Anybody have a two billion gallon tank I can use??

[Fruitbat]

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering through one of my local lfs and stumbled upon a dimly lit tank with three small Aponogeton plants in it struggling to stay alive. I did a little research and discovered that the plants were Aponogeton ulvaceus and that they had a tendency to get rather large. I decided that one of them would make a great centerpiece for my 26 gal tank so I picked one up. It had about 4 leaves of about 5-6inches in length on it.

Two weeks later and I now understand what 'Tank Buster' means!!! This thing now has leaves on it that are over 2 feet long and it is putting out new leaves like crazy! I'm going to have to think about trimming it back so that my Cryptocoryne doesn't get completely shaded out. Have to admit though that it makes a GREAT centerpiece plant!

 

[MantisX]

I made the mistake of putting one into a 10 gallon once. I didnt really read up on how big they got. It basically shaded everything else to near death and put off the little lily pads at the top. I had to sell it on aquabid because I didnt have a big enough tank for it.

 

[snapcrackler]

Will the aponogeton happily grow up out of water? It would be fun to set up a tank with raised lighting and just let the leaves go gangbusters and climb up and out of the water.

 

[Fruitbat]

This one doesn't seem at all interested in growing out of the water. The leaves are very fragile and easily torn and it just curls over at the top of the tank. Don't get me wrong...I'm not trying to get rid of it....it is gorgeous! I was just interested to see if anybody else has had a similar experience with this monster.

 

[MantisX]

The farthese mine went out of the water was with these stems it produced. On the end of them, this white lily looking flower formed, stayed a few days and finally died. But it kept shooting them towards the top. I was told you could germinate them and it would produce more plants?

 

[Seven]

Curious, I bought some bulbs of what were named the same plant type, and it grew quite large in my 10 gal, but not too large. It is definitely the centerpiece plant of my tank, but it hasn't dwarfed anything. The only thing on it that I think requires pruning is the flower-like things that grow to the top and fall over. They look kind of tacky to me so I cut them off after a while and they seem to just grow back.