Scarlet Temple

Alternanthera reineckii

The red plant of the hobby: leaves from pink to deep wine, on stems that stay upright without help. It asks for good light to hold that colour, and that is the one thing it will not do without.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 5 – 60 cm (2 – 24 in)
Temperature: 4 – 30 °C (39 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple +1 green, red, pink or purple, bronze or brown
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +4 background, midground, Dutch street, nano tank, foreground, red accent
Propagation: cuttings, division +1 cuttings, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow pointed leaves in pairs, green-bronze above and pink to purple underneath; in strong light the whole plant turns red. Height varies with the form — the dwarf ones stay 5–10 cm, the tall ones reach half a metre.

Keeping

Moderate to strong light is the main condition: in shade the plant survives but goes green, drops its lower leaves and loses the point of being planted at all. Carbon dioxide and fertiliser make the colour deeper and the growth denser. Water may be soft or hard.

Placement

As a colour accent among green plants — a group of several stems in the middle of the tank, or the dwarf forms along the front edge. One stem on its own reads as a mistake; a group reads as a decision.

Propagation

Cut the top of a stem, strip the lowest leaves and plant it. The cut stem branches and gives new shoots; side shoots can also be pulled off with their own roots.

Water conditions match

The water suits 841 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Alternanthera reineckii 'Kleines Papageienblatt'

Alternanthera reineckii 'Lilacina'

Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'

Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosaefolia'

Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosanervig'

Other varieties: Alternanthera reineckii 'Grün' ('Green'), Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia minor', Alternanthera reineckii 'Rot' ('Red'), Alternanthera reineckii 'Pink', Alternanthera reineckii Rosaefolia Pink, Alternanthera reineckii Cardinalis, Alternanthera Reineckii Bronze, Alternanthera Reineckii Rosaefolia Mini, Alternanthera Reineckii Green, Alternanthera reineckii 'Burgunderrot', Alternanthera reineckii 'Lila', Alternanthera reineckii 'Purple', Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosa', Alternanthera sp. 'Rosanervig', Alternanthera reineckii 'Red Ruby'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Achyranthes reineckii, Alternanthera pilosa petiolata, Alternanthera pilosa microphylla
Alternanthera reineckii: Briq.
Family: Amaranthaceae

Scarlet Temple

Tank conditions

Care and keeping