Red Murdannia

Murdannia engelsii

Thin, strongly waved, half-transparent leaves in greenish yellow through brown-red to pink, with darker veins running across them like marbling. Described as a species only in 2016.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 20 – 28 °C (68 – 82 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple +1 green, red, pink or purple, bronze or brown
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 10 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Soft wavy leaves along an upright stem; the colour shifts with conditions across the whole warm range, and the cross-veins show slightly darker, which gives the leaf its marbled look.

Keeping

Moderate demands: good light for colour, ordinary feeding, carbon dioxide optional. In nature it grows on sandy river banks that flood, so it takes both submerged and above-water life. It is still uncommon and usually sold under trade names rather than its own.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank, in a group, as a warm-toned accent.

Propagation

By cuttings: replant the trimmed tops.

Water conditions match

The water suits 833 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: Murdannia engelsii in Vitro

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Murdannia sp. 'Red', Murdannia sp. (from Pantanal)
Murdannia engelsii: M.Pell.
Family: Commelinaceae

Red Murdannia

Tank conditions

Care and keeping