What plant is this?

[Caliban07]

Hi can anyone tell me what kind of plant this is and why my swordtails and rams are eating it?

 

[Caliban07]

Sorry here is photo

 

[aqua_chem]

How long have you had it?

It kind of looks like rotala macranda 'green', but I'm not at all confidant in that ID.

As for why your fish are eating it.... not sure. It could be that they're not getting enough vegetable matter in their diet and are trying to get it elsewhere.

 

[Caliban07]

Only had it a week if that. It's almost salmon pink in parts. Ok good point I think I'll peed some peas this week. Cheers

 

[Jkeating8]

I agree with AC. It's hard to tell if it's Macrandra 'green' or regular Macrandra, though. Either way, i would suggest getting it out of the bunch it's in now and plants the stems individually. Macrandra is tough to grow correctly.

 

[aqua_chem]

It's hard to tell if it's Macrandra 'green' or regular Macrandra, though

This is true. I was mostly going off the green/yellow coloration, but given time and good lighting it could well color up differently.

 

[Jkeating8]

This is true. I was mostly going off the green/yellow coloration, but given time and good lighting it could well color up differently.

I concur. Right now it definitely looks like green. Especially since most of the Macrandra I've seen comes in blood red to my LFS.

 

[Caliban07]

The leaves almost look like tissue paper. Looks like a really fragile plant. Bought it to break up the green of the other plants but I don't think it's going to last long.

 

[Jkeating8]

Macrandra needs a high tech setup. I haven't had any experience with the green variety, but I have had experience with the regular Macrandra. It's a difficult plant to grow. Took me a lot of adjusting to get it to grow right. It's a good indicator of a balanced tank, though.