Red Root Floater (Phyllanthus fluitans)
Lighting Requirements: Medium to High
Fertilizer: Does best with NPK and most of all Iron
Ease of growth: Moderate/Hard
Placement in aquarium: Floater
Propagation: Runners (or is it floaters)
Red root floater gets its name from the red roots that develop when the plant matures with high light conditions. The root structure is perfect for fry to hide in. It is a great plant for those who want to steer away from the common floating weeds, such as duckweed/frogbit and salvinia. The plant is easier to control than those listed above.
Common reasons why people might have bad luck with the plant:
1- It does not do too well in tanks with too much surface agitation, but this does not mean no surface movement at all. The key is to get the plants to lightly move throughout the tanks surface. With just enough movement, you will prevent from junk collecting in the roots and most of all prevent any algae from growing.
2- Lighting is important for this plant. If it does not get enough, it will begin to melt. But just like with surface agitation, if it gets too much light it may melt as well (this is especially true if the distance between surface and lights is very small)
3- Fertilizer. Floating plants are big nutrient hogs, therefore treat your tank with a balanced fert schedule of NPK/trace and don't forget the iron. This plant will love you if you give it iron, the love will be so great that it will begin to turn nice pinkish red and even provide some flowers.
4- Weeding out. This plant is less of a weed than those listed above, but it can take over your tanks surface. Once it has no place to grow horizontally, it will grow vertically on top of itself, and eventually will block the light of everything below, causing a big melt off.
5- This combines both the ferts/lights/weeding out.. If you do not provide enough ferts/lights and do not weed out the plant weekly, the plant will not only melt off, but it will begin to provide only green leaves with minimal root structure. This makes the plant slightly less hardy and prone to further melting.
Overall this plant can add a ton of color to a tank, but does need weekly maintenance. This is definitely not an easy plant to grow, but once it takes off, there's no stopping it. Mine have been going strong for 2+ years.
(All photos have been taken by and are property of Bk718)
Image of the red roots
Red root floater flowering
Comparison of RRF with Frogbit
Green RRF beginning to grow vertically
And finally remember to weed out weekly or else....
Thanks for looking
