New bulb plants!

[angelcraze2]

Yay! I treated myself to some bulb plants from the chain LFS. I'm curious about the bulb plants I bought, I haven't had a green thumb at all with them yet, and I could read and read, but I know some of you Boundava :poke: :hmm3grin2orange: have some beautiful African plants in their tanks. I'd love to hear from those who have had experience with bulb plants.

Like I said, I tried some Red Tiger lotus before. Twice actually, but both times they died. I'm not sure why.

I read something about the lotus having a chemical that inhibits the growth of other plants. True? Idk.
I also read the Red tiger lotus needs a ton of fertilizer. I'm assuming they mean the roots. This I believe.

Then, I read it's best to plant the lotus in a container with substrate rich in nutrients, preventing their roots from chocking out other plants. I could do this easily, but I've had a hard time growing the lotus, not the plants around it. The other thing I get from that is the plant is a huge nutrient-hog. Anyone know how it compares to an amazon sword in being nutrient-hogs?

I just don't particularly want to add fertilizers or minerals to my tank water, and hoping they can get the nutrients they need from the roots like A. swords do in my other tanks.

The other plant I got is a madagascar lace plant, already growing leaves with roots and an earthy smelling bulb, which I took as a good sign, I hope.

For the time being, I just plopped the lotus bulbs in the tank and let them sit. There are baby leaves sprutting from the giant bulbs. Any thoughts on these? They're humongous! Can I split that? Or leave it be. The madagascar lace is floating, it wouldn't stay put just resting on the substrate. Tomorrow I may try and anchor it gently. The madagascar lace has blossoms, I haven't looked into flowers yet and if I can propagate it, but would love to hear if someone here knows.

Thanks for reading, I really don't want to kill these plants.

[angelcraze2]

Here's a couple pics, meant to post them together.

[Boundava]

Plant the lace bulbs. I don't know if you have a pleco on this tank, but if you do they will happily eat the bulbs. I've never had problems with my tiger lotuses, but I've always used Eco complete. I have grown it with and without CO2 and liquid or dry ferts. It like the flourish and flourish iron. To keep the lotus compact cut any straggler leaves that make a break for the surface. It will just cut the light for the rest of the plant and any surrounding plants. As for it releasing a toxin to inhibit the growth of other plants, take a look at my prior videos of the 75 and you'll see that a lot of plants grew very well with the lotuses without being inhibited in anyway. There may be other lilies that inhibit growth but in my experience it hasn't been an issue.

As for fertilizing the lace, just use an artist brush or your fingers to gently spread the pollen around on the flowers. Worked for me with a few othe varieties of apanos.

Congrats on your new additions! They are both gorgeous plants.

[angelcraze2]

TY NAT!!!! And YES! Your 75g is PACKED with plants!

Oh no! I DO have 3 adult BN plecos! How do I keep them from eating the bulb? I think someone ate the other bulb thing I bought, but it smelled rotten, so didn't care. They will eat good bulbs?

Can you fertilize the lace underwater? I wouldn't think so, but the flowers are underwater in my tank.

Should I start the bulb plants out somewhere else? Or will the bulb always be in danger with the plecos? I know you have plecos in your 75g, so how did you do it?

[OnTheFly]

I really like bulb plants if from a quality source. Most of them are pretty hardy and grow fairly fast once they sprout.

[Boundava]

TY NAT!!!! And YES! Your 75g is PACKED with plants!

Oh no! I DO have 3 adult BN plecos! How do I keep them from eating the bulb? I think someone ate the other bulb thing I bought, but it smelled rotten, so didn't care. They will eat good bulbs?

Can you fertilize the lace underwater? I wouldn't think so, but the flowers are underwater in my tank.

Should I start the bulb plants out somewhere else? Or will the bulb always be in danger with the plecos? I know you have plecos in your 75g, so how did you do it?

Your bulbs look like they started growing already-I would plant them down just under the surface so the BN can't get them out. My BN at even healthy bulbs if they can find them on the substrate. Planting the bulbs will also get the leaves growing the right way from the start. Sometimes when I had bulbs floating the leaves grew in every direction so it was a mess to plant it after a week or two floating. As for the lace flowers- usually the stalks grow where they are out of the water before the bloom, at last my all have-even across the 75 gallon tank. That is when I have fertilized all my other apanos, not sure if they will successfully fertilize underwater.

[angelcraze2]

Thank you both! Will do Nat, I'll partially plant the red tiger lotuses, where, Idk yet. Do you suggest not splitting the RTL bulbs or would that encourage more growth? I'm gonna pull some shading vals out, transfer them to the SA tank to make space and allow more lighting.

I hadn't read about the madagascar lace yet until now, I don't have much hope for it. I read it likes cool water, all my tanks are between 78-80°f. I guess that's why it's not advisable to keep SA fish with African plants :( I'll try it anyway in my 90g after a WC today and little rescape.

I bought these plants because I eventually wanted to turn my 90g onto a west African tank with African fish, but thought I could get away with using African plants for now. We'll see I guess.

[Boundava]

Don't split the bulbs, just let them do their thing and in no time they will be producing a steady stream of baby bulbs (mini-me's). As for the lace, I have had mine in a tank that varied from 76-80 (in the summer) and it did well. It did better at 76, but didn't suffer at higher temps either. Mine did like being near the spraybar-they like some water movement.

[angelcraze2]

Ok tx for temp experience, I read that as well, that they like current, not sure if it's to prevent algae buildup, or they like oxygenation. I may plant it underneath a powerhead. I just ripped out a bunch of vals and confined them to the left side where the cave is. I let them grow wild to transfer to the SA tank, but they were shading way too much. Time to do the transfer and try new plants!