Pogostemon helferi

Pogostemon helferi known as Downoi is one of the most beautiful foreground plant you can buy in the market nowadays.  This plant is quite expensive and rare in fish stores due to it’s sensitivity during shipment.  Most of the time, you can only buy this from some hobbyists and is definitely pricey compared to other plants.

Downoi takes time to adapt sometimes when introduced to a different water parameter but easy to take care nonetheless.  It can be used in both low light and highlight aquariums systems.  It grows smaller in highlight systems and grows larger in low light systems. Some fishes are known to eat this kind of plant like rainbow fish.  It doesn’t respond well on bleach dip so it is advisable to remove the algae manually.  If you want to propagate this plant, simply cut the plant about 2-3 nodes above the substrate and replant it. The mother plant will produce plantlets.

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