The leopard Val that arrived is super healthy as ALL plants that APF sells to us are, I mean seriously the best of the best quality every time. My leopard Val does not have the red coloration yet but I saw it was just cut to fit in the box, and does have the leopard print on its leaves. I can only assume the red will come as the plant regrows. I got 3-4 plants per order of the loose bare root plant options which IMO is phenomenal. The LFS charge 5-15 dollars a PIECE for Val let alone a rarer kind. Very very happy with that and there were about 8 leaves per plant. You really can’t ask for more, not sure how they would fit 2 foot Val into a 6 inch box with other plants either so completely OK with the no red yet, it will come.

Plant was very nice and healthy-looking when it came in, I was excited. However, I bought it as a complete plant newbie, and thought it could thrive planted bare-root in pure eco-complete (very coarse) substrate, in a relatively low-light tank (duckweed cover & cheap light), in hard water, pH 8, around 70-75F (unheated), and understocked with a few root tab pieces and occasional water column ferts added. The Val started off by melting back from the tips of the leaves, which arrived cut :( See photo 3. It would be nice if APF could not cut the Val leaves, as they should know this causes them to melt! I quickly learned that Val is **very** sensitive about damage to its leaves, so warning: if any leaf gets damaged enough (e.g. from rubbing against a filter intake or some wood, etc.) that entire leaf might melt all the way back!!! HOWEVER, despite my relatively nutrient-poor substrate & suboptimal light levels, and the melting sensitivity, the plant has steadily continued improving over the last few months since I began to add more root tabs, moved things around to give it more light and space to grow without rubbing its leaves on things. So FINALLY the plant is thriving, despite growing a lot more slowly than it probably would with more nutrient-rich substrate and more light. A smaller baby plant I separated out at the beginning has simply melted off & not grown back still beyond tiny, 1 inch leaves. All the leaves shown in 2nd photo are from today, all new growth from since I got the Vals. Despite my challenges, I'm giving 4 stars because APF did say nutrient-rich substrate is "required" and I might have had much better luck if I had taken that to heart earlier, giving regular root tabs, instead of trying to supplement water-column (Val doesn't respond to this, seems to feed from roots ONLY). Also, I've had great luck from APF with other plants, and I actually plan to order more of this exact plant from APF now that I've finally troubleshot it successfully! But don't expect any red from this plant without high light ... all you will see is a slightly speckled pattern throughout the leaf! See photo 1 for detail. I don't care and still think it's beautiful that way!

After shipping, these guys bounced back and are thriving. I'm getting a lot of new growth that's bright green and I'm still trying to bring out some of those deeper reds, but I love the slender leaves. I planted these under my larger Valisernia, and they look great. They're shooting new growth everywhere and looking great. Highly recommend this!

This val has a lot of interesting colors and patterns going on, and a very nice form. The plant came in great shape, and the perfect size for a 10 inch tall tank. My ghost shrimp love it.

The plant arrived healthy and is doing great a little over a month later. It’s sending out tons of runners and the leaf growth is noticeable daily. The shrimp love hiding in it, I constantly find molts.

Usps took seven days too deliver ,but plant was well wrapped and survived the trip.plant is as advertised and after acclimating will be a beautiful addition to the tank.