Growing Dwarf Aquarium Lillies

[DallasCowboys16]

I have always considered myself to have a green thumb when it comes to planted tanks. I have been able to grow pretty much any plant I want, but for the life of me I have never been able to grow a nice dwarf aquarium lily or Tiger Lotus. I've even grown some nice aponogetons in my time, so it is not all bulb plants.

Does anyone have tips for how to grow great lilies? If so, please share your secrets!

[Tony s]

I have several in my angelfish tank. I really don’t do anything special for them. Just like anubias, keep the bulb above the substrate and the roots will descend. When they start reaching for the surface, they can be trimmed back to a more compact shape. Trim each leaf shoot close to the bulb. Unless you want them to provide some top level cover. I have both types. I even have 1 bulb suspended in a bunch of dwarf sag. Those roots don’t even touch the substrate but the leaves grow all the way to the top. One of these days I’m going to coral it, trim it, and put it back on the bottom. Just watching it to see how it does. 

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/7/2024 at 11:40 PM, Tony s said:

I have several in my angelfish tank. I really don’t do anything special for them. Just like anubias, keep the bulb above the substrate and the roots will descend. When they start reaching for the surface, they can be trimmed back to a more compact shape. Trim each leaf shoot close to the bulb. Unless you want them to provide some top level cover. I have both types. I even have 1 bulb suspended in a bunch of dwarf sag. Those roots don’t even touch the substrate but the leaves grow all the way to the top. One of these days I’m going to coral it, trim it, and put it back on the bottom. Just watching it to see how it does. 

The other thing I'd say is that they seem to be heavy root feeders, so if you don't have aquasoil, you'll want to spoil them with root tabs.

If you never got past the bulb-with-no-roots-or-leaves stage, you may have just had the bulb upside-down.

[Scapexghost]

I blacked out my tank once for two weeks for velvet, and the lily grew 3 new pads. There is probably some unknowable qualitt to you water, like to much boron or something weird. I see it all the time where people cant grow one plant for some reason. Someone asked me the secret to growing dwarf sag, since it grows ceazy in my tanks , when i. Reality its one of like 5 plants i can grow consistently.

Maybe you've been unlucky and have gottem bad bulbs, or maybe theyve been outcompeted by other plants(although this doesnt really make much sense). There are a couple trickly lick flipping it over or removing it and leaving it moist, out of water foe a month that may be worth trying out.

[DallasCowboys16]

Thanks everyone. The tips here are helpful. I just picked up a Lilly for another go at it, so hopefully I’ll get some decent results this time around.

At this point I just can’t handle letting a plant get the best of me like this!