Pantanal Ludwigia

Ludwigia inclinata

Fine orange-red leaves radiating from the stem in wheels. One of the most beautiful red plants in the hobby, and one that tells you immediately when anything is wrong.

Light: high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: red
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
pH: 4 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 8 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground, background +1 midground, background, red accent
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow leaves spread out in whorls around a slender stem, in shades from orange to deep red. In a group the wheels of leaves overlap and the whole clump looks like a red cloud.

Keeping

Demanding on every count at once: strong light, soft water, carbon dioxide and steady feeding. It reacts to changes quickly — leaves shrink, colour fades, the top stops growing — which is a useful signal but a hard one to answer. Growth is fast, so the shape of the clump changes constantly and pruning is a weekly job.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank as a centrepiece, in a group. It is a plant for a tank that is already stable, not for a new one.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and plant it. Success depends on conditions rather than technique — in a good tank the cuttings take without trouble.

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.

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

Other varieties: Ludwigia inclinata "Green", Ludwigia inclinata "Red", Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata "Araguaia", Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata "Cuba", Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Curly', Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata "Pantanal", Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata Cuba, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata Pantanal, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata Pantanal in Vitro, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata White, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata Cuba in Vitro, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata White in Vitro, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata Meta, Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata Meta in Vitro, Ludwigia Inclinata var. Verticillata 'Pantanal', Ludwigia Inclinata var. Verticillata ‘Meta’, Ludwigia Inclinata Green, Ludwigia Inclinata Cuba

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Ludwigia inclinata 'Crystal', Ludwigia inclinata 'Curly', Ludwigia inclinata 'Tornado', Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Curly Red', Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Tornado', Ludwigia sp. ''Cuba Twisted'', Ludwigia sp. 'Tornado', Jussiaea amasonica, Jussiaea goyazensis, Jussiaea inclinata, Jussiaea inclinata amazonica, Jussiaea inflata, Jussiaea repens inflata, Jussiaea verticillata, Ludwigia inclinata, Ludwigia inclinata verticillata, Ludwigia verticillata, SH1642311.08FU, SH1642314.08FU
Ludwigia inclinata: (L. f.) Raven var. verticillata Kasselmann
Family: Onagraceae

Pantanal Ludwigia

Tank conditions

Care and keeping