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The choice of bulb plants for your tank is very wide. Most appreciated bulb plant varieties are Aponogeton boivinianus, Aponogeton capuroni, Aponogeton henkelianus, Aponogeton madagascarensis, Aponogeton natans, Aponogeton stachysporus and Aponogeton ulvaceus.
There is also Barclaya longofolia, Crinum natans, Crinum thaianum, Nuphar japonica ‘Spatterdock’, Nymphaea stellata, Nymphaea ‘Tiger lotus green’, Nymphaea ‘Tiger lotus red’ and Barclaya longifolia ‘Red form’.
Suitable condition for bulb plants in aquarium:
Each plant has its own ideal conditions. However, generally the Aponogeton listed here willsurvive in water with a pH of 6.5-7.5.
The notable exceptions are A. capuroni needing pH 5.8 to 6.5, Nuphar japonica requiring 5.5 to 7.3 and most Nymphaea which will need 6.2 to 7.2.
Temperatures must generally be 22 to 28 degrees C/72 to 82 degrees F for tropical species, although Spatterdock can grow down to 18 degrees C/64 degrees F.
N. japonica’s cousin Nuphar lutea grows well in UK canals, so suggesting it will survive in colder waters.
Aponogeton, like the A. ulvaceus pictured above, are easy, but they grow alarmingly quickly and might reach 2.4m/8’ within three months of arrival at the shop. Best easy to grow tank specimen is the Nymphaea ‘Tiger lotus’.
Being bulb plants, they come loaded with their own nutrients for the growing season ahead, so you need to do very little except plant the bulb three-quarters deep into the substrate.
Pruning bulb plants:
When leaves are ragged and too long on Aponogeton and Barclaya, pull them back to the bulb and cut them off close to the bulb – closer, the better, so the stalk left behind does not rot to kill the bulb.
You don’t really have to prune Crinum, but if you want to trim these pull them back to the bulb and peel like an onion. Trimming of Nymphaea and Nuphar can be done accordingly. These plants will send leaves to the surface and create shade in your aquarium.
Follow the stalk back to the bulb and cut it off as close as possible to the bulb. This will ensure no rot sets in and your plant will eventually reduce in size but have many leaves.
Resting the bulb plants:
The purists say to rest the plants because where these grow in the wild, water heights are seasonal. During the dry season, the bulbs are out of the water, the leaves die and they await the rainy season to grow again. This can rarely be achieved in aquarium. With water always present your plants will grow all year round. This means you need to really feed the plants as they will soon run out and deplete the stores of nutrition in the bulb, dying off.
To rest the bulb, remove from the tank and trim off any leaves. Put it in a polythene bag of damp sand and leave somewhere dry and cool to rest for around six months of the year.
Purchasing bulb plants:
Purchasing a bulb is better as it may give you several plants at the same time. As for purchasing a bulb or a bulb with leaves, this is down to the supplier.
If you ever smell an Aponogeton bulb with rot, you’ll know its dead. It makes the entire room as well as the water smell rank. However, some bulbs just exhaust, mainly through lack of resting. These will float, they are light and can also be squeezed. They are not firm, but a good fresh one should feel firm, be dark and sink quite slowly. Throw off any bulb that oozes out pus on squeezing.
Apogonetons are generally background plants, Nymphaea would be midground and Crinums are also mid to background.
Aponogetons are stunning in pink, white, purples and blues. They have really nice flowers, floating on the surface on a raised stalk. The Nymphaea flowers are nocturnal and Barclaya flower is amazing.
