lotus flower

[Phoenixphire55]

Can I grow a lotus in my 5 gallon natural tank (in almost full sunlight, fluorite gravel, no filter or heater)? Any info on growing lotuses would be appreciated.

 

[Purrbox]

Most likely it will end up being way too big for that small of an aquarium.

 

[Zagz]

I have one and can tell you it grows FAST! And large. You can try but it will overtake the aquarium quickly IME.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

What about a water lily? Or any smaller plants that produce pretty flowers at the surface? Any ideas? Thanks for the help thus far (as always)

 

[Purrbox]

You might want to look at Red Root Floater. It's much better suited to that size aquarium (leave about the size of a dime) and has beautiful little white flowers when it blooms.

 

[neilanh]

Have you considered the smaller Anubias'? They don't flower at the surface, but they're relatively easy to get to produce flowers and they're slow growers.

 

[Zezmo]

Here is a Nymphaea micrantha blooming in my tank. It is one of the smaller lotus lillies and it still tried to take over a quarter of my 72 gallon tank.

If the goal is just have flowers, there are lots of plants that will produce flowers if allowed to hit the surface. Phylanthus fluitans, or "Red Rooted Floater" is a great choice with little white flowers as Joy mentioned. Most anubias will flower, though that may be a long time coming. Aponogeton's flower easily, as do many Echinodorus. Specifically, I am thinking Echinodorus parviflorus "tropica" as a small sword that will easily flower in a tank that sized.
Blyxa japonica is a nice plant that also flowers easily when it can hit the surface. As it would in such a small tank.

The trick will be figuring what it is that triggers the flowering. Is it biomass (as in lillies), photoperiod (longer days of spring), change in Kh or Ph (as in begining or end of the rainy season), or maybe large amounts of a particular nutrient (high phosphate supposedly triggers Anubias to flower.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

wow, very pretty lotus. What part of it takes over the tank? The root system I assume?


Thanks for the plant suggestions. I'll check those out and see what I can get my hands on. I'll probably have to order them online cuz the pet stores in my city only sell anubias, cabomba, and swords, but I really like the sound of this red root floater.

 

[neilanh]

I think we're all missing the obvious answer here.

You need a big tank to accomodate what you want. I recommend 125g +

 

[Phoenixphire55]

lol, yeah I dont think I'm gonna buy a 125 gallon tank just for a lotus, or for anything actually. I could sleep in one of those things...a little too big for me.