Marble Queen
Origin: Cultivar
Temperature: 22-28ºC
pH tolerance: acid-basic
Hardness tolerance: soft-hard
Easiness: average-difficult
Height: 15-20cm .
Width: 15-25cm .
Light: average-high
Echinodorus cordifolius Tropica Marble Queen is a number one choice for the place of honour in the aquarium.
The colour composition of the leaves is very special and goes from deep green over green to yellowish to produce a marbled leaf surface. However, the marbled look is usually lost at low light conditions and is therefore suitable for small open aquaria which in general receives enough light.
Much like Echinodorus cordifolius the growth is fast but Echinodorus cordifolius Tropica Marble Queen tends to stay in the aquatic environment much longer before it sets emergent leaves. The plant benefits very much from a nutrient rich substrate and from CO2 enrichment of the water.
These plants are recognised as some of the most beautiful and robust aquarium plants on the market. Over 150 different varieties are normally available for freshly harvested delivery.
Echinodorus cordifolius (marble queen) (family Alismataceae) is a variegated form of the plain green cordifolius. This is most probably a natural mutation which has been noticed and brought into cultivation.
Because the leaves are variegated this plant demands more light than a plain green plant to maintain its growth, as there is not as much chlorophyll in the cream parts of the leaf. This lack of chlorophyll will also make the plant slightly slower growing than a plain green plant.(E. cordyfolius is a fast growing Echinodorus species.)
