Red Root Floater Plant - 'PHYLLANTHUS FLUITANS'
Comes in a quarter sized portion
Floater plants are super popular in the aquarium hobby and are especially beneficial for those with low-tech planted tanks. Not only do they grow and produce new leaves rapidly but they can help keep your water column free of excess waste as a result of their rapid growth.
Red Root Floaters can resemble other floating plants such as Salvinia or Water Lettuce but when kept in the right conditions with sufficient light and temperature (they like mid 70s to low 80s F temps), they will get a very vibrant red color tone in both the leaves and roots, hence their name.
They come from tropical waterways in South America where the water is a bit more stagnant without excessive water-flow. Red Root Floaters tend to melt and die off when there is too much water surface agitation and are most suitable being placed into a fairly calm tank without strong current.
We use a fair amount of Red Root Floaters in one of our aquascapes here in our gallery. Our biotope tank at Hakkai is South American themed and as a result, we use it to prevent excess light from hitting the tank as algae can bloom in those condition.
Red Root Floaters help provide coverage and 'shade' for low-tech aquascapes but one thing to keep in mind is that it can create so much of a 'mat' that some plants may not thrive in the low-light conditions created by the floaters.
We find satisfaction in seeing flowers blossom from the plants itself as pictured below. When mixed with the vibrant red coloration of the leaves and roots, they makes it an eye-catching plant that'll captivate the attention of anyone passing by the tank, giving it an overall wow factor!