Red aquatic plants can make a beautiful visual display in your fish tank, adding a bold splash of color to your aquascape that contrasts perfectly with the green leaves of your other planting. However, red aquarium plants are notoriously difficult to grow and maintain successfully, but there are a few species that beginners can take on.
So, which red aquatic plant should you choose for your tank?
In this guide, we introduce nine of the most popular red stem aquatic plants in the hobby and explain how to care for them.
Rotala Rotundifolia
- Light level: High
- Position: Mid-ground to background
- Care: Moderate
Rotala rotundifolia is a well-known aquarium plant that’s pretty easy to grow if you have intense lighting in your tank. The plant comes from Southeast Asia, where it thrives like a weed in wet, marshy areas, including rice paddies.
The appearance of this aquascaping favorite in the aquarium depends on its surroundings. To enjoy the best colors of this plant, you need to provide it with strong lighting, although it can be grown in medium light levels.
However, if the light is not intense enough, the plant tends to drop its leaves, and your plant will turn a yellow-green color. Grow the plant under intense light, and you’ll see that gorgeous pink coloration for which the plant is famous.
Rotala rotundifolia works well when grown with other low-growing plant species in the background or mid-ground of your fish tank. If you allow the plant to grow right up to the water surface, it often cascades down, creating a beautiful reddish-pink waterfall effect.
The plant is often used in nature aquariums and Dutch-style aquascapes as a focal point. When given the correct conditions, Rotala rotundifolia is a fast-growing stem plant that needs heavy, frequent pruning.
Ludwigia Repens
- Light level: Medium
- Position: Mid to background plant
- Care: Easy, beginner-friendly
Ludwigia repens is a good choice for beginner aquarists since it’s easy to grow and maintain. This is also one of the most attractive red stem plants you can choose for your fish tank, regardless of what aquascaping theme you use.
Ludwigia repens is widely and readily available at good fish stores. When choosing plants, look for stems with good reddish color and no damaged leaves. These plants can carry diseases and parasites that can harm your fish, so avoid any damaged specimens.
These plants grow best while they’re young and have plenty of time to acclimate to the conditions in your aquarium. If you have a small tank, don’t go for too many stems to start with, as Ludwigia repens propagates extremely quickly. You can populate your whole tank from only a few small plants.
Ludwigia repens is a root feeder, so you can use any substrate to anchor it. However, you should avoid sand, as that can suffocate the plant roots. During the first few months, use chemical fertilizer to support the plant and encourage a healthy root system.
Rotala Indica
- Light level: Medium
- Position: Mid-ground plant
- Care: Moderate
Rotalaindica, also called the Indian Toothcup, makes a perfect choice for a mid-ground freshwater aquarium setup. Unlike many red-stemmed plants, the Rotala Indica is pretty undemanding and adapts to most water conditions found in home fish tanks.
You can grow this beautiful plant across the water surface, provided it has sufficient light, CO2, trace elements, and iron. The annual herbaceous plant boasts colorful flowers and leaves, making the Rotala indica a firm favorite with aquascapers.
The plant’s stems are soft and squarish in form, with leaves arranged in perpendicular pairs. The plant has egg-shaped, cartilaginous green leaves at the top that change to pink at the bottom. These multi-colored aquarium plants are quite fragile, and we don’t recommend Rotala indica for tanks containing large, boisterous fish species that could easily damage the delicate stems.
When it comes to maintenance, Rotala indica needs regular pruning as it does tend to grow quickly. Trimming the plant helps it form a compact, bushy core with multiple side shoots that can make an excellent sheltered refuge for brood fish and fry. However, you need to thin out the lower leaves so that the plant gets enough light to thrive and maintain its vibrant color.
Rotala Wallichii
- Light level: High
- Position: Background or mid-ground plant
- Care: Advanced
Although this is not a natural aquarium plant to choose for aquascaping, it is one of the most popular and loved among aquarists. Rotala wallichii is a beautiful plant with pink and red stems and needle-shaped leaves. As a bonus, this incredible plant produces flower spikes with vibrant, purple flowers.
This aquatic plant needs lots of light to thrive. You’ll also need to provide your Rotala wallichii with carbon dioxide injection, iron, and nitrate. Also, Rotala wallichii grows best when kept in water with high phosphate levels. Despite its high maintenance requirements, this is an extremely rewarding plant to grow.
If you get the conditions right, the plant will grow right up to the water surface and produce deep red or vibrant, bright pink stems. The parts of the plant nearest the water surface usually develop the most intense colors and produce lots of lateral shoots. To propagate the plants, trim the uppermost shoots and replant them in the substrate. Lateral shoots will also grow new roots if you replant them.
To encourage more vigorous growth, you need to feed the plants with fertilizer and CO2 and provide them with intense lighting. Nitrate levels in the tank must remain above zero but not exceed 10 to 15 milligrams per liter.
For the best effect, plant three to five stems of Rotala wallicchii to create expansive, dense clumps in the mid-ground or background.
Ludwigia Arcuata
- Light level: High
- Position: Background or mid-ground plant
- Care: Easy, beginner-friendly
Ludwigia arcuata has delicate red and green needle-like leaves that grow in a thick, pointed form in opposite pairs along a red stem. This popular aquatic plant species adds dimension and movement to your aquarium.
The leaves can be green or red, depending on how much iron is in the water. Adding iron to the tank can promote healthy, vigorous growth and encourage more vibrant colors. This plant also needs bright lighting. Although its addition can encourage robust growth, CO2 is not required for Ludwigia arcuata.
The plant can grow emersed or submerged. However, when emerged, the plant grows green, round leaves. That said, if the plant is submerged under bright lights, the leaves will become orange-red and thinner in form.
Ludwigia arcuata is a slower-growing plant than other red stem species, but you still need to trim it regularly to encourage a bushy growth habit. Prune the stem’s top to encourage new shoots to grow from the node.
Ludwigia Palustris
- Light level: High
- Position: Foreground plant
- Care: Easy, beginner-friendly
Ludwigia palustris is a gorgeous plant that can add a splash of color to your aquascape without being as difficult to cultivate and maintain as other colorful aquatic plants.
This is a good plant to grow in the foreground of your tank to create a stunning focal point. Ludwigia palustris can have orange, red, or gold leaves, depending on your aquarium conditions. High lighting levels are needed to bring out the plant’s most impressive colors, and feeding also helps.
The plant grows immersed or submerged but is much more challenging to grow in its emersed form. Ludwigia palustris sends out side shoots that can be trimmed to encourage denser growth and can also be used to propagate the plant.
Alternanthera Reineckii Mini
- Light level: High
- Position: Foreground plant
- Care: Advanced, challenging
Alternanthera reineckii mini is a demanding plant to grow and is a slow-growing, dwarf variety of an aquarium favorite. The plant is ideal as a foreground specimen in large tanks, producing flowers when grown emersed. The plant’s leaves have shades and shape varying from brown and sage-green to purple-red.
Plant Alternanthera reineckii mini in small groups around the center of the tank where the plant will get the most light, which is necessary for optimal color. This plant can grow pretty dense, so don’t overplant it, or you risk encroaching on your fish’s swimming space.
Add iron to the water for best red coloration, trim the plant regularly to prevent overgrowth, and create a gorgeous red carpet effect in the tank foreground. To propagate the plant, simply cut and replant pieces of the stem into a soil-based substrate.
Ludwigia Glandulosa
- Light level: High
- Position: background plant
- Care: Moderate
Ludwigia glandulosa is an extremely colorful aquarium plant, although it is not a good choice for beginners. This striking plant’s purple and red colors can make a wonderful focal point in any tropical freshwater tank.
For the best colors, give the plant plenty of intense lighting, a nutrient-rich substrate, and CO2 supplementation. The plant also needs temperatures below 77°F. The plant will drop its leaves or even turn green if there’s not enough light.
Unlike most other aquatic plants, Ludwigia glandulosa doesn’t branch out if it grows above the water line.
Proserpinaca Palustris
- Light level: High
- Position: Foreground plant
- Care: Moderate
Proserpinaca palustris is also known as mermaid weed. This herbaceous plant is relatively simple to grow, although it takes some time to settle in the tank.
The plant can be grown emersed when it assumes a saw-toothed form or submerged when its leaves are saw-toothed and orange-red. When grown under high-intensity lighting, the plant’s leaves take on the appearance of tiny, delicate combs. The plant’s color can be green to pink and even gold, adding a delightful pop of color to your fish tank.
This slow-growing plant needs enough light, CO2, and nutrients to grow well. If deprived of that, the mermaid weed will drop its leaves. Thanks to its slow growth rate, the plant needs only a modest amount of trimming.
Final Thoughts
Red-stemmed aquatic plants can make a stunning addition to every fish tank and a whole new dimension to your aquascape by breaking the monotony of an utterly green background.
The recurring theme throughout this guide to red stem plants is that many of the most colorful species need plenty of intense light, carbon dioxide, and additional nutrients to thrive. However, some red plants are suitable for beginners and require little maintenance.
What’s your favorite red aquatic plant? How easy is it to grow your red plant? Tell us in the comments box below.
