Lilies in aquaria?

[coralnerd]

Has anyone tried growing water lilies (family Nymphaeaceae) in an aquarium? Anyone succeeded? Am I insane for even asking? I'm only asking because there are a couple of vey common species that grow prolifically in some of the waterways that I collect fish from, and they might make a nice addition to a biotope aquarium.

I used to gow them very successfully in outdoor ponds and tubs, but they really need a lot of sunlight. They don't grow successfully in shady spots at all. I suspect that they would also be extremely nutrient hungry plants.

 

[phanmc]

Tiger lotus (Nympheaea zenkeri) is a popular water lily for the aquarium, requires at least medium lighting and isn't too difficult to grow.

I'm currently growing "Queen of Siam" lily in my tank, which is a 4wpg high light tank. It's growing well and is constantly sprouting new leaves, no flowers yet though.

 

[coralnerd]

Tiger lotus (Nympheaea zenkeri) is a popular water lily for the aquarium, requires at least medium lighting and isn't too difficult to grow.

I'm currently growing "Queen of Siam" lily in my tank, which is a 4wpg high light tank. It's growing well and is constantly sprouting new leaves, no flowers yet though.

Do you use a lot of fertiliser? I know that when I grew lilies in my pond they didn't grow much for the first couple of seasons, because the pond was new. But once the fish waste and decaying plant matter etc had accumulated a bit, they went nuts, and took over the whole pond in one summer.

 

[phanmc]

Do you use a lot of fertiliser? I know that when I grew lilies in my pond they didn't grow much for the first couple of seasons, because the pond was new. But once the fish waste and decaying plant matter etc had accumulated a bit, they went nuts, and took over the whole pond in one summer.

Well, my tank is a high light, heavily planted tank so I do dose regularly. Other people have grown them in much less light and less need to dose as frequently.

 

[Robert H]

It depends on what specie of Nmphaea you are talking about. There are two types of pond lillies that ponders use. Cold water lilies which go dormant in the winter, and tropical lilies which die off in the winter. Many grow much too big for aquariums, both in the size of the leaves and the root systems. They all grow floating leaves which would go unseen in an aquarium. There are dwarf pond lillies that range from 4" leaves to 10" leaves.

Lillies used in the aquarium include African species typically called Tiger Lotus, Nymphea zenkeri, maculata, and others, and Nuphar, typically called Spatterdock which has a couple species native to the USA as well as Japan and Europe. Nymphoides is another water lily type that is sometimes used in the aquarium.

Pond lilies are bred for their flowers, not their leaves, although some are bred for a certain lily pad size. Most though have very boring leaves, nothing spectacular. It is the flowers that are highly prized. Even the African Tiger Lotus has a pretty spectacular flower.