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I bought this Dwarf Lily/ Lotus plant today. It looks like a round brown crispy bulb with some tiny leaves growing out of it, reddish in color. It had some nice little white roots.
Tell me all about it. I currently have it in a 10g tank, with 4.5wpg, ph 7.8, temp 80, hardness <300ppm.
I think I remember hearing that when it shoots a leaf to the surface I should cut it back??


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Cut them back long before they hit the surface. With a few weeks of vigilance (it's usually fairly obvious which leaves are going for the surface - but they can grow a fewinches a day, so don't give them the chance to hit it!) the plant will mostly stop sending leaves up.
If one does hit, you're in for a bit more work - the plant now "knows" that there's a surface to be reached, and it's much more work clipping half the leaves that go up until it's trained back down.
Sounds like you have a good tank for it. Give it a little time; you'll probably see smaller leaves until it gets going. Potentiall it could outgrow your tank, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it.

-Molly
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Not much I can add, LM said it all. I've got one and love it, very easy to keep.Takes a while to get going, mine started out with a few tiny leaves and is now a thick bunch. Every new leaf that comes out is a little bigger then the last. None have made a move for the surface yet though. If you are lucky enough to have the "Rubra" var. they stay a lovely red color and in bright light become very bright pink. Needs no special attenion other then time and keeping the leaves below the surface.

bensaf attached this image:

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

They will sometimes develop new bulbs if they are happy. You can pass these on to your friends , get credit at a store, or grow them as a tropical waterlily in a container outdoors, where they may bloom! A very nice find for you! Good growing!

Well I am glad this is a good plant!!
I recently bought a couple and found out there were terrarium plants! Makes up for it a bit. My 90g tank has about 2.5wpg of light. Would this plant do well under that light when it gets substantially bigger?
I paid 5.00 for it, and would definetly go get a couple more if it would work out in the 90 later on.
I would love to have some color in my 90.
Also, should I plant it under the gravel? I have it just laying on top right now, it has several nice little white roots on it. It has about a quarter diameter clump of little perfect red leaves on it right now.
As with normal bulbs, I wouldnt want to cover the crown right?
I love this plant, it sure looks nice even tiny.
I hope it does well!! Is liquid fertilizer ok for this plant? The tank has rich aged gravel with some peat mixed in.


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It will work fine under that light. I keep it with slightly less, about 2.2wpg. It's probably best to bury it, but keep the crown uncovered. Once it gets going it will become very big despite it's dwarf name. I've seen one in a planted Co2 tank that had leaves 4-5" wide and the entire plant was over a foot in width, so it can easily take up a lot of space even in a 90g. Makes a great centerpiece or contrasting plant as the color, leaf shape and size is completely different to anything else in the tank.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

i bought one on-line, and it was just a bulb with a few little shoots out of it, as i have fish that like to eat small plants i put it in a live bearer box attatcehd to the side of my tank and let it go, that way when it doees reach the surface.... the surface is less than 5 inches from the bulb.
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me

I've got 2 in my 29g, and they're doing good. I leave the leaves that shoot to the surface on, because the plants are at each end of the tank and they aren't shading any other plants.

I got 4 of mine for $3.99, and gave 2 to a friend