# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Weekly plant focus Tiger Lotus



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I am starting something new. Every Saturday I will post a new plant or two for a weekly focus discussion. Please join in with your own thought, experiences, and pictures of this particular plant.

This week the focus is on *Tiger Lotus*, _Nymphaea zenkeri_.

There are two basic color variation, a mottled dark red, and a green with red spots.




























Nymphaea zenkeri or "lotus" is from west Africa and Madagascar. This should not be confused with the African nile "Lotus lilly" which is an entirely different genus and specie. The Tiger lotus is not a true Lotus lilly.

Other African Nymphaea species in the hobby are micrantha and daubenyana, (a hybrid). Asian species include "rubra" from tropical asia and "stellata" from Sri Lanka.

Nymphaea is a huge genus with hundreds of species. There are native species on every continent. In the pond industry there are hundreds of man made cultivar species for both cold water, (perennial) and tropical, (annual).
The size of these plants range from lily pad size of a silver dollar in the miniature breeds to dinner plate size. Most are not suitable for the aquarium.

In the USA one of the most prolific native species is Nymphaea odorata Ait










As you can see from this range map, it is all over the country.










Under ideal conditions in the aquarium which would be moderate to bright light, C02 at 20ppm or higher, and a nutrient rich substrate, the Tiger Lotus will get quite large with leaves 4 to 6 inches across and multiple leaves per plant. In less than ideal conditions, the leaves may stay smaller. The plants grow from a small, round, black bulb or "tuber". The plants can be easily dettached from the bulb and the bulb will grow another plant. I keep the bulb above the substrate and let the roots grow into the gravel. It is a heavy root feeder and responds well to nitrogen in the substrate. If you have a well matured substrate with heavy mulm, the plant will grow much faster. Young, immature plants will send up small leaves all the way up to the water surface. As the plant matures, the new leaves start bigger, and bigger. With low light I have found these plants can be kept in small tanks if you cut off the leaves when they reach the water surface. With bright light, the bigger your aquarium the better!

Thats my experience and research. Whats yours?


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I am starting something new. Every Saturday I will post a new plant or two for a weekly focus discussion. Please join in with your own thought, experiences, and pictures of this particular plant.

This week the focus is on *Tiger Lotus*, _Nymphaea zenkeri_.

There are two basic color variation, a mottled dark red, and a green with red spots.




























Nymphaea zenkeri or "lotus" is from west Africa and Madagascar. This should not be confused with the African nile "Lotus lilly" which is an entirely different genus and specie. The Tiger lotus is not a true Lotus lilly.

Other African Nymphaea species in the hobby are micrantha and daubenyana, (a hybrid). Asian species include "rubra" from tropical asia and "stellata" from Sri Lanka.

Nymphaea is a huge genus with hundreds of species. There are native species on every continent. In the pond industry there are hundreds of man made cultivar species for both cold water, (perennial) and tropical, (annual).
The size of these plants range from lily pad size of a silver dollar in the miniature breeds to dinner plate size. Most are not suitable for the aquarium.

In the USA one of the most prolific native species is Nymphaea odorata Ait










As you can see from this range map, it is all over the country.










Under ideal conditions in the aquarium which would be moderate to bright light, C02 at 20ppm or higher, and a nutrient rich substrate, the Tiger Lotus will get quite large with leaves 4 to 6 inches across and multiple leaves per plant. In less than ideal conditions, the leaves may stay smaller. The plants grow from a small, round, black bulb or "tuber". The plants can be easily dettached from the bulb and the bulb will grow another plant. I keep the bulb above the substrate and let the roots grow into the gravel. It is a heavy root feeder and responds well to nitrogen in the substrate. If you have a well matured substrate with heavy mulm, the plant will grow much faster. Young, immature plants will send up small leaves all the way up to the water surface. As the plant matures, the new leaves start bigger, and bigger. With low light I have found these plants can be kept in small tanks if you cut off the leaves when they reach the water surface. With bright light, the bigger your aquarium the better!

Thats my experience and research. Whats yours?


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## Ben C (Apr 16, 2006)

i recently moved mine to an area of my tank which i knew had considerably more undergravel aquarium soil than other parts of the tank. It has since rocketed surface-wards! In a 30cm deep tank, it takes about 2 days for a shoot to appear and reach the surface. it really is incredible. The underside of the leave is like a mirror of oxygen bubbles. 
I think it is safe to say that for this plant to thrive, it needs nutrients at its roots. It changed my plant almost overnight!

good luck.. i love watching these leaves shoot up, all curled up and tight, then expanding out as they near the surface. I recommend this plant to anyone not yet familiar.

Cutting the leaves at the surface breaks my heart! But i guess it has to be done...


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## Aqua Dave (Mar 16, 2004)

These plants can get huge so have lots of space or be prepared to prune back. My green tiger lotus has giant leaves that are at the top of my 150 gal tank (24").

