Water-lily in a tank?

[OZIRIS]

Hello all,

Has anybody tried water-lily as an aquarium plant? I'm thinking if It could be planted in an tank and if It would be enough with the tank light, etc...

Thanks:happy:

 

[petro]

Hello all,

Has anybody tried water-lily as an aquarium plant? I'm thinking if It could be planted in an tank and if It would be enough with the tank light, etc...

Thanks:happy:

I did years ago,also selling them in my shop for the same reason.
But it is not something that works.Simply because a waterlily needs to
much space,in the water and in the ground.Also a lot of light and the temp.
in the house is also not good.(it really needs a restperiod.)
The pygméé ones have the same story.
O, and with the shop i mean a petshop.
Petro

 

[oceanblue]

I tried a bit of a large ornamental and also the red pigmy ornamental one, split off plants put in a large pond. They did not do well, the larger one staggers on four years later as a couple of leaves, the pigmy one died. They have a deep layer of substrate. The plan was to grow them on faster than the ones in an outside tub and pond. It did not work. I did get one flower, once!

The water conditions are good and other plants, especially watercress grow well. I use brighter lights than most, two fluorescent strips and until recently an 18 hour photoperiod.

The stems of the leaves are very easily snapped if you need to catch a tank resident and when they are growing well they block the light from lower levels in the tank.

Sorry to be so negative, they are beautiful pond plants but I've given up on putting them in any new tanks I create.

I have seen the very vigourous yellow water lily grown in a tank for its underwater leaves but have no personal experience of growing it.

 

[OZIRIS]

Oh, I see. It's very dificult to grow waterlilies in a tank then.

I wanted this plant because is beautiful and strange to see in an aquarium ( now I know why...).

Thanks for answering

 

[Gregh]

Pennywort have a kind of similar look if that's what you're looking for. I recently put one in and while some of it died off quite a bit of it is now growing out.

 

[ferret_corner]

a couple of months ago I got these "guaranteed to grow" bulbs from walmart in the aquarium section - red pygmy lily - and they're growing.

I wasn't paying attention when I picked it up. I always thought red plants had to have intense light. But somehow in the process of cleaning the bulb got pushed to the darkest corner of the tank and I didn't notice it for the longest time.

Actually there were two bulbs. One of them I repeatedly uprooted while cleaning and I think I occasionally planted it upside down. I don't think that one is going to grow.

I bought some some because the color is just so striking in my mostly green tanks!

 

[caudatadude28]

I have artificial lily pads in my tank.

 

[fishkeeper]

Curious how they will fair in the long run. It seems the peter out after a while(and I have no idea how you'd get them to go back into dormancy as they don't seem to form bulbs either).

For any lily's, dwarf or not...intense light, deep nutritious substrate.

Banana plant and floating heart may be interesting alternatives, but likely will pose the same problems. Banana plant seems to work ok in aquariums for me, again high light is in order.

 

[OZIRIS]

I bought some Pistia and Water hyacinth yesterday to put them into the aquarium. I don't know if it will work inside but I'm going to try it, those plants are cheap, not much money to lose.

Newts like them very much, specially their feathery roots.

Regards

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Water hyacinth does well anywhere it is warm and there is water with bright light. Another of my favorites is Spongia species, which is often sold under the name Pennywort (as mentioned above) or Giant Duckweed. I have never worked with Pistia before, please keep us posted how well these do in your tank!

 

[fishkeeper]

Water hyacinth needs intense lighting and dirty water to do well...not to mention a tall tank! Water lettuce is a bit less demanding...I've had success indoors with it before.

I wouldn't reccomend them with most newts as to light the tank for them you will end up warming the water significantly.

 

[OZIRIS]

Since I have put them in the tank, both species are growing. Pistia has 3 "sons" around, and w. hyacinths have new leaves. They are small, but if they grow so much I'll cut them, I like gardening hehe.

My tank was already illuminated,and temp is ok at this time. I will cool the water if temp raises too much. ( I will have to do it in summer anyway).

Regards

 

[Melanie]

This is something that I would like to do with my Siren tank. I was thinking of getting a bunch of water hyacinth and some duck weed as well. It has been out of season so far but it should be arriving in the stores pretty soon. Does anyone suggest a quarantine for aquatic plants before introductiuon to the tank? They can often come with a variety of bugs which I would think were mostly harmless.

 

[OZIRIS]

I wash plants before adding them into the tank, and I remove dull leaves and snails I can see. Anyway, mine last three, came with surprise again, 4 fish fry, but nowadays I only can see 2...