About six months ago, a friend living in Brazil sent me two new species of Rotala which had never been grown in aquaria before. He states that they were collected in one of the pools of a botanic garden in Rio de Janeiro. Thus, they were labeled as Rotala sp. #1 and Rotala sp. #2. Both turned out to be very easy to grow.
The first one is definitely a Rotala, bearing a striking resemblance to the more widely known Rotala rotundifolia 'Green' albeit with a slightly larger size and greater penchant to creep along the substrate as a foreground plant.
The second one, however, does not look like any Rotala species I had ever seen. The plant grew very thin stems with long, narrow green leaves. It had a tendency to shed growing tips from the stems, which would later reroot elsewhere in the aquarium. Here is the plant growing in my 20g long last year:
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I spread this little plant around to hobbyists in San Francisco and Atlanta (they seemed to like this plant much more than I ever did!). I'm starting to think that what we are growing is actually a Hedyotis:
Hedyotis tenelliflora:
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Hedyotis diffusa:
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Which species is it? I don't know...yet.
Carlos
The first one is definitely a Rotala, bearing a striking resemblance to the more widely known Rotala rotundifolia 'Green' albeit with a slightly larger size and greater penchant to creep along the substrate as a foreground plant.
The second one, however, does not look like any Rotala species I had ever seen. The plant grew very thin stems with long, narrow green leaves. It had a tendency to shed growing tips from the stems, which would later reroot elsewhere in the aquarium. Here is the plant growing in my 20g long last year:
I spread this little plant around to hobbyists in San Francisco and Atlanta (they seemed to like this plant much more than I ever did!). I'm starting to think that what we are growing is actually a Hedyotis:
Hedyotis tenelliflora:
Hedyotis diffusa:
Which species is it? I don't know...yet.
Carlos
