Indian Toothcup

Rotala indica

A compact stem plant with small leaves that answer bright light with pink tips. It suits a nano tank and forgives more than most rotalas.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 5 – 20 cm (2 – 7.9 in)
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: medium
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground, nano tank +2 midground, nano tank, Dutch street, foreground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Thin stems 5–20 cm tall with small leaves in pairs. Under strong light the growing tips turn pink and the plant stays compact; in dim light the leaves grow larger and the stem stretches.

Keeping

Moderate demands: it wants decent light and answers well to added carbon dioxide, but it is not a plant that dies without them. Trim it often — cutting is what makes the group dense instead of leggy.

Placement

The middle of the tank or the front of a large one; a dense group can be trimmed into a low bush. Its size suits a nano tank.

Propagation

Cut a stem and replant it into the same group — that is how a thin bunch turns into a thick one. Every cutting roots.

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

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: Rotala indica 'Bonsai', Rotala Indica Green

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Ameletia indica (Willd.) DC., Ameletia acutidens, Ameletia elongata, Ameletia indica, Ameletia polystachya, Ameletia uliginosa, Ammannia acutidens, Ammannia elongata, Ammannia indica, Ammannia nana, Ammannia peploides, Ammannia polystachya, Ammannia ramosior, Ammannia repens, Peplis indica, Rotala densiflora formosana, Rotala elatinomorpha, Rotala indica uliginosa, Rotala indica koreana, Rotala koreana, Rotala uliginosa
Rotala indica: (Willd.) Koehne
Family: Lythraceae
Conservation status: LC

Indian Toothcup

Tank conditions

Care and keeping