View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Old 20-04-2003, 07:23 AM
Dave Millman
 
Posts: n/a
Default conflicting/confusing Alternanthera descriptions

"Dave M. Picklyk" wrote:

I think I have some sort of Alternanthera plant. What exact species I am
thoroughly confused about.
I've seen conflicting pictures on the net that say that this picture
http://www.easyfishkeeping.com/Tropica/23.htm and this picture
http://hebert.phil.free.fr/Aquarium/Vie/page13.html are both the
Alternanthera reineckii "Roseafolia".


My answer is gonna' make you crazy.

A year ago I received a shipment of "Telenthera Roseafolia (red Temple)" from
www.trueaquariumplants.com. Another club member here ordered from the same
place last month, and received the same plant. Both shipments looked exactlly
like your first photo: light green above, pink below, slightly flexible stems.

After 3 weeks in my tank, it looked like your second photo. Here's an old photo
of my tank for comparison:

http://www.tactics.com/d/fish/right.jpg

The stems are much stiffer stiff now, even the cuttings. Once they're in my
tank for a few weeks, they never show those pale green and pale pink colors
like they did when they arrived. However, this plant is also succeptable to a
very thin coating of green algae on the tops of the leaves, which can give it a
two-tone dark-green, dark-red look. My photo above is during a period without
such algae, which comes and goes.

To my eye, it most resembles what Tropica calls Alternanthera reineckii
''roseafolia'' on their site.

My relevant tank stats a

pH 6.4
KH 2
GH 2
100% Flourite substrate
0.1+ ppm Iron
10 ppm NO3