Madagascar Lace Plant

Conagher · Post by **Conagher** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:32 pm

I have a question on aponogetons and their dormant period.
After one blooms and starts to loose its leaves, should you pull it out of the aquarium and keep in damp sand for a month? Or is it best to just leave it in the tank? I have read so many conflicting things regarding this, I dont know what is correct.
For the record, I currently have:
A. ulvaceus (recently bloomed, and is losing leaves)
A. capuronii (4-5 years old, but kind of struggling)
A. longiplumulosus (seems to be thriving)

I used to have an A. boivinianus, but after it bloomed, it lost its leaves and the bulb rotted. It was a 'new' plant that bloomed about 1-2 weeks after I planted it. About 6 weeks later I dug up the mush that used to be the bulb. Perhaps I got a bad one? Or did I kill it by not removing it?

ddavila06 · Post by **ddavila06** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:02 am

thats a heck of a collection! i wouldn't know what to tell you about the bulb...someone more knowleageble will have to pitch in

btw, what do you mean by "bloom" as in flower?

Conagher · Post by **Conagher** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:09 am

Yes. By bloomed I meant producing a flower(s).

For some reason, I have always liked these plants a lot. The A. Ulvaceus will probably get to be too big for my tank, but the price was such a deal that I couldn't help myself!

The A. capuronii are my favorite, and mine used to be a top notch plant, (when it was in pea gravel and under low light conditions), but since I moved it to a bigger tank with much better substrate and lighting, It has only produced small leaves that soon start to decay. It would be a focal point of my tank should it grow again as it used to...

Sorry about highjacking your thread Damian!

SCMurphy · Post by **SCMurphy** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:02 am

A. bovinianus is actually a tough plant to get established. I found that despite what the books said, Aponogetons did better for me in cooler aquariums, i.e. 70 degrees or cooler, with a soil substrate. I had A. fenestralis that established, lost the bulb, flowered like mad, and grew an entirely new bulb.

These are plants that need current flowing over their leaves. The dormancy period for the plants from Madagascar is caused by the plants response to the muddy high fast water rainy season. Asian plants are likely to go through a dry season dormancy. African plants don't seem to have a dormancy. Check the species list in Kastlemann's book to see where the species are from.

DelawareJim · Post by **DelawareJim** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 7:16 am

Or check here:
http://images.aquaria.net/plants/Aponogeton/

Cheers.
Jim

Conagher · Post by **Conagher** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:35 pm

My A. ulvaceus lost its last leaf last night... should I remove the bulb from the tank for a month or so? or let it be where its at?

SCMurphy · Post by **SCMurphy** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:12 am

does it have a good root system? If it does, leave it. If it doesn't, it won't matter, the plant is probably dead, take it out.

Conagher · Post by **Conagher** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:32 pm

It has a good sized bulb... without pulling it up, I dont know how much the root system has developed. There was some small roots growing when I planted it a few months ago. It bloomed maybe a month ago, and then the leaves started dying...

The bit of the bulb that is above the substrate, still looks like it did before.

ddavila06 · Post by **ddavila06** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:46 pm

i got my camera back!! yay! and to celebrate i though i should post a pic of my madagascar lace plant

i hope this year i get a few more flowers from this awesome plant...

Conagher · Post by **Conagher** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:55 pm

Awesome looking plant Damian!
I am jealous.

Madagascar Lace Plant

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