Dwarf Rotala

Rotala mexicana

A tiny rotala with needle-fine leaves that shade from green into salmon and pink at the tips. Small enough for a nano tank, quick enough to need scissors.

Light: high
Difficulty: medium
Height: 2 – 10 cm (0.8 – 3.9 in)
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Native rangeRange on the map

Angola
Argentina Northeast
Assam
Bangladesh
Benin
Bolivia
Brazil North
Brazil Southeast
Brazil West-Central
Burkina
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
China North-Central
China Southeast
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
East Himalaya
Ecuador
Ethiopia
French Guiana
Guatemala
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Honduras
India
Ivory Coast
Japan
Jawa
Kenya
Korea
Malawi
Mali
Mexico Gulf
Mexico Northeast
Mexico Southeast
Mexico Southwest
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
New Guinea
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Northern Provinces
Northern Territory
Panamá
Paraguay
Philippines
Queensland
Senegal
Sudan-South Sudan
Suriname
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Uganda
Venezuela
Vietnam
West Himalaya
Western Australia
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
pH: 4 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 7 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +3 background, midground, nano tank, foreground, carpet
Propagation: cuttings, runners
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Underwater the leaves are narrow, almost needle-like, in whorls along a reddish stem 2–10 cm tall. The plant sold in shops often looks different — grown above water it has round green leaves and changes shape entirely once submerged.

Keeping

Moderate demands with one firm requirement: light. In a dim tank it stretches, goes plain green and thins out. Soft, slightly acidic water and iron feeding bring out the pink; carbon dioxide is not required but makes the growth much denser. It grows fast and is trimmed often.

Placement

The front or middle of a small tank, or a dense low hedge in a larger one. Plant many stems close together — single stems look like weeds.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and replant it; the stem also creeps and sends up new shoots.

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 mexicana "Araguaia", Rotala mexicana "Goiás", Rotala pusilla, Rotala mexicana Goias, Rotala mexicana Goias Bund, Rotala mexicana Goias in Vitro

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Rotala pusilla, Rotala sp. 'Goias', Ammannia illecebrioides, Ammannia littorea, Ammannia mexicana, Ammannia pygmaea, Ammannia rotala, Hoshiarpuria minutiflora, Hypobrichia spruceana, Hypobrichia spruceana tenuifolia, Rotala apetala, Rotala decussata, Rotala diglossa, Rotala diglossandra, Rotala leptopetala littorea, Rotala littorea, Rotala longibracteolata, Rotala mexicana major, Rotala mexicana media, Rotala mexicana minima, Rotala mexicana hierniana, Rotala mexicana pusilla, Rotala mexicana spruceana, Rotala mexicana typica, Rotala mexicana apetala, Rotala mexicana chamissoana, Rotala mexicana mexicana, Rotala petaloidea, Rotala pygmaea, Rotala verticillaris, Rotala verticillaris spruceana
Rotala mexicana: Cham. & Schltdl.
Family: Lythraceae
Conservation status: LC

Dwarf Rotala

Tank conditions

Care and keeping