Lowland Rotala

Rotala ramosior

The only rotala native to North America, and one of the reddest: straight, barely branched stems with narrow leaves that turn orange and red under strong light.

Light: high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Native rangeRange on the map

Alabama
Argentina Northeast
Arizona
Arkansas
Belize
Bolivia
British Columbia
California
Colombia
Colorado
Connecticut
Costa Rica
Cuba
Delaware
District of Columbia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Florida
Georgia
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Jamaica
Kansas
Kentucky
Leeward Is.
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Mexico Central
Mexico Gulf
Mexico Northeast
Mexico Northwest
Mexico Southeast
Mexico Southwest
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Netherlands Antilles
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Nicaragua
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Ontario
Oregon
Panamá
Paraguay
Pennsylvania
Peru
Puerto Rico
Rhode I.
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Trinidad-Tobago
Venezuelan Antilles
Venezuela
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Windward Is.
Wisconsin

Leaf colour: green, red
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: slow
pH: 4 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 7 °dKH
Placement: background, midground +3 background, midground, red accent, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Long narrow leaves in pairs, each pair set at right angles to the one below, along an upright stem. The colour runs from green to orange-red; the well-known 'Sunset' form is the most strongly coloured of them.

Keeping

Moderate demands with one hard requirement — strong light, which is also what makes the colour. Soft, slightly acidic water suits it and carbon dioxide brings out the best growth. It grows slowly for a rotala, so a group takes its time to fill in. In nature it is an annual marsh plant and it grows above water just as readily.

Placement

The middle or back of the tank in a group, as a colour accent. It stays small enough for a nano tank when trimmed.

Propagation

By cuttings: cut the top and replant it.

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 ramosior "Sunset", Rotala ramosior Sunset, Rotala ramosior Sunset in Vitro, Rotala ramosior Florida, Rotala ramosior Florida in Vitro, Rotala ramosior Florida in Vitro XL

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Rotala sp., Ammannia catholica, Ammannia dentifera, Ammannia humilis, Ammannia linearifolia, Ammannia monoflora, Ammannia multicaulis, Ammannia occidentalis, Ammannia occidentalis pygmaea, Ammannia ramosa, Ammannia ramosior, Boykiana humilis, Boykinia humilis, Peplis occidentalis, Rotala dentifera, Rotala ramosior interior, Rotala ramosior typica, Rotala ramosior dentifera, Rotala ramosior ramosior
Rotala ramosior: (L.) Koehne
Family: Lythraceae
Conservation status: LC

Lowland Rotala

Tank conditions

Care and keeping