Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosaefolia'

Alternanthera reineckii

The most widely sold red form of Alternanthera reineckii, also known as 'Alternanthera rosaefolia', 'Rosa' and 'Pink'. The leaf edge is wavy, the underside purple.

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 20–40 cm, plant width 10–15 cm. The leaf edge is wavy — in 'Lilacina' it is smooth; the underside of the leaf is purple and gives a strong contrast with green neighbours in the tank.

Keeping

Comparatively easy to grow: it survives in dim light and without CO₂, but will not show its full colour that way. The optimum is medium to strong light and CO₂ 10–40 mg/l; in low light it sheds its lower leaves. Unlike many red plants it likes a rich environment: nitrate from 10 mg/l, phosphate from 0.5 mg/l; in poor water a root fertiliser in the substrate helps a lot. Water from soft to hard, pH is not critical, slightly acidic is best. Temperature 17–25 °C, growth medium.

Placement

3–5 strong shoots give a red accent in the background; plant the stems with a gap between them. Propagation is by tip cuttings: the tip is planted in the substrate, the remaining stump puts out side shoots, and the clump becomes bushier. It is little used in nature-style aquascaping, but in Dutch-style layouts it is the most popular red plant.

Trade names

Also found in the trade as 'Alternanthera rosaefolia', 'Rosa' and 'Pink'.

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