Rotala rotundifolia 'Colorata'

Rotala rotundifolia

A form of Rotala rotundifolia that turns red already under moderate light, and under strong light gives a rich red colour with orange to pink tones; slightly prone to trailing growth, a trait even more pronounced in the similar 'H'Ra'.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Height: 20 – 80 cm (7.9 – 31 in)
Temperature: 4 – 32 °C (39 – 90 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 4 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 21 °dKH
General hardness: 2 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +1 background, midground, red accent
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

It turns red already under moderate light; under strong light the colour is a rich red with orange to pink tones. Slightly prone to a curved, horizontal to trailing growth habit — in the similar 'H'Ra', under the same conditions, the leaves are a little narrower, the colour paler, and this habit even more pronounced. Height 20–80 cm, plant width 2–5 cm.

Keeping

Difficulty medium: light medium to bright, CO₂ 20–40 mg/l, temperature 22–28 °C.

Placement

Red accent for the background and midground.

Trade names

Introduced as Rotala sp. 'Colorata'. Several forms of the species that turn red underwater are in the trade, and some of them are mistakenly sold as 'Rotala indica'.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1008 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Zebra Mbuna

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 Spined Loach Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly 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 Aulonocara maylandi Aulonocara multicolor Aulonocara Orchid Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearlscale Cichlid Pearl Cichlid Redbelly Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Chuco godmanni Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Rotala sp., Ameletia rotundifolia, Ameletia subspicata, Ammannia rotundifolia, Ammannia subspicata, Mirkooa rotundifolia, Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala rotundifolia: (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) Koehne
Family: Lythraceae
Conservation status: LC