Marsh Ludwigia

Ludwigia palustris

stem plant red accent background midground nano tank Dutch street Conservation status: LC

(L.) Elliott

Other scientific names:Isnardia palustris L., Ludwigia × kentiana E. J. Clement, Dantia palustris, Isnardia ascendens, Isnardia nitida, Isnardia palustris

A red plant that manages without carbon dioxide and asks only for decent light. It branches readily, so a few stems soon become a bush.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 10 – 50 cm
Temperature: 4 – 30 °C

Leaf colourgreen, red, pink or purple

Plant typestem plant

Growth ratefast

CO₂ demandlow

Tolerates lightmedium – high

pH5 – 7

Carbonate hardness0 – 22 °dKH

Placementred accent, background +3

Propagationseeds, cuttings

Grows emersedyes

Appearance

Stems from 10 to 50 cm with small oval leaves in pairs — green above and red-purple underneath, and wholly red in strong light. The plant sends out side shoots on its own and grows dense.

Keeping

Easy: it grows in soft and hard water, tolerates dim light and does without carbon dioxide, though the red comes only with light. Trimming makes it branch more, which is the simplest way to a full group.

Placement

The middle and back of the tank as a colour accent; the shorter forms suit a nano tank. Plant several stems together — a red spot works, a single red stem does not.

Propagation

Cut a shoot and plant it; roots appear in a few days. Cuttings taken from side shoots root just as readily.

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

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

Ludwigia palustris 'Super Red'

Other varieties: Ludwigia palustris × repens, Ludwigia palustris 'Green', Ludwigia palustris Red, Ludwigia Palustris Sphaerocarpa, Ludwigia sp. 'Red', Ludwigia 'Mini Super Red', Ludwigia sp. 'Super Red'