What is your experience with tiger lotus?

[tfish]

I have seen some pics of tiger lotus and am interested in trying it. What is your experience with it? I've read a bit about it on the net, but different places say different things. I thought it would be better to find out about it from people who have actually grown it.

Is it a demanding plant? What are the light requirements? How tall does it get? Does it grow up mostly or out? I have a good sized sword that is growing out quite a bit, shading much of the plants below. Not sure I like that.

Here are my tank specs:
55 gallon
pH: 6.8
KH: 5
CO2: DIY for now
Lighting: 110 watts
NO3: ~10ppm
PO4: ~1
Ferts: Seachem flourish (4 ml every few days), KNO3, K2SO4, jobes plants sticks around swords

Do you think my tank is suitable for a tiger lotus?

Thanks for your input!

[skeletalmachine]

I two have Red Tiger Lotus in my 55 gal planted tank as the centerpiece. It is a gorgeous plant! I have found it very easy to grow. I have 120 watts of light over my tank and it grows in a 2" deep bed of coarse gravel with a small amount of laterite laid beneath. I rarely fertilize and I do not use co2. The plant mostly grows in a dense group until it gets a certain size... about 8" high. By then, the new shoots are shaded by the older leaves and when they grow they will go straight to the water surface. This will also happen if the plant is shaded by another plant as well. Sometimes I cut these shoots off and sometimes I leave them, hoping for a flower which I have never gotten yet. :) When the plant gets too many floating leaves for my liking I will usually cut all the large leaves off plant, and it will start growing compact again. I do not think this plant would do very well with low light levels. Also I would not recommend growing it in small tanks.

HTH,
Steve

[nvision]

easy to grow and not very demanding, but watch out for fish that like nibbling on plants because it's quite fragile. i currently have a single bulb for my 50g, and it's already grew out two plants for me.

what i have is supposed to be green lotus, with GORGEOUS, deep emerald green leaves with red speckles. but currently, the plant has turned almost entirely red due to the higher lighting. looks very much like tiger lotus if not the exact same plant. it has also done very well in low light actually, with deep green leaves and grew in denser clusters.

http://www.jaudesign.com/aquaria/images/tn_50g_lotus.jpg

[agilis]

My experience is similar to the other posters. I find it grows extremely well in my 46 gallon tank with single 96 watt c.f. bulb. The plant is located in the dimmest corner, and puts up a new leaf about every week. The color of the leaves varies from a few almost all red at the base, mottled red and green for those that stay near the bottom, and almost all green for the 2 or 3 that I allow to reach the top as typical lily pads. It takes only about 4 days for a new leaf to reach the surface, about 18 inches. Limiting the long stemmed surface leaves by snipping them off seems to encourage the plant to grow more compactly near the bottom, spreading laterally instead of vertically. The plant responds noticably to root-tab fertilizer pellets, and I suspect it needs a certain amount of iron to do well. I think it is a great plant, very tough despite the delicate looking leaves.

[punch]

A little note, They can get an extensive root system! and babies
may start growing else where. If you allow the leaves to grow to the top you will be blocking light to other plants so most people will cut the tall leaves and try to keep the plant more squat.