Water lillies (?)

[Coyne]

I was about to pick up some water lily bulbs today, but thought it a better idea to post here first and see what the skinny was first (hooray, Im learning!)

I have a 45G tank, so not an amazing amount of water surface are compared to other mid-sized tanks (36" x 12").

Ive heard that mollies like a place to hide under near the surface such as floating plants or, say, a lily pad. However, Im conserned with how large the pad grows as I dont want it blocking light from the plants at the bottom.

Any thoughts on this? Or perhaps an alternative? Or maybe the idea of mollies liking to hide under something like this being baloney?

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

My red tiger lotus (same thing as they sell at petsmart/co) and it grows about 25" tall and the leaf gets about 4-6" in diameter, but it takes a while to get it to grow that way, I got a few water lily bulb packets at petsmart and none of the bulbs even sprouted if they sprout, it looks super good in the tank, I am not sure about the mollies though.

 

[Coyne]

Thanks for the info... I was going to buy the same packaged bulbs you mentioned and now Im glad I didnt.

The size doesnt sound too out of bounds either. I'll be replacing the hood with a glass top soon and the idea of a lilypad at the top is sounding more appealing.