Red Cabomba

Cabomba furcata

Feathery whorls of needle-thin leaves in crimson and wine red — like small red pines standing in the substrate. The most beautiful cabomba and the hardest one to keep.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: difficult
Temperature: 20 – 35 °C (68 – 95 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 7 °dKH
Placement: red accent, background +1 red accent, background, midground
Propagation: cuttings, division +1 cuttings, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: no

Appearance

The leaves are cut into fine threads and set in whorls around the stem; colour runs from olive-pink to deep red, deeper the brighter the light. A tall stem plant that reaches the surface in a mid-sized tank.

Keeping

Difficult, and it does not forgive shortcuts: it needs strong light, carbon dioxide and steady feeding, otherwise the lower whorls fall apart and the stem goes bare. Soft, slightly acidic water suits it. It grows fast, so it also needs regular trimming — this is a plant for someone who tends the tank weekly.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a group of several stems: a single stem looks thin. Its red stands out sharply against green neighbours, which is the usual reason for planting it.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top 10–15 cm and plant it; the old stem branches below the cut. The brittle stems break easily, so handle them by the base.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1014 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Zebra Mbuna

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 Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly 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 Aulonocara maylandi Aulonocara multicolor Aulonocara Orchid Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearlscale Cichlid Pearl Cichlid Redbelly Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Chuco godmanni 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.

Other varieties: Cabomba piauhyensis, Cabomba furcata piauhyensis, Cabomba furcata piauhyensis Topf, Cabomba Piauhyensis Red

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Cabomba piauhyensis Gardner, Cabomba warmingii Casp., Cabomba piauhiensis, Cabomba piauhyensis piauhyensis, Cabomba pubescens, Cabomba warmingii, Nectris furcata
Family: Cabombaceae

Red Cabomba

Tank conditions

Care and keeping