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I jsut came from Wal-Mart and I am new in the plant world. I bought some aponogeton, the dried bulbs, which I wanted, but I saw Nymphaea Lili Bulbs and I have not heard one thing from anyone about these guys what are they what does everyoen think of them?I need some tips on them and if they are worth trying.

Yea I bought them and try them as a beggining plant hobbyist. They were great very easy to grow and look very nice. Just throw them in the tank and they will sprout in a week. C02 is not necessary. Be aware that they can grow 1-2 feet tall.

Thats great I am glad I made a good choice blindly like that I hope they work as well for me as they did for you!

If your not sure about a plant or how to grow it you might want to try this site out> www.tropica.com
it has so much good info!

I bought some 2years ago and still have a few of the plants. Don't get the big lilly bulbs unless you have a huge tank. My 1 plant took over half the 55g and was shading nearly the whole tank. I got rid of it but kept 2 of the dwarf ones because they were a nice shade of red. I also have the apongeton but I moved them to the 29g because I didn't really like them. The 29 collects all my extra plants.

How big are the "big" bulbs? I just got the ones that came in the package at wal-mart. They did not specify the size of them or anything, however, if they do not bloom soon I am going to jsut take them out and toss them I think. I have had them in there for a few weeks now and the apons have started to sprout, but the lilies haven't done anything. I might jsut go ahead and take them out anyway because I do not have a big tank I can switch them to if they get to big. Thanks for letting me know abotu that.




Christina

The lillies take alot longer to start growing and don't do the best unless you have at least moderate light. Around 2wpg. The smaller plants say dwarf on the package. If it doesn't say dwarf they will get absolutely huge.
I do have a pic of all 3 of those plants growing out in my old tank before I decided what to do with them. It's not the best pic though. [link=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/fish/P1010258.jpg]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/fish/P1010258.jpg" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]
The back corner is the aponogeton along with the shorter green plant in the front. The huge plant on the right is the big lilly I got and the small reddish-brown one in front of the driftwood is the red lilly. It took 2 months to get that dwarf lilly to finally grow more than just 2 leaves. I left it sitting around in the tank forever. I've since moved it to my 90g and it's quite a nice plant. 3 times bigger and a deep red color.

OH MY GOSH THAT IS ABSOLUTELY HUGE!!! THAT WOULD DEVOUR MY TANK!!!! I only have a 25 gallon tank at this moment all thoguh I would LOVE to ahve a massive tank, oh say... a 125 gallon (in my dreams right now) I have to stick with the 25 gallon. The box said they could be either red or green lilies so I guess if they start gettign too big I will have to fins someone with a pond that wants them. Can the red ones that get that big as well? They are quite beautiful though. Well, I will jsut have to let them stay in there for now I guess. One of the bulbs is still floating it doesn't want to sink to the bottom like it is supposed to. Maybe it is a bad bulb? We will have to see I guess... Your tank is very pretty by the way. How do you groom that big monster? Do you jsut clip the stems off when you decide it has gotten to big? Please let me know



Christina

The red and green ones probably get the same size. I had some dwarf green ones but I couldn't find a place for them. That was the only big one that grew out of 3 bulbs. For awhile I kept clipping stems off at the base but as the root system got established in the tank I had to do that nearly twice a week to keep it from shading everything. Finally it got so huge it was covering half the tank even when trimmed down and I gave it to someone with a pond. When I pulled it out I ended up replanting majority of the tank because the roots went from one end to the other. The dwarf ones are much more manageable and so long as you trim off the stems that head for the surface they don't end up shading nearby plants.

That really stinks they are really beautiful. I guess I will jsut have to remove them after all. Maybe I can start my own pond next year and grow some then. Thanks for letting me know. I would have been in some BIG trouble had that happened.

I have another question now....
I am having a little trouble "grounding" my plants. Some of them do not want to stay down in the gravel very well. After they ahve been in there for a little bit and they have rooted themselves in there will they be ok? Will I have less trouble with that? I tried to "fish" a fish out of there one day and a few of the plants got loose and floated to the top. I had a heck of a time getting them back in the gravel. Does anyone have any ideas?
I am sure someone knows what to do.



Christina