The Planted Tank
Flowering Rosette Plants in the Aquarium
Rhonda
WILSON
photographs by the author
Most of the plants we grow
in our aquariums flower
naturally in the wild, but
this can be a rare instance in
home aquaria. It can be very exciting to find
your aquatic plants producing blossoms,
and some can even be propagated this way.
There are a few tips for knowing what
plants are most likely to flower, and what
they need in order to do so.
Flowering plants are called angiosperms.
Not all the plants in the aquarium are
angiosperms. Mosses, liverworts like Riccia
and pelia, and aquatic ferns like Java fern,
Bolbitis, and Ceratopteris are more primitive
plants that don’t produce flowers or seeds,
but instead create spores, thus their name
of “sporophytes.”
Of course any of the flowering plants that
we keep in our aquariums have the potential
to flower for us, but some are much more
likely to do so than others. There are several
aquarium plants that are happy to surprise
us with flowers, while others may require
more coaxing. In this column and the next
I’ll list a few of the aquatic plants most
likely to bloom in the aquarium, as well as
the type of care they need in order for this
to happen.
Rhonda Wilson keeps about 80
planted aquariums collected
over more than 30 years of
fish keeping. She is co-author,
with Terry Barber, of the T.F.H.
book, The Simple Guide to the
Planted Aquarium. She’s also
written several articles published
both in the US and abroad.
Rhonda has been active in local
and national fish and aquarium
clubs including serving as past
chairman of the American
Livebearer Association. She has
a lifelong love of animals and
nature. She currently lives with
a zoo of children and pets in the
Phoenix area of Arizona. You
can see her website and post
questions on her bulletin board at
http://naturalaquariums.com.
Aponogeton
For many people, one of the first
aquatic plants to bloom in the aquarium is
Aponogeton crispus, which has been popular
in the hobby for many years. This species is
quite variable and can be crossed with other
Aponogeton, which has resulted in several
established cultivars as well as hybrid plants.
One of the reasons that Aponogeton has
become so popular in the aquarium trade is
the ability of the rhizome to withstand a dry
period, making these plants easy to ship.
You may even see them hanging in small dry
bags in pet sections of larger stores.
I’ve personally had some problems with
the bagged rhizomes surviving, but I have
had success with the ones I purchased
already sprouting in aquarium stores. The
problems I’ve had with the bagged type
were probably due to me living in the hot,
dry Arizona desert. It seems reasonable
that they would easily dry out or get too
hot during shipping here. I’ve heard of
many other success stories with the dry
Aponogeton rhizomes in other parts of the
country, though.
These plants will usually do better
in soft to moderate water and may
have trouble in harder water. They will
appreciate a rich substrate. In a new
aquarium or a tank with very clean
substrate and no additional nutrients,
Aponogeton will probably only last for
a few months at best. It will do better
with specially prepared aquarium plant
substrates, or if you’d rather, you can
use a small layer of potting soil or
compost under your gravel. There are
many options available and most of them
seem to do the job if you’re consistent in
your approach. The addition of CO can
2
also be helpful for growing Aponogeton,
particularly if you have harder water. The
plants may sometimes die down and may
not seem to have the longevity of some
aquarium plants, but many can be kept
alive for several years if they are well
cared for.
When your Aponogeton flowers, you
may observe the slim stalk coming up