Queensland Lace plant

[PHL]

Has anyone grown these, and have any details about the plant, ie dormancy, flowering, or can point me to a web site with more info on the plant. TIA.

[guppy01]

Yep, it's Aponogeton elongatus.

I have this plant in my tank... It's pretty nice, grows well.

When I first bought it I did a google search and there was no info, except for little bits - but none with enough detail.

I dunno, but I thought this plant wouldn't have a dormancy period in the aquarium since there is no wet/dry season stimulation? So far mines been growing for over a month with no signs of slowing down.

[PHL]

I dunno, but I thought this plant wouldn't have a dormancy period in the aquarium since there is no wet/dry season stimulation? So far mines been growing for over a month with no signs of slowing down.

The dormancy might be triggered by daylight length, which in a aquarium, is controlled anyway. I gather most Aponogetons have a dormancy, hence my question, and wanting to get details. There was some vague suggestion that it's winter dormant.

[PHL]

And to confuse the issue, today I've just seen a plant labeled as Queensland lace which looks nothing like mine. It had darker leaves, verging on brown/red, and thinner (about 1cm wide) and longer (20cm approx) leaves. Mine is lighter green, perhaps with a touch of yellow, wider (nearly 2cm) and shorter only 15 to 18cm). I wonder which one is the "real" Queensland lace.

[Magica DiSpell]

Leaf-colour is not always a good character for a species. It might just be the difference in water conditions or light conditions that will bring out the different colours. Without a picture I would not like to venture a guess.

As for dormancy, they certainly have a dormancy period. I have never had any luck with getting them to come back after dormancy, but that was in the early days of my aquarium keeping - before CO2, and aquatic plant fertilisers - so that might have been the reason, why the tuber never broke its dormancy for me.

They are a nice plant that will grow very vigourously for quite a while (a few months - from memory) before dormancy sets in.

[PHL]

As for dormancy, they certainly have a dormancy period. I have never had any luck with getting them to come back after dormancy, but that was in the early days of my aquarium keeping - before CO2, and aquatic plant fertilisers - so that might have been the reason, why the tuber never broke its dormancy for me.

Were the tubers still of good size when you dug them out, or were they totally gone?

I wonder what's required; reduced temperature, CO2, fertilised substrate? I might have to rethink my setup, and get some Echinodorus instead; hopefully my Amazon in my grow out tank will be of decent size before the Elongatus goes dormant.

[Tim]

Hey Guy's

when i had my planted tanks i loved Aponogetons i ended up with several varieties, some did well others not. I remeber the Queensland one i did do well with. It grew incredibly quick and i had alot of flowers. I even got some seedlings, but here is the embarrasing part, i cant even remember how i did it. I remeber having to rub two flowers together to get them to pollenate. Then i think the flower turned to seed's...arrgh i really cant remember. It was too long ago. I remeber getting some info from one of my Basench atlases. There was also a website with a heap of painted plant pictures, i cant remember an address perhaps Magica can help you with the address?? But i remember it being very good also. Easily these were my favorite plant. Ooh also remebered mine went dormant for a while then i moved it to a new tank and it went nut's again. Hope this helped?

Tim

[PHL]

I remeber getting some info from one of my Basench atlases. There was also a website with a heap of painted plant pictures, i cant remember an address perhaps Magica can help you with the address?? But i remember it being very good also. Easily these were my favorite plant. Ooh also remebered mine went dormant for a while then i moved it to a new tank and it went nut's again. Hope this helped?

Yes, there was an entry in Baench, but scant information.

Were you thinking of the Tropica website? They cover quite a few Aponogetons, but not Elongatus.

If I understand you correctly, your plants did not go dormant until you moved them? What temperature did you grow them in, and did you have fertilised substrate? TIA.

[E4G13M4N]

lovely plant but i havnt had much success after dormant stage..

I have even tried drying the bulbs out for awhile to see if the dormant stage was more during the dry stage..

But only 1 regrew ..

I have a mate that grows these so i will see what i can find out ..

[Tim]

no it went dormant in the tank it was doing well in, then i moved the bulb to another tank and it started growing again. I dont know temps or anything like that sorry it was along time ago. I just put that Dinosaur Dung stuff in the substrate, sorry i cant be of more help.

Tim

[PHL]

Thanks Mark & Tim.

Looks like it does need a fertilised substrate, doesn't like being dried out, and hopefully we can work out a successful growing profile.

[hieuc]

i once had one of these plants, it was such a nice plant, long wavy leaves that grew soo fast its wasnt funny. i got 1 large leaf per week. it grew sooo long around 50-60 cm it covered the surface of the tank and had to be trimmed back. after like 3months it began to slow down till only like 1 tiny leaf was coming out every 1-2 weeks.

i did some asking around and research and found out that aponogetons need a rest period when the water needs to be cooler than the tank water to simulate a winter. well combine with watchin some gardening show that told people to put their tulip bulbs in the fridge during dormant months i did this. but silly me didnt realise that their natural habitat doesnt reach like 4C in winter so they all died. but then i tried it by putting it a gold fish tank for like a month and the planted it back and it grew big again.

[PHL]

but then i tried it by putting it a gold fish tank for like a month and the planted it back and it grew big again.

What was the temperature differential between your normal tank and your goldfish tank? That might be the secret to getting them to revive. I actually keep mine in my heated (25C) goldfish tank, mainly to stabilise the temperature, and also because I keep Ottos and SAEs in there.

If they are like swords, all you have to do is remove the outer leaves to prune them; if you remove enough, you can slow the plant down somewhat. I do that to bt Rubin, and it now only grows 2 new leaves a week; at it's peak, it was nearly one a day, and it was taking over!

[hieuc]

planted tank had discus in it so was at 27-28C and the gold fish tank was at room temp which is usually 20C and sometimes as low as 15C at night.

[PHL]

Spoke to Frank yesterday, at Manly Aquarium, who has propagated them; apparently they need a low temp in winter (he has them outside), and a rich substrate. And apparently there are several varieties of 'Queensland lace', most of which are different. He was of the opinion that A. Elongatus is the variety found from Coffs up to Brisbane, and the plant grows very tall. He was also of the opinion that the pant in Baench is not Elongatus...