Plant ID: Is this rotala magenta?

[RachelG]

I went to several fish stores today searching for some plant species for my tank, which is ten gallons, with two clamp lamps providing 26 watts with 6500K CFL bulbs, and no CO2, but some use of root tabs, flourish excel and liquid ferts if necessary. Some of the plants I was looking for include dwarf sagittaria subulata, hornwort and hygrophila difformis, but no store had any of them. I got a bit flustered at the end of the day and wanted to go home with something, so I asked for recommendations for my tank and the store guy offered the plant pictured below. He said it was some kind of pennywort, but a quick google search showed that it is definitely not. I found some photos of rotala magenta, and it looks somewhat like that. I also read that magenta is difficult and has some needs that my tank won't provide. How do I care for this plant that won't cost me a bunch of money? The store I got it from is very far, and I don't want to go all the way back there to return a three-dollar plant. I will ask a nearer store if they would take it for store credit or something if there is no way I can keep one of these alive.

Also, I purchased some dwarf sagittaria on ebay just now. Hopefully they arrive in good shape.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I don't think it's rotala magenta. R. Magenta has much more skinnier leaves. That looks like Rotala Rotundifolia. I suggest at least moderate light, a good liquid fertilizer like Seachem flourish, and CO2. But if you don't have CO2 or care to get it, you can get by with dosing a liquid carbon like Excel (or Glut).

R. Rotundifolia is easier than R. Magenta.

 

[RachelG]

I don't think it's rotala magenta. R. Magenta has much more skinnier leaves. That looks like Rotala Rotundifolia. I suggest at least moderate light, a good liquid fertilizer like Seachem flourish, and CO2. But if you don't have CO2 or care to get it, you can get by with dosing a liquid carbon like Excel (or Glut).

R. Rotundifolia is easier than R. Magenta.

I looked that up, and it looks pretty similar. I hope it's rotundifolia. I would like to keep this plant, since it looks kind of nice.

Quick question, should I just bury the bunch in the substrate together, or can I space the stems out a bit? It currently has one of those metal plant weights attached to the bottom of the stems. I assume I am supposed to remove that.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

You can do either. I usually space them a bit and plant each stem separately. As you trim stem plants, they get more bushy. Two new stems develop from where you cut it and you can plant the tops to propagate the plant. I recommend using long skinny tweezers.

 

[RachelG]

You can do either. I usually space them a bit and plant each stem separately. As you trim stem plants, they get more bushy. Two new stems develop from where you cut it and you can plant the tops to propagate the plant. I recommend using long skinny tweezers.

Yeah, I need to get a pair of long tweezers. I watched a lot of aquascaping videos where the person preparing the layout is using tweezers to plant things, and it looks so useful. They seem useful for more than just plants, too. I didn't find any in the fish stores. I guess I'll look in other kinds of stores for them. Thanks.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah aquascaping tools help out a lot. But when I first started, I bought a cheap tweezer set from Harbor Freight (HERE). They were pretty short, but nice a cheap and got the job done. I had to really get my hands in the tank down deep to use them since they're so short.

My next set of tools, were an aquascaping kit... similar to this:
Amazon.com: SubstrateSource Stainless Steel Aquarium Aquascaping Kit 5-Tools: Pet Supplies

But my favorite are a pair of pinsettes that I luckily got on clearance for $10 from GLA. They look exactly like these but the steel might be a little different since this is their "newer" and more expensive line.
Pinsettes M 210mm | Green Leaf Aquariums


These might be good and cheaper alternative to GLA's. I plant 99% of the time with these sharp tipped pinsettes now. The "kit" I linked to earlier is okay... but I like these much better.
Amazon.com: U.P. Aqua Professional Tweezer: Pet Supplies