IntroductionAquatic plants are important living organisms in water environments that maintain oxygen levels, organic matter, and the feeding and breeding environments of other aquatic organisms (Cirik et al., 2011). The efficiency of any water body is determined by the amount of aquatic plants it contains as they are the primary and secondary producers of the ecosystem (Oyedeji and Abowei, 2012). Currently aquatic plants are gaining more popularity in traditional aquariums and water gardens (Maki and Galatowitsch, 2004). In the United States, water gardens are found in more than 16 million houses (http://www.ridnis.ucdavis.edu/ docs/hcrossonartcle..pdf). In European countries, aquatic plants are more popular and are imported from abroad for their ornamental and bioindicator features (Karatas et al., 2013). The aquarium industry is growing rapidly worldwide, including in Turkey, and most of the materials, especially plants, are imported from East Asia. The annual import bill of the aquarium industry approached 137.1 million euro in 2011 (http://www.eurofish.dk/images/ stories/files/Turkey/Cesme/3-HA.pdf).Aquatic plants are also used for phytoremediation because they have the ability to absorb heavy metals from polluted water bodies (Rai, 2009;Singh et al., 2012). They are also used to biomonitor (monitoring pollution) the aquatic environment (Zurayk et al., 2001). However, the use of aquatic plants for phytoremediation or as bioindicators in water bodies is confined by their limited availability.Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' , family Scrophulariaceae, is an ornamental aquatic plant and a native of the area east of Havana, Cuba. It is commonly known as "dwarf baby tears" or "HC" and was described in the literature for the first time in 2003 as a small rocky plant (Othman et al., 2014). H. callitrichoides has become an increasingly popular and attractive foreground plant of choice. This delicate, cushion-forming plant is best used between rocks or as a carpeting plant in aquariums. It is also well known for being used as decoration and an oxygen-producing plant in fish aquariums. It blooms white tiny flowers under favorable conditions, but the flowers are extremely small and easy to overlook. It is generally moderately to slow