for example, do 20–30% instead of 60–70% every time)

• Watch for improvement over 1–2 weeks

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3. Algae on the small leaves

Because the leaves are small and numerous, they can catch algae if:

• Lighting is strong and nutrients are unbalanced

• Flow is very low in that foreground area

My response:

• Slightly shorten the photoperiod (e.g., 8 → 7 hours)

• Improve flow gently across the foreground

• Let shrimp and snails graze; remove worst leaves during trimming

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Why Shrimp Like Hydrocotyle Tripartita

In a shrimp tank, this plant behaves like a living mat:

• Thin stems and roots become a micro jungle for shrimplets.

• Leaves collect fine biofilm, which shrimp love to pick at.

• It helps cover open substrate, giving the tank a more natural and safe feeling.

Because it grows fast, it can also help absorb extra nutrients and contribute to overall stability—as long as you keep up with trimming.

A lot of this “fine grazing” comes from biofilm on leaves and roots – I explain what that is and how to grow more of it in Biofilm in Aquariums

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Closing Thoughts

Hydrocotyle tripartita “Japan” is a good choice if you want something that feels lively and soft in the foreground.
It needs more light and maintenance than slow plants like Java fern, but it rewards you with a bright, energetic look and lots of tiny spaces for shrimp to explore.

In a low-tech aquascape, I treat it as a controlled wild patch: enough to make the layout feel alive, but trimmed regularly so it doesn’t take over the entire tank.

Related reads

• Java Fern: How I Grow This Easy, Slow Plant in a Shrimp-Friendly Tank
• Bacopa caroliniana: The Sturdy "Lemon" Stem Plant That Never Gives Up
• Phyllanthus fluitans: How I Care for This Red Floating Plant
• No RO, No Distilled: Can I Still Keep Shrimp?