YEA! Tiger Lotus woke up!

[jaylach]

When I decided to go totally live plants I ended up with a Tiger Lotus bulb. This was way back over two months. The bulb threw out a few strands of stuff but never really did anything impressive. LOL! Part of this MAY have been the fact that my rope fish liked playing with the bulb sort of using it like a soccer ball pushing it all over the place.

Anyway the bulb seems to have gotten roots in the substrate and, over the last three weeks, has gone nuts. It has even thrown a stem for a surface leaf. I love the red contrast to my mostly green plants although I have a few others that have a bit of red.

Following will be a couple if images of the plant but, first, I have a question. My tank is a 20 gallon cube and I worry about the runner going to the surface will block too much light for the rest of my plants. Currently I'm only running my lights at about 60% so could turn up to combat the light blockage but wonder if I could also just snip off the runners to the surface leaves without actually harming the Lotus and prevent from flowering.

Following are a couple of pics. In both cases the fish are about an inch and a half to give a reference as to plant size. In the second image it will show my cichlids. Right now they look a bit plain but are just starting to get to their mature size when they will gain their colors. LOL! In the first image the face view of one of the cichlids shows why they are commonly referred to as 'smile dwarfs'.

 

[Aqua67]

I don’t believe your plant will flower if leaves do not reach the surface. I want to keep mine bushy and I do not want leaves reaching the surface, so I trim a leaf at the base every time it starts to grow taller than I want the plant to stay. I also keep mine in a 4 inch plastic pot submerged in my aquarium because the roots will take over your whole aquarium. In the pot, I can just trim the roots that exit the pot.

 

[jaylach]

I don’t believe your plant will flower if leaves do not reach the surface. I want to keep mine bushy and I do not want leaves reaching the surface, so I trim a leaf at the base every time it starts to grow taller than I want the plant to stay. I also keep mine in a 4 inch plastic pot submerged in my aquarium because the roots will take over your whole aquarium. In the pot, I can just trim the roots that exit the pot.

Thanks for the opinion on flowering. I'm not sure that I understand the issues with heavy root development. Since a large part of my filtration is under gravel I want a lot of root growth to keep the under gravel plates clean.

 

[FishandBirdLover]

I don’t believe your plant will flower if leaves do not reach the surface. I want to keep mine bushy and I do not want leaves reaching the surface, so I trim a leaf at the base every time it starts to grow taller than I want the plant to stay. I also keep mine in a 4 inch plastic pot submerged in my aquarium because the roots will take over your whole aquarium. In the pot, I can just trim the roots that exit the pot.

Wow! It's so bright!

 

[jaylach]

Wow! It's so bright!

Yes, they are colorful if you get a red leaf version. There is also a green version. I'm lucky in that I seem to have gotten a red. Actually I got it by chance without knowingly ordering. The bulb came as part of a 'mystery package' that was discounted due to my actual order. I took a chance and took the deal and am happy that I did.

I also have three other plants that have some red but are both red and green. I think the red is a nice contrast to just having all green. Personally I REALLY surprised as to how well my aquatic plants are doing as I have a pretty 'black thumb' when it comes to land plants. I actually managed to kill a luck bamboo. LOL! At least with aquatic plants I can't over water.

 

[Back in the fold]

In my best Jeff Spicoli voice : "Awesome ! Totally Awesome ! "

 

[TNG]

Thanks for the opinion on flowering. I'm not sure that I understand the issues with heavy root development. Since a large part of my filtration is under gravel I want a lot of root growth to keep the under gravel plates clean.

The plant will grow better without the pot, but I think the vigorous root growth will block the slat openings of the plates.

 

[jaylach]

The plant will grow better without the pot, but I think the vigorous root growth will block the slat openings of the plates.

Possible I guess as to the filter plates. One possible advantage in my case is that I use dual plates and the lotus is rooted in an area of the substrate where there is no plate, between a plate and the side of the tank. When I do water changes I can check for roots intruding into the plate and snip off if necessary.

The first 'surface runner' is now touching the surface and a second has started.

