Aponogeton bulbs gone wild.

I set up my aquarium 5 weeks ago. put a pack of the bulbs in with the
first fish. They have already flowered and went to seed. I have
aponogeton plants sprouting up everywhere. even on my filter. I cant
believe they are so hardy.
I didnt add any fertilizer or CO2.

"chas good" wrote in message
...
I set up my aquarium 5 weeks ago. put a pack of the bulbs in with the
first fish. They have already flowered and went to seed. I have
aponogeton plants sprouting up everywhere. even on my filter. I cant
believe they are so hardy.
I didnt add any fertilizer or CO2.


what variation of Aponogeton are these?

Rick

Probably Aponogeton crispus
"Rick" wrote in message
...

"chas good" wrote in message
...
I set up my aquarium 5 weeks ago. put a pack of the bulbs in with the
first fish. They have already flowered and went to seed. I have
aponogeton plants sprouting up everywhere. even on my filter. I cant
believe they are so hardy.
I didnt add any fertilizer or CO2.


what variation of Aponogeton are these?

Rick

On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:11:56 -0500, "Rick"
wrote:


"chas good" wrote in message
.. .
I set up my aquarium 5 weeks ago. put a pack of the bulbs in with the
first fish. They have already flowered and went to seed. I have
aponogeton plants sprouting up everywhere. even on my filter. I cant
believe they are so hardy.
I didnt add any fertilizer or CO2.


what variation of Aponogeton are these?

Rick


They seem to be a mix of 3 kinds. looks like 3 different growth rates.
Fastest growers flowered first. Smallest havent flowered. The package
only said hybrid. Tallest is half the height of the 37gal tank.
2 bulbs turned out to be lilly's. Have one lilly pad almost to the
surface. The package was just a few dollars at wal-mart.

chas good wrote:
They seem to be a mix of 3 kinds. looks like 3 different growth rates.
Fastest growers flowered first. Smallest havent flowered. The package
only said hybrid. Tallest is half the height of the 37gal tank.
2 bulbs turned out to be lilly's. Have one lilly pad almost to the
surface. The package was just a few dollars at wal-mart.

The "lily pad" ones are likely actually Nymphaea, not Aponogeton. These
bulbs often end up in those mixed "Aponogenton" bulb packages. It might
also be Aponogeton natans as those produce floating leaves. As for IDing
what you have, what is the nature of the flower spikes? The color and
number of spikes (ie single spike, 2 split spike, etc) usually pinpoints
the variety. Leaf color, leaf shape and tuber shape also go into
identifying species or speculating on their hybrid nature, as some of the
hybrids are not possible to ID fully. I would hazard to guess that you
have crispus (white, single spike flower), crispus hybrid or ulvaceus
(yellow, two spike flower). You might also have undulatus, which has
translucent sections of the leaves and produces plantlets rather than
seeds and it rarely flowers. Most likely I bet the prolific ones are
crispus hybrids as these are known for being prolific and it's rare to get
a pure crispus these days. A lot of times they're hybridized with hardier
varieties to make them more able to withstand lack of dormant periods.

I must admit.. I'm impressed with this report. I've purchased those some
bulbs several times and I have yet to have one that actually lived past it's
first "bloom". I've never had one put forth any seeds, and I've had
several packs that just never sprouted. Guess it's just me... :-)

"Cichlidiot" wrote in message
...
chas good wrote:
They seem to be a mix of 3 kinds. looks like 3 different growth rates.
Fastest growers flowered first. Smallest havent flowered. The package
only said hybrid. Tallest is half the height of the 37gal tank.
2 bulbs turned out to be lilly's. Have one lilly pad almost to the
surface. The package was just a few dollars at wal-mart.

The "lily pad" ones are likely actually Nymphaea, not Aponogeton. These
bulbs often end up in those mixed "Aponogenton" bulb packages. It might
also be Aponogeton natans as those produce floating leaves. As for IDing
what you have, what is the nature of the flower spikes? The color and
number of spikes (ie single spike, 2 split spike, etc) usually pinpoints
the variety. Leaf color, leaf shape and tuber shape also go into
identifying species or speculating on their hybrid nature, as some of the
hybrids are not possible to ID fully. I would hazard to guess that you
have crispus (white, single spike flower), crispus hybrid or ulvaceus
(yellow, two spike flower). You might also have undulatus, which has
translucent sections of the leaves and produces plantlets rather than
seeds and it rarely flowers. Most likely I bet the prolific ones are
crispus hybrids as these are known for being prolific and it's rare to get
a pure crispus these days. A lot of times they're hybridized with hardier
varieties to make them more able to withstand lack of dormant periods.

The flowering has tappered off now. So has the growth. Still alive and
looking good. Tallest plant is 10 inches high. Smallest barely off the
gravel floor. The 3 largest are all that ever flowered.
They are small white forked spike flowers. 6 to 8 stems on each plant.
Many of the sprouted seeds ended up being sucked up when gravel
vaccuming. Elonggated bulbs I think these things are suppost to go
dormant after a few months. Guess I will try something else then.

I think the lillys are floating leaves. Three of them from one plant.
The others havent sent one up yet. These lillys have a copper, rust or
bronse like color. Almost look a dead brown. Shape is like a arrow 3
to 4 inches long. Floating leaves are oval and the same size. The
bulbs of these are round. Plant stays close to the gravel except for
the floating leaves.

