Reproducing aponogeton

[brrr]

Hi all

one of my aponogeton makes every three days a new flower.

My questions are:

1. Do you need to rub them against eachother?
2. I make sure they stay aboce water, but once the flowers are around 5 days old,
they become heavy and fall in the water. Do i keep them above the water still? Or is it normal
and therefor better to let them float?
3. Those seeds? Do they need to be dropped in tha water? Or do i harvest them and plant
later on a spot i choose?

Thanks in advance.

Bert

 

[AndyOx]

I'm not sure which species you mean, I think they are all quite similar, I have only got experience of A. crispus but I found you didn't need a separate flower to pollinate from, i just let the seeds fall and germinate in my main aquarium and then moved them if they were somewhere unfortunate, like right in the middle of a clump of crypts! The flowers on mine did used to sink beneath the surface a bit as the spike grew longer but this didn't seem to cause any problem. The seeds can't be dry stored though, so you have to plant them as sonn as they are ripe but I found them more than happy just germinating on the floor of the tank.

Cheers

Andy

 

[jolt100]

Hi brrr, I think the trick is to ensure the flowers are pollenated before they fall into the water or they wont germinate. do this by rubbing the flower spike gently with your fingers (or a brush)and transfer the pollen from one flower to another. when they are ready with rootlets starting to form they can either be left to drop anywhere in the tank or gently removed and planted where you want them to grow, I only had a few survive but thats before i started water column fertilisers.
Good luck

John