Alternanthera reineckii 'Kleines Papageienblatt'

Alternanthera reineckii

A small-leaved form of Alternanthera reineckii. It was long considered the hobby's 'original' form of the species, but today it has been almost pushed out of the trade by the brighter 'Lilacina' and 'Rosaefolia'.

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

Height 10–30 cm. Underwater leaves are about 2 cm long and 1 cm wide. In moderate light the leaves stay mostly green, in strong light they turn red. It differs from the similar 'Mini' by a lighter colour underwater: 'Mini' is noticeably darker, a brownish red.

Keeping

Comparatively demanding and light-hungry: in dim light the lower leaves die off. Light medium to strong, CO₂ 10–40 mg/l, temperature 17–25 °C.

Placement

Its low height and small leaves suit it to the foreground and midground, and to a nano aquarium. Straight, symmetrical shoots make good streets in a Dutch-style layout.

Trade names

Imported from South America around 1963 under the trade name 'Telanthera osiris', it was for a long time the common aquarium form of Alternanthera reineckii; today it is rare in the trade.

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.

Scientific and other names, conservation status

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