# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Nymphaea Lotus 'Zenkeri' - Red Tiger Lotus



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

*Nymphaea Lotus 'Zenkeri'* - Red Tiger Lotus



















Light: low - very high

Growth: medium

Demands: easy

Pruning: Cut older leaves at base of stem. Cut floating or unwanted leaves.

Propagation: Forms short runners with baby plants close to the mother plant. Wait for new plants to grow a little before moving them.

Planting: Doesn't like to be moved and will often shed all it's leaves after having been moved. Leave the roots in place and it will grow back.

Experience: Initially it will put out leaves that are very low to the ground followed by longer leaves and finally floating ones. You can cut the leaves that you don't want to keep the height you prefer. If you want the plant to extend it's stems a little, do a blackout for a couple of days and it will quickly extend towards the surface looking for light. You can also shadow it with other plants making it grow higher. Currently growing this plant in tanks ranging from 1.2WPG to 4WPG, leaves are a deeper tone of red in the lower lit tank but growth can be quite slow. Have never let it flower but it can in open aquariums. Roots can get big and is a heavy root feeder, place a root tab under the plant for best results. Older leaves tend to rot at the stem first, I usually remove the older, larger leaves before this happens.


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Wow, nice pictures! I bought one yesterday; not sure if the specie was the same since the lfs didn't bother putting on any. But I know mine is definitely a Nymphaea, and it looks real similar to yours. However, I planted mine in a waterbowl in my backyard. Therefore, I would like to know what is their range of temperature? Would I have to bring the bowl inside the house during Winter? Thanks alot!


Paul


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## ScottH. (May 13, 2004)

Great plant. For those with light between 1.5 and 2 wpg this plant will satisfy you.I have tons of these plants. One, I let go to the surface and the others I keep low. It adds a nice red to the greens of your tank.
It is also a heavy root feeder so you may want to give it some root tabs.

My goal is a sea of green.


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## Rumpled (Jun 23, 2003)

Nice shots,

I need to know a few things.
Until a couple of weeks ago unbeknown to me my Ph controller was set incorrectly. In fact it was set at 2.4 above what it actually was. This resulted in huge amounts of CO2 being used for months on end, which when I asked several people, thought was normal given the size of my tank. 90g

Anyway during the last three months I noticed that my Tiger lotus was gradually growing less and now has almost completely stopped growing. The leaves down the bottom look deformed like something has been at them. Not muched but deformed.

I don't have any fish that are herbivous in nature, I use the Dupla system for nutrients and tablets after water changes, the rest of my plants are growing fine except for my java fern that looked like it was affected by the CO2 problem.

The before I recalibrated the controller ph manually read 4.2 with kh at 3.0. Question, is the problem with the CO2 related to the problem of the lotus or is it a seasonal thing, one of the lotus bulbs has lost all its leaves, seems sound but has not started to grow again while I have left it just on the substrate. How do I get my Lotus to start growing again and how do I get the bulb to spurt back to life?

Hope I make sense

Paul

90 gallon, Dupla CO2 injection, Dupla undergravel heater, 240 watts of light and 2 x Eheim pro2 canisters


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## Alberto Villarroya (Nov 15, 2003)

I've just bought one, but I don't know what to do with the bulb, should I bury it completely?

Thanks


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

I wouldn't bury more than 1/2 the bulb. Leave at least half of it exposed to the light; it'll give it that much more head start in growing. Speaking of which, I didn't even bury my Madagascar lace plant bulbs. I simply drop them into the water and voila! Now the leaves are more than 4-in long, after 3 weeks time.

Paul


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## Alberto Villarroya (Nov 15, 2003)

Thanks paul


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

No sweat, dude







Good luck with yours! 
Speaking of which, do not get those packaged bulbs you see at Wal__rt cus I got some weeks ago and they still haven't grown. Two even began to rot so I had to throw them away

Paul


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## Leopardess (Mar 14, 2004)

A wonderful plant - though it can grow quite large, especially if allowed to grow floating leaves. In an open topped aquarium, it may blossom, producing large, vibrant flowers:









Click here to see my tanks!


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## newmang (Sep 22, 2003)

Many people say not to bury the bulb at all and just let the roots grow down into the substrate.

This might work in a tank where fertilisers are dosed into the water column but if you have a Walstad-style tank I suggest you bury the bulb just beneath the surface of the gravel.

That way it can feed off the nutrients in the substrate more easily.

I had a bulb which stayed dormant for a year until I buried it.


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Another update on this beautiful plant. In my experience, I found once the plant has established enough roots in its stem it can be detached from the main bulb from which it sprouted. The old bulb can then be used to grow more plant or be stored away.


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