Leaf colourgreen, red
Native range
- Assam
- Bangladesh
- China Southeast
- India
- Malaya
- Myanmar
- West Himalaya
stem plant red accent background midground Dutch street Conservation status: LC
Red and orange needles arranged like the branches of a small conifer. Striking, and one of the hungriest plants in the hobby.
- Light
- high
- Difficulty
- difficult
- Temperature
- 4 – 28 °C
Parameters
Plant typestem plant
Growth ratefast
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness0 – 8 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementred accent, background +2
Propagationcuttings
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Very fine leaves in whorls, angled upward along the stem, red to orange under good conditions and dark and stunted without them. Grown well it reaches the surface and branches into a bush.
Keeping
Difficult. It needs strong light, carbon dioxide and — the part that catches people out — constant feeding: iron and trace elements for the colour, and nitrate and phosphate that must never run out completely. In a tank kept deliberately lean it simply stops growing. Trim by removing the old stem and replanting the top rather than cutting the same stem again.
Placement
The middle or back of the tank, in a group, where the red stands against green neighbours.
Propagation
By cuttings: replant the top and discard the old bare stem.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 835 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
ButterflyfishJulii CorydorasRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus BrokopondoHomaloptera bilineataRed-tailed RasboraBoraras naevusLampeye KillifishSpotted Raphael CatfishCorydoras melanotaeniaFestivum cichlidPseudomugil paskai
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMoonlight GouramiMelanotaenia parva
Will uproot it
These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.
Marble LoachPeacock EelForktail LoachGuntea LoachLong-nosed LoachHorseface LoachPearlscaleBlack Moor GoldfishShubunkinPainted PlecoFeatherfin SynodontisReddish Mystus CatfishBlue AcaraGeophagus altifronsGeophagus winemilleriPearl CichlidRed-spotted CichlidHaplochromis philanderRed ChromideJack Dempsey cichlid
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Myriophyllum tuberculatum in Vitro XL