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Dwarf lilies?

luckyjim

Member
Joined
26 Jan 2015
Messages
156
Does anyone have any experience with dwarf water lilies?

I have a coldwater tank planned and I would love to make them one of the focal points of the tank.

The idea would be to try and get the stems to grow diagonally across the tank so that around one third of the surface is covered by lily leaves and, hopefully, beautiful white flowers!

I can provide CO2 and as much light as necessary - the tank and equipment are high quality.

My main questions to anyone kind enough to share their experience: how difficult are they to manage; does my general plan sound plausible, is it best to grow them from a bulb or from a ready grown plant, and either way how quickly can I get them to grow?

Thanks!
 
I have had several small waterlilies in for testing - no species names, though. Might even be cultivars among them.
Generally very easy plants to grow.....but "small" is a relative term - they're small, compared to the ones used for ponds !! I would guess most of these small types, really occupy at least 1/2 m2 of surface. Most considerably more. They're hungry, little Bast...s, needing very rich media to grow well.
All the types, I've tested goes to surface allmost immidiately. This makes them of no interest for standard aquarium use. This also makes added CO2 not needed.
I actually brought one very small, rich-flowering, white type home, to inhabit a very small pond - though a supposed "tropical", it grow and flower very well even in a standard danish summer. I do place the basket in a baby bath-tup, along with the 5 goldfish (only in the pond, to eliminate mosquito) in a cold, but frost-free place, every winter.
 
You can get dwarf/pygmy pond lillies, not tried them in a tank, but it would depend on how big your tank was. They are smaller leaved than the red tiger lotus when they put up pads, and I would guess more reliable about putting up surface leaves.
 
I've just bought a Nymphaea 'Pygmaea Helvola' for my pond which is one of the smallest varieties you can get :)
Toying with the idea of trying it in a tank once I see just how big it gets and what the spread of the leaves are.
 
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