Rotala Rotundifolia - quick question

[christian_cowgirlGSR]

I am considering the possibility of buying some Rotala Rotundifolia. I'm wondering how it handles being moved and how it handles gravel vacuuming.

 

[mfdrookie516]

it's a stem plant, so gravel vac'ing won't be an issue. It's a pretty hardy plant from what I've seen. I have some that has been moved around a few times, nipped by fish, shipped, etc... still doing great. It is usually dark green, but under high light, mine has turned almost orange.

 

[rich311k]

It is a great plant, grow easily under many conditions and best of all it looks good.

 

[christian_cowgirlGSR]

Thank you both for your opinions! I appreciate them!

mfdrookie516: when you say it's a stem plant so gravel vacuuming won't be an issue - why is that? What makes stem plants not have a problem with gravel vacuuming - they have roots, don't they?

 

[mfdrookie516]

I thuoght you meant it in regards to the difficulty like carpeting plants. They do have roots, but it's not going to hurt anything if you dont get deep down right around the plants. I dont even vac my planted tanks, but they are full of plants and it's not really feasible. I think we were just talking about two different things.

 

[christian_cowgirlGSR]

I see - that makes more sense. My tank has plants in it, but not enough to make gravel vacuuming unnecessary. I have some dwarf sags that don't seem to much enjoy the gravel vacuuming. They grew like crazy when I first got them and have pretty much stopped growing since. I've been trying to vacuum around them less to see if that helps their growth any, but I've got to do enough to keep my tank parameters in check. That's partially why I'm looking for more plants. Plus, I like the looks of the heavily planted tanks - it's just too expensive to get that many plants at once.

I am looking for something to put in the back corners of my tank. I have chosen microsorum pteropus 'windelov' for one back corner. I am looking at the rotala for the other one. I like the java fern because it can easily be attached to a rock or something easily movable so I can clean underneath/around it with no problem. However, I like the looks of the rotala (I like the pictures anyway). My tank is only a 10 gallon so I also need something that isn't going to outgrow my tank - or something that can be trimmed if it will get too big.

Do you think the rotala would work for my circumstances? Do you have suggestions for another plant(s) I should look into? I had considered normal java fern 'windelov' in one corner and java fern in the other instead of the rotala. What do you think?

 

[jetajockey]

rotala is a great easy to grow plant, and as rookie said, under higher light it turns bronze/red.

It's easy enough to trim, and you can take the trimmings and plant them as well.