Containing Red Tiger Lotus

[NOLANANO]

Hello everyone,

I recently bought a red tiger lotus from my LFS because I wanted something red for my 75G planted community tank. I made the age old mistake of purchasing a plant (or fish) without doing the proper research prior. Getting home, I did some research and discovered that this plant is a nutrient hog but worst of all has a MASSIVE root system that can strangle out other plants. I also read that it grows at an astonishing speed once it gets going.

While it does seems like a pain and I am considering removing it from my tank, I was wondering if anyone has had any success containing this plant by uprooting it and trimming the roots every so often?  

I just added it to my tank a few days ago so it hasn't had time to settle in and grow yet but my plan is to uproot it and trim the roots every time it gets growing super fast.  My theory is that it will keep the roots in check and it will slow its growth rate down if it has to readjust and regrow roots from time to time.

Any more experienced scapers out there know if this plan will work? Should I just cut my losses and pull the plant now? 

 

[FishPlanet]

On 7/19/2022 at 2:07 PM, NOLANANO said:

Hello everyone,

I recently bought a red tiger lotus from my LFS because I wanted something red for my 75G planted community tank. I made the age old mistake of purchasing a plant (or fish) without doing the proper research prior. Getting home, I did some research and discovered that this plant is a nutrient hog but worst of all has a MASSIVE root system that can strangle out other plants. I also read that it grows at an astonishing speed once it gets going.

While it does seems like a pain and I am considering removing it from my tank, I was wondering if anyone has had any success containing this plant by uprooting it and trimming the roots every so often?  

I just added it to my tank a few days ago so it hasn't had time to settle in and grow yet but my plan is to uproot it and trim the roots every time it gets growing super fast.  My theory is that it will keep the roots in check and it will slow its growth rate down if it has to readjust and regrow roots from time to time.

Any more experienced scapers out there know if this plan will work? Should I just cut my losses and pull the plant now? 

 

Hey! Several fishkeepers have told me that the plant goes into a growth spurt when it get's co2. I don't have co2 so mine is verrryyyy slow growing. 🙂

[NOLANANO]

That is great to hear as I don't have CO2 either. How long have you had it in your tank? Do you feel like it is slowing your other plants from growing?

[JoeQ]

You might want to research (on YouTube) how to "train" red tiger lotus. This might help you to keep it small. Im not sure if it has kept mine small but I have been "training" since I got mine (last year) and it's still realitively small

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I have not found it to be a nutrient hog, it will hold its own with other fast growing plants. Training works - you trim it at the level you want, don't let the side shoots expand outward and stop it from creeping. They do make new plantlets so you will need to evaluate for this as well. Overall it is very rewarding to have them in the tank.