🌸 Rotala wallichii – Fine-Leaf Red Stem Plant
Rotala wallichii is one of the most iconic and visually captivating red stem plants in the aquarium hobby. Known for its needle-shaped leaves and striking coloration that ranges from green to vibrant shades of pink and red, this plant creates an elegant, bushy effect when grown in groups. Though more challenging to maintain than other stem plants, it remains a favorite among aquascapers for its delicate beauty and dramatic color contrast.
🌟 Key Features
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Scientific Name: Rotala wallichii
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Leaf Shape: Fine, needle-like leaves with bushy growth pattern
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Coloration: Green to deep pink and red under high light with CO₂ and iron dosing
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Growth Form: Upright, fast-growing stem plant
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Popularity: One of the most admired and commonly used red plants in aquascaping
🌱 Growth & Propagation
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Lighting Needs: High light required for optimal coloration
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CO₂ & Fertilizers: Strongly recommended; iron-rich dosing enhances red tones
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Growth Method: Best planted in groups as midground or background feature
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Nutrient Substrate: Required for healthy and vigorous growth
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Can Be Grown Emersed: No, best grown submerged
🖼️ Aquascaping Benefits
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Color Accent: Adds vibrant pink and red hues, providing contrast against green plants
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Delicate Texture: Fine, feathery leaves soften aquascapes and add natural depth
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Focal Grouping: Looks best when planted densely to create a bushy, dramatic effect
📦 What You’ll Receive:
Sold as loose fresh-cut plants, bunched plants, or potted plants:
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Fresh-cut Plants: Approx. 6 individual, loose stems without roots
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Bunched Plants: Approx. 6 stems without roots, bundled with foam and a lead weight
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Potted Plants: Approx. 6 stems without roots, potted in rockwool and 2-inch net pot
⚠️ Disclaimer
Rotala wallichii may arrive green when shipped, as coloration depends on lighting, nutrients, and CO₂. With the right care—including iron dosing, high lighting, and CO₂ injection—the plant will quickly develop its signature pink and red tones.
🚫 State Restrictions Notice ♻️ Be a Responsible Aquatic Plants Owner
Before purchasing, always check your state’s regulations regarding aquatic plants. Dispose of all plant trimmings responsibly—never release aquarium plants into local waterways.
Handling time for Live Plants orders:
Live plants are shipped from Monday - Saturday if you choose United States Postal Services (USPS): Most plant-only orders can ship out within 1-3 business days excluded out-of-stock, pre-order, or backorder products.
UPS 2-Days and UPS Overnight only ship from Monday-Wednesday to ensure they arrived in the same week. Please be mindful we also have 1-2 business days handling time, so please placed your order on or before Tuesday, the cut off time is 6:00 AM Pacific Time (PT)
Handling time for Live Animals orders:
Live Animals are shipped from Monday - Wednesday: Live Animals orders take longer to ship. We only ship Live Animals orders when they can be delivered within the week so they don't spend an extra day in transit on the weekend.
Handling time for Live Animals ranges from 1-5 business days depending on the weather and health of the livestock. We will email tracking information when the order is shipped.
Free Shipping: We offer Free Shipping on eligible orders.
- Free Shipping will take 2-5 days to reach you
- If your orders included Live Plants & Live Animals. We will combine the shipment and you will see the flat rate shipping cost at checkout
- Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US Virgin Islands customers are not qualified for the Free Shipping program. Please upgrade to Expedited or Express Mail for faster delivery.
Delayed Parcels: Sometimes your packages may take longer than normal to arrive with U.S. Postal Service or our chosen courier. We are legally obliged to wait 15 working days (3 weeks) for a package to be considered lost. See U.S. Postal Service website for further detail.
- We cannot be held responsible for any delay caused by U.S. Postal Service but if your packages were lost by the courier service, we will issue a replacement by 50/50, which means we pay 50% and the customers pay 50% plus shipping for the replacement orders.
- Please always keep your shipping address up-to-date! ( Debit and Credit Card, Paypal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Shopify Pay, Ali Pay, and other payment processing services )
- Any shipment being refused or shipped back to us by providing a wrong address or other reasons will not be refundable.
Cancellations: We understand sometimes thing goes out of control.
- Please contact us ASAP if you want to cancel your orders. Orders only might be canceled if they are not being shipped by shipping couriers.
Return Policy: All sales are final
- We do not accept returns or exchanges for Live Plants and Live Animals
WHAT WE GUARANTEE
24 Hours Live Arrival Guarantee* - In a rare case of live stocks dead on arrival, we must be notified within 24 hours by the same day of delivery. Please take clear photos of the damaged product and send it to us within 24 hours. Live Arrival Guarantee will be void after 24 hours of delivery. All replacements are considered final and we will not replace the replacement.
- Picture requirements: Take at least 2 clear photos of damaged product in their original, unopened & sealed transparent packing and send photos and orders information to our email within 24 hours: aquariumplantsfactory@gmail.com
- Please do not take picture of damaged plants, or animals in your aquarium. Once they have been introduced to your aquarium's ecosystem. It is no longer covered by our guarantee.
Please be aware that our Live Arrival Guarantee is subject to certain conditions. Specifically, the guarantee will not be applicable in cases where the package is marked as 'invalid address', 'undeliverable' or is 'returned to sender.' This includes situations such as a vacant delivery address, a missing apartment number, or any other issues that prevent the postal service from delivering your package.
It is crucial to provide accurate and complete shipping information to ensure the successful delivery of your order and the applicability of the Live Arrival Guarantee.
Please keep in mind that Live Arrival Guarantee only guarantees that live stocks will be alive upon arrival. We cannot guarantee that you will continue to have success with them. Many factors, including the aquarium environment, water quality, nutrient, temperature, lighting, filter, and CO2 system, can contribute to the failure to grow live plants and live animals.
WHAT WE CAN'T GUARANTEE
Even though our plants are very clean, but we can't guarantee they will be 100% pest-free because we cannot be responsible for your aquarium. Please use it at your own risk. We recommended all customers rinse the plants with clean water and quarantine them before use.
However, plants in tissue culture will be 100% free from pests, algae and never have been contacting with any aquarium.
- Due to the nature of the product. We don't guarantee our plants will be pests free. ( snails, algae, hitchhikers )
- We don't guarantee our plants will be free of pesticides. We use homemade, organic pesticides in our greenhouse to control pests. We do not use pesticides that contain copper. Copper is toxic to invertebrates such as aquatic snails, crabs, shrimps, etc
- We don't guarantee your aquarium success or are responsible for your aquarium inhabitant including but not limited to fish, shrimp, snail, turtle, etc. So please quarantine all plants when use!
- Unless specific, we don't guarantee aquatic plants will be grow emerged or submerge.
Please review your state's regulations on restricted plants, as we are committed to not shipping plants that are restricted in your area. Do not release any plants into the wild or waterways, as this can harm local ecosystems by introducing invasive species.
Your cooperation in protecting the environment is appreciated. For continuously updated information, refer to the USDA State Noxious Weed list here.
Thank you for your responsible commitment to environmental preservation.
J
I ordered these awhile ago. Most stems were mush and died but I clipped two green tips off and they have been growing since. This time same as before, mostly mush but hopeful a tip or two will make it. Not ordering these again from here.
C
The stems arrived in good condition. I have placed them in two different tanks with slightly different results. There has been dropping of leaves on the lower part of the plants but more so in my deeper tank, so lighting looks to be a factor. It appears that there is new growth on both so hopefully they will adapt and take off.
A
Such an amazing plant i got for my 40 gallon freshwater breeder aquascape aquarium
J
Very pretty
J
Received a nice portion of stems. Unfortunately I don't think they like the heat of shipping. The stems were brown with about a half inch of green tips. The tips do seem to be growing but slowly. Keeping my fingers crossed.
J
I couldn't tell what color the stems were in the bag (old 65yr old eyes) dark red or brown. Once they went into my tank I realized they were brown with about half an inch green tips. I was hopeful that the green tips would start growing. Instead the green is slowly turning brown. I had this plant long ago and it grew great for years and really liked it. So when I re setup a tank I went for it. Maybe it didn't do good in shipping?
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