Leaf colourgreen, red +1
Native range
- Angola
- Botswana
- Cameroon
- Caprivi Strip
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- DR Congo
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guinea
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- KwaZulu-Natal
- Madagascar
- Mauritania
- Mozambique
- Niger
- Northern Provinces
- Senegal
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
stem plant red accent background midground Dutch street Conservation status: LC
Narrow leaves the colour of cognac — reddish brown with a copper cast, a shade almost no other aquarium plant has. It is beautiful and it is fussy.
- Light
- medium
- Difficulty
- difficult
- Height
- 20 – 30 cm
- Temperature
- 15 – 31 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratefast
CO₂ demandmedium
Carbonate hardness0 – 9 °dKH
Placementred accent, background +2
Propagationcuttings
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Long narrow leaves set close along a yellow-green stem; colour runs from burnt orange to red-brown, deeper the brighter the light. A tall stem plant that branches into a dense bush when trimmed.
Keeping
Difficult. It wants soft, slightly acidic water, a nutritious substrate, feeding and carbon dioxide, and it is fussy about one thing in particular: the lower leaves must get light. Shaded by neighbours or by its own top, they die off and the stem goes bare from below.
Placement
The middle or back of the tank, in a group of several stems, with room around it so the light reaches down. It is a plant for a tank built around colour contrast, not for a beginner's first setup.
Propagation
By cuttings and side shoots: cut the top, plant it, and the old stem branches below the cut.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1016 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
Swordtail GuppiesCobra GuppyBlood Red MollyButterflyfishRed Zebra CichlidJulii CorydorasRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraKenyi CichlidCuckoo CatfishGolden SwordtailHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus BrokopondoZebra Mbuna
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaSpined LoachMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMolly sphenopsBalloon MollyLyretail MollyMarble MollyHi-Fin PlatyHawaii PlatyBlue PlatyPintail PlatyBlack PlatyChocolate MollyMoonlight GouramiMelanotaenia parva
Will uproot it
These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.
Marble LoachPeacock EelForktail LoachGuntea LoachLong-nosed LoachHorseface LoachPearlscaleBlack Moor GoldfishShubunkinPainted PlecoFeatherfin SynodontisReddish Mystus CatfishBlue AcaraAulonocara maylandiAulonocara multicolorAulonocara OrchidGeophagus altifronsGeophagus winemilleriPearlscale CichlidPearl CichlidRedbelly CichlidRed-spotted CichlidChuco godmanniHaplochromis philanderRed ChromideJack Dempsey cichlid
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Nesaea crassicaulis, Nesaea Crassicaulis