 

[Back in the fold]

@jaylach That's a great tank you have there. IMHO you should absolutely NOT worry about roots in your Undergravel filter plates and here is why I think that. In nature any substrate is water permeable. The water flows right through soil , gravel and sand and wild aquatic plants do great. Many years ago I had plants in a tank with Undergravel filter plates and I tore the whole thing down only to find an extensive network of healthy plant roots under the plates. I regretted doing that and should have left it alone but I was a kid and didn't know better. At that time I was still doing regular full tear downs not knowing really why.

 

[jaylach]

@jaylach That's a great tank you have there. IMHO you should absolutely NOT worry about roots in your Undergravel filter plates and here is why I think that. In nature any substrate is water permeable. The water flows right through soil , gravel and sand and wild aquatic plants do great. Many years ago I had plants in a tank with Undergravel filter plates and I tore the whole thing down only to find an extensive network of healthy plant roots under the plates. I regretted doing that and should have left it alone but I was a kid and didn't know better. At that time I was still doing regular full tear downs not knowing really why.

Thanks on the tank compliment. While I've had several tanks since the late 1960s this is the first that I've gone fully planted and am happy with the results.

As of now I'm not overly concerned with roots in the under gravel plates as that is going to happen with or without the Tiger Lotus due to other plants but I WILL keep an eye on it. Since my tank is just a 20 gallon cube I do more and larger water changes than I would with a larger tank especially since, when all fish are mature, I will be over populated a little. Going by the old rule of thumb of one inch of fish per one gallon of water I will be about 4-5 inches of fish too many but my extreme filtration should handle all that and my rope fish is a lung fish so inches can be cut down a bit in his case.

When doing a large change the heads of the air risers for my under gravel filtration is 2-3 inches above the water surface and still pumps water. I can easily tell if the filter plates are getting clogged just by the water flow through the air risers when doing a large water change.

Since you complimented my tank due to photos centered on my Tiger Lotus I figured I'd follow with a 'full frontal' of the current tank.

 

[Back in the fold]

Thanks on the tank compliment. While I've had several tanks since the late 1960s this is the first that I've gone fully planted and am happy with the results.

As of now I'm not overly concerned with roots in the under gravel plates as that is going to happen with or without the Tiger Lotus due to other plants but I WILL keep an eye on it. Since my tank is just a 20 gallon cube I do more and larger water changes than I would with a larger tank especially since, when all fish are mature, I will be over populated a little. Going by the old rule of thumb of one inch of fish per one gallon of water I will be about 4-5 inches of fish too many but my extreme filtration should handle all that and my rope fish is a lung fish so inches can be cut down a bit in his case.

When doing a large change the heads of the air risers for my under gravel filtration is 2-3 inches above the water surface and still pumps water. I can easily tell if the filter plates are getting clogged just by the water flow through the air risers when doing a large water change.

Since you complimented my tank due to photos centered on my Tiger Lotus I figured I'd follow with a 'full frontal' of the current tank.

View attachment 236532

You cannot complain about that at all. You are surely on the right track.

 

[jaylach]

You cannot complain about that at all. You are surely on the right track.

Thanks. I'm just happy that my plants are doing well as I have a major knack of killing land plants. LOL! As I've said before at least I don't have to worry about over watering...

 

[jaylach]

I was worried about the floating Lotus leaves blocking too much light from other plants but unless the surface leaves get larger after already fully open that isn't going to be an issue. I DID turn up the intensity of my lights a couple of notches though. Three or four surface leaves will not be an issue. If I get more than that I can always snip the older keeping the newer. I just want the thing to bloom! If you have never seen a Red Tiger Lotus bloom they are awesome, here is a sample. If mine ever does this there will be another photo on my wall.

 

[jaylach]

Danged gang type fish! Somebody broke one of the surface leaf stems on my Tiger Lotus plant. They all deny it but they are there and I doubt that my bird did it although I think the bird knows who did but won't rat out his friends. I mean I'm *SURE* it could not have been me when I had my hands in the tank siphoning for a water change... Of course not.

Actually no harm as I'll just snip off the stem at the base on the next water change. I'll only keep 2-3 such surface stems going at a time as I don't want the surface leaves to block too much light getting to other plants.

 

[jaylach]

I'm confused.

As indicated in my last post I broke a surface stem on my Tiger Lotus. It was obviously broken with about 90 degree broken bend, leaf still attached. Now the stem is totally straight with a couple of white strands coming out from the break and the leaf still looks totally healthy.

Can these plants heal themselves?