Giant Red Rotala

Rotala macrandra

Large soft leaves of raspberry red — one of the most striking plants in the hobby and one of the most demanding. Without strong light, carbon dioxide and soft water it simply fades away.

Light: high
Difficulty: difficult
Height: 20 – 30 cm (7.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: high
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 4 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 12 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: red accent, background +4 red accent, background, midground, Dutch street, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Wavy translucent leaves, from pink to deep red, on stems 20–30 cm tall. The colour is the whole point of the plant, and it only appears when conditions are right.

Keeping

Difficult and not a plant to begin with. It needs strong light, added carbon dioxide, soft water and steady fertilising; where anything is short, the leaves shrink, go green and the lower part of the stem goes bare. It grows fast, so pruning is a weekly job.

Placement

As a red accent in the middle or the back of a bright tank, in a group of several stems. Nothing should shade it.

Propagation

Cut the stems 5–10 cm above the ground and replant the tops in the same group; the stumps branch and thicken the stand.

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.

Rotala macrandra 'Butterfly'

Rotala macrandra 'Green Narrow Leaf'

Rotala macrandra 'Green'

Rotala macrandra 'Mini Type 2'

Rotala macrandra 'Mini Type 4'

Rotala macrandra 'Narrow Leaf'

Other varieties: Rotala macrandra 'Pearl', Rotala macrandra 'Variegated', Rotala macrandra 'Wavy', Rotala macrandra Green Wavy, Rotala Macrandra Mini Butterfly, Rotala Macrandra 'Bangladesh', Rotala Macrandra Mini Pink, Rotala Macrandra Yellow, Rotala Macrandra Red, Rotala sp. 'Mini Type 2', Rotala sp. 'Pearl'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Rotala rotundifolia macrandra
Rotala macrandra: Koehne
Family: Lythraceae
Conservation status: LC

Giant Red Rotala

Tank conditions

Care and keeping