Leaf colourgreen, red +1
Native range
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo
- DR Congo
- Egypt
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guinea
- Gulf of Guinea Is.
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- KwaZulu-Natal
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mozambique
- Nigeria
- Niger
- Northern Provinces
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- Sudan-South Sudan
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
rosette background midground Conservation status: LC
A water lily grown from a bulb, with big leaves that go from bronze to deep red with darker spots. In a large tank one plant is enough to become the centre of the whole picture.
- Light
- medium
- Difficulty
- medium
- Height
- 20 – 30 cm
- Temperature
- 15 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typerosette
Growth ratefast
CO₂ demandlow
Tolerates lightmedium – high
pH5 – 8
Carbonate hardness2 – 14 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementbackground, midground
Propagationrunners, seeds
Grows emersedunknown
Appearance
Broad heart-shaped leaves on long stalks rise from a bulb at the bottom. Colour runs from olive-bronze to red with dark speckles, deeper the more light the plant gets. Sooner or later it sends leaves up to the surface and spreads them flat on the water.
Keeping
It wants a nutritious substrate — the bulb feeds through the roots — and moderate light for the red to show. Carbon dioxide is not required. To keep it underwater rather than on the surface, cut off every leaf that heads upwards; the plant answers with more of the low ones.
Placement
As a single specimen in the middle or the back of a large tank. Its leaves are wide and cast heavy shade, so plants that need light do not belong under it.
Propagation
Young plants appear on runners beside the bulb and can be separated once they have their own roots. In an open tank it also flowers and sets seed.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1007 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
Swordtail GuppiesCobra GuppyBlood Red MollyButterflyfishRed Zebra CichlidJulii CorydorasRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraKenyi CichlidCuckoo CatfishGolden SwordtailHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus BrokopondoZebra Mbuna
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaSpined LoachMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMolly sphenopsBalloon MollyLyretail MollyMarble MollyHi-Fin PlatyHawaii PlatyBlue PlatyPintail PlatyBlack PlatyChocolate MollyMoonlight 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 AcaraAulonocara maylandiAulonocara multicolorAulonocara OrchidGeophagus altifronsGeophagus winemilleriPearlscale CichlidPearl CichlidRedbelly CichlidRed-spotted CichlidChuco godmanniHaplochromis philanderRed ChromideJack Dempsey cichlid
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Nymphaea zenkeri, Nymphaea lotus Knolle, Nymphaea Zenkeri Tiger Lotus