When I started this tank the city water all came from wells and was
very hard and high PH. 8.6. With the high demand of summer the City
is getting some of its water from a close by larger City that uses
lake water. hardness and PH has dropped. 7.5 now. This is when the
plants growth slowed down. This mixed water has caused some brown
algae to grow.

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:50:55 -0400, "John Owens"
wrote:

I must admit.. I'm impressed with this report. I've purchased those some
bulbs several times and I have yet to have one that actually lived past it's
first "bloom". I've never had one put forth any seeds, and I've had
several packs that just never sprouted. Guess it's just me... :-)

"Cichlidiot" wrote in message
...
chas good wrote:
They seem to be a mix of 3 kinds. looks like 3 different growth rates.
Fastest growers flowered first. Smallest havent flowered. The package
only said hybrid. Tallest is half the height of the 37gal tank.
2 bulbs turned out to be lilly's. Have one lilly pad almost to the
surface. The package was just a few dollars at wal-mart.

The "lily pad" ones are likely actually Nymphaea, not Aponogeton. These
bulbs often end up in those mixed "Aponogenton" bulb packages. It might
also be Aponogeton natans as those produce floating leaves. As for IDing
what you have, what is the nature of the flower spikes? The color and
number of spikes (ie single spike, 2 split spike, etc) usually pinpoints
the variety. Leaf color, leaf shape and tuber shape also go into
identifying species or speculating on their hybrid nature, as some of the
hybrids are not possible to ID fully. I would hazard to guess that you
have crispus (white, single spike flower), crispus hybrid or ulvaceus
(yellow, two spike flower). You might also have undulatus, which has
translucent sections of the leaves and produces plantlets rather than
seeds and it rarely flowers. Most likely I bet the prolific ones are
crispus hybrids as these are known for being prolific and it's rare to get
a pure crispus these days. A lot of times they're hybridized with hardier
varieties to make them more able to withstand lack of dormant periods.

The plants were starting to loose color so I bought some Kents
freshwater plant food. They have perked up and started shooting stems
up again. The leaves are slowly turning darker green.
Lillys are growing faster now. Color has changed from redish brown to
redish green.
The bad side is the plant food made the water slightly cloudy. Not bad
but I notice it.
Soon will have more light. Have a 55watt compact flourescent on order.
About 50% more light than I have now. 1.0 to 1.5 wpg. The Eclipse hood
will go on a 20gal long I just got. On the smaller tank it will be 1.8
wpg.


On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:24:41 -0500, chas good wrote:


The flowering has tappered off now. So has the growth. Still alive and
looking good. Tallest plant is 10 inches high. Smallest barely off the
gravel floor. The 3 largest are all that ever flowered.
They are small white forked spike flowers. 6 to 8 stems on each plant.
Many of the sprouted seeds ended up being sucked up when gravel
vaccuming. Elonggated bulbs I think these things are suppost to go
dormant after a few months. Guess I will try something else then.

I think the lillys are floating leaves. Three of them from one plant.
The others havent sent one up yet. These lillys have a copper, rust or
bronse like color. Almost look a dead brown. Shape is like a arrow 3
to 4 inches long. Floating leaves are oval and the same size. The
bulbs of these are round. Plant stays close to the gravel except for
the floating leaves.

When I started this tank the city water all came from wells and was
very hard and high PH. 8.6. With the high demand of summer the City
is getting some of its water from a close by larger City that uses
lake water. hardness and PH has dropped. 7.5 now. This is when the
plants growth slowed down. This mixed water has caused some brown
algae to grow.

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:50:55 -0400, "John Owens"
wrote:

I must admit.. I'm impressed with this report. I've purchased those some
bulbs several times and I have yet to have one that actually lived past it's
first "bloom". I've never had one put forth any seeds, and I've had
several packs that just never sprouted. Guess it's just me... :-)

"Cichlidiot" wrote in message
...
chas good wrote:
They seem to be a mix of 3 kinds. looks like 3 different growth rates.
Fastest growers flowered first. Smallest havent flowered. The package
only said hybrid. Tallest is half the height of the 37gal tank.
2 bulbs turned out to be lilly's. Have one lilly pad almost to the
surface. The package was just a few dollars at wal-mart.

The "lily pad" ones are likely actually Nymphaea, not Aponogeton. These
bulbs often end up in those mixed "Aponogenton" bulb packages. It might
also be Aponogeton natans as those produce floating leaves. As for IDing
what you have, what is the nature of the flower spikes? The color and
number of spikes (ie single spike, 2 split spike, etc) usually pinpoints
the variety. Leaf color, leaf shape and tuber shape also go into
identifying species or speculating on their hybrid nature, as some of the
hybrids are not possible to ID fully. I would hazard to guess that you
have crispus (white, single spike flower), crispus hybrid or ulvaceus
(yellow, two spike flower). You might also have undulatus, which has
translucent sections of the leaves and produces plantlets rather than
seeds and it rarely flowers. Most likely I bet the prolific ones are
crispus hybrids as these are known for being prolific and it's rare to get
a pure crispus these days. A lot of times they're hybridized with hardier
varieties to make them more able to withstand lack of dormant periods.