Happy lily, wanted to share

AirstoND said:

I would remove a couple of neighbor plant leaves to allow more light to hit it, otherwise that will encourage more runners.

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It's hard to tell in the picture, but the plant is in front of the anubias and in full light. The lighting in the edge isn't very bright so I may get runners anyway.

My big problem is that the Lily leaves are getting really large and are filling up a lot of space from right to left and I may need to move other plants. There is a well established Crypt on the left that is getting shaded. Here is a picture. Today is water change day so I should be able to drain enough water to get my arm in to do some trimming (excuse the snail problem in the photo :icon_wink ).

wicca27 said:

snip off the leaf that is going up. if you let it hit the top of the water it will stop putting leaves out under the water and just put up more pads. i have had several of these

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I didn't listen, but this is my first Lily and I had to see what happens just for the fun of it.

Still looks pretty even with the elongated leaves. A second floater is making its way to the top. The local fauna is getting used to the stems, the inverts like to perch on them:



Here is a view of leaf #1 from the top. Since this is a Fluval Edge the only open water is where the lighting sits, so the fun will have to be over soon, I can't afford to have many leaves on the surface

Lol! That's what I get for not listening!

Part of my problem was planting it in the most impractical tank on the market. I have to drain at least a half a bucket of water in order to squeeze my arm into the tank. I'll deal with the consequences this season and have a better gameplan for next year. I am going to trim them off weekly for now when I do my water changes.

At least I am getting some enjoyment from watching my fish and inverts interacting with this new thing in their tank. More than one invert has used the stems for a super highway:

UPDATE:

Last week I cut the four crazy lily pads down as recommended. This week the plant is generally growing up and out.




The newest leaf is growing on a slightly taller stem with a beautiful patterned leaf. Here is a photo from above: