Red water lily

Nymphaea rubra

Also known as Indian red water lily, Red tiger lotus, Nymphaea pubescens f. rubra, Nymphaea lotus var. rubra

FreshwaterBulb / tuberBulb offsetsPlantlets

Red water lily (Nymphaea rubra) — PJeganathan · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Light: Medium light
CO2: CO₂ beneficial
Growth rate: Fast
Placement: Midground
Type: Bulb / tuber
Temperature: 72–86°F (22–30°C)
pH: 5.5–7.5
Hardness: 2–15 dGH
Max height: 23.6 in (60 cm)
Spread: 15.7 in (40 cm)
Nutrient uptake: Root feeder
Growth region: Submersed or emersed
Difficulty: Easy
Origin: Tropical Asia (India and surrounding regions)
Family: Nymphaeaceae

Overview

An easy, fast and hungry bulb plant. Push only the top third of the bulb into a rich substrate (or set root tabs nearby) and leave the growing tip exposed so it does not rot. It is a heavy root feeder; give it iron and it colours up deep red under medium to high light, staying greener in dim tanks. It will race to the surface and throw floating pads that shade everything below, so trim petioles at the base to keep it as a submersed feature. It also produces baby plants on runners you can snap off and replant. It may periodically drop its leaves and go dormant before resprouting.

In the wild

A tropical Asian water lily native to India and neighbouring warm regions, growing in ponds, ditches and slow backwaters. It sprouts from a tuberous bulb, sending up reddish to bronze submersed leaves and eventually large floating pads on long petioles. It is a night-blooming lily whose fragrant flowers are pinkish-red to purplish-red, the trait that separates it from the white-flowered Nymphaea lotus.

Good to know

A member of the water lily family Nymphaeaceae, very closely allied to Nymphaea lotus and often treated within the N. lotus / N. pubescens complex. In the trade it is frequently mislabelled as Nymphaea stellata or lumped with N. pubescens, and the name 'red tiger lotus' is shared with the aquarium strain usually sold as Nymphaea zenkeri. Like other tropical lotus it is a night bloomer.

Did you know

Did you know you can slow a lotus down and stop it hogging the substrate by potting the bulb in a small container of soil, and cutting off the tall floating-pad petioles keeps it as a compact bushy submersed plant instead of a surface-covering lily.