Intentionally stunting Madagascar Lace?

[Pwnedn00b]

Madagascar Lace is a bucket list plant for me, but I've never had a tank large enough to support it. I was wondering if it's possible to keep it healthy, but intentionally small. Could I put aquasoil and some root tabs in a smallish pot to limit the root system and leaf growth? 

 

I will be keeping it in relatively low light (23g Fluval Vista kit stock light) with no heater (74-76 degree water year round). 

 

Does anyone have experience with this plant they can share? 

[CJs Aquatics]

I had a huge one years ago that took up the majority of a 40b. It was a fun plant. I think generally speaking you won’t need to stunt it per se as it will only grow to its environment. If it gets too big for your set up I’m pretty sure you can just trim it back. It’s sort of slow growing at first mine had an algae issue until it got established then it was off to the races. Definately a fun plant.

Edited Thursday at 09:57 PM by CJs Aquatics

[HelplessNewbie]

I tried to keep it in my 20 gallon long. It never recovered from melting and algae on leaves. Guess I didn't fertilize it enough nor gave it enough light.

[s_in_houston]

On 11/28/2024 at 9:21 AM, Pwnedn00b said:

to keep it healthy, but intentionally small

Having a little laugh to myself. I accidentally have done this to half my plants. Against my will. Here is my “mighty” Ozelot sword after 6 months. 😂

 

Well best of luck on doing this purposely. 

[MWilk]

51 minutes ago, s_in_houston said:

Having a little laugh to myself. I accidentally have done this to half my plants. Against my will. Here is my “mighty” Ozelot sword after 6 months. 😂

 

Well best of luck on doing this purposely. 

I really like the look of that, whether or not it was intentional. 

[Pwnedn00b]

9 hours ago, HelplessNewbie said:

I tried to keep it in my 20 gallon long. It never recovered from melting and algae on leaves. Guess I didn't fertilize it enough nor gave it enough light.

What a bummer. I'm halfway concerned that with my luck it'll melt and die in 5 days and this whole question will be a moot point. When I started researching this plant I found info to be all over the place. Ex: here is Ryo Watanabe keeping it in a small unfiltered container with aquasoil and it grew like crazy in only ambient room light. Over here is a tropica video explaining that you need to build a low ph high tech tank around it and make sure not to bring any bad vibes nearby or it'll get covered with hair algae. Maybe it's true that if you have a high light tank, you also need co2 to combat algae? 

 

9 hours ago, s_in_houston said:

Having a little laugh to myself. I accidentally have done this to half my plants. Against my will. Here is my “mighty” Ozelot sword after 6 months. 😂

 

Well best of luck on doing this purposely. 

It does look really healthy. Are you doing a gravel cap over aquasoil or just root tabs in substrate? 

 

I pretty much need to do the aquasoil in a pot path because I'm redoing the tank with an undergravel filter. I was more concerned that limiting the potential for root growth would cause the plant to die out of spite. Less concerning was the possibility that I might end up with a magnificent 24 inch plant in an 18 inch tall tank...you never know though.

[s_in_houston]

3 hours ago, Pwnedn00b said:

It does look really healthy. Are you doing a gravel cap over aquasoil or just root tabs in substrate? 

I know right? Seachem Flourite with root tabs. 
 

I do wonder if I’d get better results by switching to an active substrate. I’m not nearly as in-depth into the hobby as lots

of people here and the idea of the work

of replacing my substrate makes me

shudder.
 

But I’m finally considering it along with giving in a buying a CO2 system.

[Pwnedn00b]

8 hours ago, s_in_houston said:

I know right? Seachem Flourite with root tabs. 
 

I do wonder if I’d get better results by switching to an active substrate. I’m not nearly as in-depth into the hobby as lots

of people here and the idea of the work

of replacing my substrate makes me

shudder.
 

But I’m finally considering it along with giving in a buying a CO2 system.

I did once have an active substrate tank, but it was just a thin layer of ADA aquasoil under a much thicker layer of gravel. My plants did amazingly well, except the flame sword, which grew, but never really took off. You can kind of see it in the back right corner. I don't know whether it takes swords a long time to reach their potential, or if they're just really demanding of nutrients, or both. Either way, I'd generally rather pursue lower maintenance plants, since there's a wide variety of beautiful ones out there. 

 

[Maximus]

I've got one in a 10 gallon tank. It's stayed very small, but it looks healthy.