Oval Ludwigia

Ludwigia ovalis

Rounded leaves running through gold, orange and pink as the light gets stronger. Unlike other ludwigias its leaves sit singly along the stem, which gives the group a lighter look.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Height: 10 – 40 cm (3.9 – 16 in)
Temperature: 10 – 28 °C (50 – 82 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple +1 green, red, pink or purple, bronze or brown
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
Carbonate hardness: 1 – 7 °dKH
Placement: red accent, midground +1 red accent, midground, background
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Oval leaves alternate along an upright stem 10–40 cm tall. Colour is the point: green in a dim tank, gold through orange to pink and red under strong light and iron feeding.

Keeping

Moderate demands: good light and iron are what produce the colour, carbon dioxide speeds growth but is not required. It is one of the easier coloured stem plants, which is why it is worth trying before the fussier reds. Growth is quick and it needs regular trimming.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a dense bunch of ten stems or so — that is what turns it into a spot of colour rather than a few odd leaves.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top, strip the lowest leaves and plant it; the old stem branches from the cut.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1008 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 Spined Loach 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: Ludwigia ovalis 'Pink'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Ludwigia palustris ovalis
Ludwigia ovalis: Miq.
Family: Onagraceae

Oval Ludwigia

Tank conditions

Care and keeping