I got a red tiger lotus. I'm super excited about it, but I'm not very clear on what to do with it now. I didn't just get a bulb. It has a few leaves on long stems and in the few days that I've had it, it's grown another leaf. When I got it, I planted it in Flora Max and sand, but I think I want to cut the long stems off. Isn't that how you can make the leaves grow bigger and more outward than up? If not, then please tell me how! I know there's a way, I just lost the info I had. If I do have to cut them, I'll mostly just have the bulb. Do I still plant that under the substrate? The plant floats if it's not planted, so I can't just drop the bulb onto the substrate which is the most common instruction I've come across.

Check the bulb first for rot: lightly squeeze the bulb with fingers: it should be firm and not give. If it starts to collapse under pressure, then the bulb is rotting. If it is rotting then place it on substrate with a stone on the roots to keep it down. Don't cut anything - let it start growing first.

If the bulb is healthy:

Cut the roots to about 2", put the bulb on the substrate and put a stone on the roots to keep the bulb down. The old roots will rot but the bulb will grow the new ones.

Use sharp scissors and cut the stems at the max height you want the new leaves to grow to.

If you end up with a bulb with no leaves at all, you might as well start from from scratch: cut all stems and roots as close to the bulb as you can. Drop the bulb on substrate where you want the lotus to grow and leave it alone.

A healthy bulb will sink to substrate. You can also stick the bulb about 1/2 in the substrate. Either way, it will sprout again.

v3

Thanks! Super helpful! The bulb feels very firm, but does float, so I put a rock over the roots and it's ok for now And I trimmed two of the leaves. Hopefully, soon enough, I'll have a big, lush looking tiger lotus

As long as the bulb is good you will soon have more tiger lotus than you know what to do with, I just cut mind way back, probably ended up killing a few of them off, but they were causing too much shadow in the wrong locations in my 75 gallon. If you want some green tiger lotus to go with your red let me know!