Leaf colourgreen, red
rosette midground
A garden variety of sword plant whose young leaves come up dark red and darken to green with age, so the rosette holds both colours at once.
- Light
- low
- Difficulty
- easy
- Height
- 10 – 30 cm
- Temperature
- 4 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typerosette
Growth ratemedium
CO₂ demandlow
Tolerates lightmedium – high
Carbonate hardness0 – 21 °dKH
Placementmidground
Propagationplantlets on the inflorescence +3
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Broad leaves on a compact rosette 10–30 cm tall; the newest leaves are deep red, older ones dark green. The colour needs light and trace feeding to appear.
Keeping
Easy: dim light is enough to keep it alive, but the red only shows under strong light and with trace elements in the water. A nutritious substrate and carbon dioxide speed it up. Its broad leaves shade whatever is planted beneath, so old outer leaves are worth removing now and then.
Placement
The middle of a large tank as a single specimen. It is a plant to build a layout around rather than one to plant in rows.
Propagation
By young plants on the flower stalk, and by dividing the rhizome of an old plant.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1017 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: Echinodorus × barthii, Echinodorus x barthii