Cardinal Plant

Lobelia cardinalis

stem plant midground foreground nano tank Conservation status: LC

Other scientific names:Lobelia fulgens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Lobelia graminea Lam., Lobelia splendens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Dortmanna cardinalis, Dortmanna cordigera, Dortmanna engelmanniana

A slow, tidy plant with round leaves of a bright light green, one of the few that keeps its shape for months without pruning. It grows in the middle of the tank and in the front of a large one.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 20 – 30 cm
Temperature: 4 – 30 °C

Leaf colourgreen, red, pink or purple

Plant typestem plant

Growth rateslow

CO₂ demandlow

Tolerates lightmedium – high

pH6 – 7

Carbonate hardness2 – 14 °dKH

General hardness0 – 30 °dGH

Placementmidground, foreground +1

Propagationcuttings

Grows emersedyes

Appearance

Upright stems 20–30 cm tall closely set with round leaves. Under water they are light green, above water dark green with a purple underside — a plant bought in its above-water form changes appearance completely once submerged.

Keeping

Easy and slow: moderate light is enough, carbon dioxide is not needed, and pruning is a rare job. In an open tank it grows out of the water and opens scarlet flowers there.

Placement

The middle of the tank or the front row of a big one; a group of stems makes a compact bush. Because it grows slowly it does not shade its neighbours out.

Propagation

Cut the top of a stem and plant it — it roots in a couple of weeks, more slowly than most stem plants. The remaining stem branches from the cut.

Water conditions match

The water suits 816 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

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Lobelia cardinalis 'Kleine Form'

Other varieties: Lobelia cardinalis 'Mini', Lobelia cardinalis Wavy, Lobelia Cardinalis Gigantea, Lobelia Cardinalis Red, Lobelia cardinalis 'Nana'