How do you manage your Tiger Lotus's floating leaves?

[KittenFishMom]

How do you manage your Tiger Lotus?

My Tiger Lotus is so happy in my semi walstad 55 tank that it is covering the surface with beautiful floating leaves, blocking the light to the plants below. A piece of driftwood is corralling the leaves, but I think there are 5 or 6 floating, and more rising. I have added a floor lamp with 2 plant bulbs to shine through the side of the tank. The lower plants are doing OK with the light from the floor lamp, but I bump into it a lot.

I think I would like to remove most of the floating leaves, but am not sure how this will effect the Tiger Lotus. What is the best way to keep all the plants happy and make sure they are all getting enough light? 

I could move the plants under the floating leaves and replace them with hard scape, but I like plants more than hard scape.

(I would like to replace my cobbled together collections of lights on that tank with the soon to be available new ACO light)

[Rube_Goldfish]

I've only had my tiger lotus since the beginning of November, but I've pretty freely snipped off surface leaves with, so far, no visible problems to the lotus.  I usually leave it one surface leaf (lily pad, I guess?) and trim the others.  I know @Beardedbillygoat1975, @Mmiller2001, and @JoeQ have all "trained" their tiger lotuses to stay compact; they can probably give you more thorough advice.

[Mmiller2001]

If you never let it reach the surface, it stays compact. Just snip the individual lily that's making a run at the surface.

[JoeQ]

My tiger lotus actually has never had a aireal shoot, yet it is 3 ~ 4 years old. I'm not sure if this is cause of constant trimming to stay small or more of a placement/light factor. Interestingly enough my Dwarf aquarium lilly who I trim regularly once the submerged leaves reach a certain size has never had an aireal shoot either. While a younger sibling from the same bulb, but in a diffrent tank (who I let grow crazy) just grew its first lilly pad.

Edited January 5, 2023 by JoeQ
Grammerly

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Whatever you leave the highest shoot/leaf is where the others will reach to. Trim them to the level you want. I wanted mine in the middle and mid water. So I trim to that level. 

[Rita]

I have one tank with a dwarf aquarium lily and another tank with a tiger lotus. Dwarf lily tank has been up for over two years and I get TONS of lily pads. I do have to trim them back a bit because they will shade out all the other plants in the tank. Just try to trim the stem as close to the base of the plant as possible. My tiger lotus on the other hand is a year old and I've maybe gotten one or two lily pads total so I haven't really needed to trim back much!

[llmgtab]

Thanks for asking this question, it was very helpful to me. I have been letting some go to the top, but I see now trimming them will help keep it where I want with no harm.