The red lotuses I have seem to want more light than the green one. I can't seem to get them to stop sending leaves straight to the surface. A couple leaves stayed low, but every single other one has made a path straight to the top. I leave just a couple on the surface now.

These things send roots all over the place. They're popping up everywhere in my tank (6' long). I think I'm going to start cutting some of them where they break the surface.

Cool plant that can shade out your entire tank if you're not careful.

David


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## imported_nonamethefish (Apr 14, 2004)

Besides color, are there any differences in the two? Which is more attractive/ useful in an aquascape?


Btw, has anyone actually used the floaters on purpose in an aquascape. Im considering using banana plants in my 46 gallon bowfront tank(no real reason for choosing them over, say, dwarf lilies, though). I'm assuming that they will stay smaller. Perhaps floating heart(Nymphoides peltata) would also work.


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## superjohnny (Jul 31, 2004)

In my 24" tall tank I tried Tiger Lotus with no success. With only 2wpg my tank was just too tall. It's a cool plant that can get _really_ big.

Great idea Robert!


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Under low light they grow rather slowly yet extremely colorful, specially the red vairieties. It shouldn't have died however superjohnny, I think something else may have effected it. I have two growing in my 90 gallon with 1WPG, they get a couple leaves cut off every 2-3 months and color is a beautiful deep red, far better than the color they show in the high light tank. They also take a little while to recover after being moved around. I tend to grow the plant for about 6 months, then take the mother plant out which is too big and leave the baby plants that have formed around it, this keeps it under control somewhat, I'd hate to see what a 2 year old lotus looks like!

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


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## Cougra (Mar 31, 2004)

What is the minimum depth/size tank these should be kept in? I know they grow to a fairly large size so they aren't suitable to my current 15Gal tank, but I"m thinking about upgrading my tank in the future and would like to be able to keep one.


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## Leopardess (Mar 14, 2004)

I had to remove my lotus from my 55g tank because it was WAY too big. It formed a thick root MAT over the entire footprint of the tank. The floating leaves reached over 8" in diameter and caused *heavy* shading. I wouldn't recommend this plant for any tanks where shading may be a problem, unless you plan on seriously trimming back its leaves. Even then, mine never switched back to growing out "normal" leaves, but rather only floaters.

The best part about the plant, imo (including N. pubescens)? The flowers!







Mine were the size of a CD disk..










The leaves are gorgeous, however...


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Cool pics! If you let the leaves float, then yeah they get even bigger. People control the growth of the plant in different ways. Lillies do develop massive root systems as well. A few years back I had a common dwarf lily plant, you know the small arrow shaped leaves about the size of a "bananna plant"... well any way within a year it grew long trunk roots clear across a 100 gallon tank. When I tried to pull up the plant, I ripped up the entire substrate!

I am not surprised that tiger Lotus might do the same thing. But as far as the leaf size, if you keep cutting them off, you can more or less create a bushy low growing plant, like what you see in this picture:










Cougra to answer your question, I would guess a 40 gallon or bigger, and 20" or more height. I have all my plants in a 30 gallon tall tank, holding tank, for sale... and they are growing all tangled together and fill up the entire tank. They started as bulbs. I must have at least 30 plants in there. For aquascaping all you need is one plant perhaps more if your tank is large enough and you want it as the dominate plant. The red variety is the most popular just because of its color. It is a dark red that is breathtaking, but the green with red spots is also very attractive looking in my opinion.


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## Mortadelo (Mar 14, 2004)

Here is a tip to keep lotuses small.

You just need to put it in a small pot to prevent the roots from getting too big. I think the plant can somehow "feel" the lack of space in its root system and therefore producir smaller leaves. Just like bonsai.

Examples in my 15 gallon tank. http://www22.brinkster.com/aguaverde/articulos/nepomuceno7.jpg and http://www22.brinkster.com/aguaverde/portada20.jpg


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## Nebur (Aug 12, 2004)

My lotus frequently sends leaves to the tank top at about 32 inches, but the stems begins to turn brown and die in 4 - 5 days, any ideas ?


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

my did that too!!!


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## karfixer (Mar 20, 2004)

I have some of the red variety, in a 40G breeder tank and a 105G. Both tanks are pushing 3wpg, no CO2. I have found that cutting back the runners the plants will grow lower and more bushy. When I first had them, the runners got grew to the surface of the water and the leaves got HUGE. They quickly covered most of the surface area of the 40G tank.


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## Molch (Nov 10, 2010)

Pardon me for dragging up an old thread but I have a question about Nymphaea lotus I haven't found an answer to anywhere.

What's a tolerable temperature range for this plant? Could it live in 60-65 F with occasional dips down to 55 F? I would love to plant some of these in my newt tanks....


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## Willfull (Nov 9, 2011)

You just have to stay dilligent with cutting the floating leaves. I have 3 of these in a 125g and i only allow each one to have 2 floating leaves.


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