[Stan510]

Seen pretty much all of them,and this one stands out for size and extremely red color. Its not that easy to find bright red Tiger Lotus and in fact if you went by mail order- the photo is red,but the plant you get might be the more green lower quality plants.
I have one now that is just explosive in growth and it will be a question of what will it do when time to rest? Go totally dormant leaving a void in the scape? Or maybe just thin out..not as many leaves for a few months? Right now I don't have any red fish in the 240 gallon..the Lotus and Alternanthera add that to the eye candy.

 

[Plinkploop]

See, I've never considered those tiger lotuses, those have always been red nymphea to me... Those were what I grew and propogated. I always thought of tiger lotuses as the green and red mottled leaved nymphea. TIL that red lotuses are red tiger lotuses now.

Mine kept producing little plants as other sections died off- for years....

 

[Stan510]

I bought Red Nymphea last year and it just was a larger N. stellata in looks. It never developed even faint reddish leaves.. Just sort of tan colored. But,its been very hardy and has spread a bit. The new Tiger Lotus is the real deal that I have and its growing so fast,I know it has to hit a wall sooner or later. From 1 and half inch leaves two weeks ago to 4" leaves as of today.

 

[Plinkploop]

See, mine looked EXACTLY like the plants in the video when in moderate/ high light settings and just a little less bright in low tech/ no tech settings. Maybe my bulbs were just labeled wrong- that's always a possibility.

 

[Stan510]

One problem with aquatic plants that are not perennials like Crypts or Anubias?..they tend to run out of steam and die off. Stem plants especially. I know that with lots of Co2,they seem long term..but in low tech,i notice I either lose them a year later,or,they need to be pulled out and cut up and then replant them. I just had to do that with Star grass.

 

[Plinkploop]

I've had great luck with bulbs- sometimes my aponongetons will go dormant for a couple months but they have always come back and I'm talking years that I've had them... I have one aponongeton crispus grown from bulbs still and it planted it 10 years ago... This is in a low/ no tech setting. Strange.

 

[Stan510]

Look at the various Amano Lisbon vids..and you see Tiger Lotus going from a full big canopy to a much more compact growth. With some pads floating over the years. It's still there six years later. The old joke about don't give up your day job? Fits with Tiger Lotus success also- don't let its space be 100% Lotus..have Anubias or Crypts under it in case TG does go dormant.
Speaking of Amano- he also planted a Lily that has ruffled leaves twice the size at least of Tiger Lotus,I never have seen a positive ID. Maybe a N. gardnerianum?

 

[Plinkploop]

I haven't done lotuses in about 5 years now. They were always one of my favorite, just don't have the right layout to place a nymphea. I've always had them send out runner like shoots with baby plants before the main section would go dormant. I don't know if that's common or not but a lot of people I did set ups for said they still have their nympheas and they're still sending out shoots. I haven't looked much into it but I'm wondering if it's a survival strategy in a ntp situation that causes them to spread instead of overly bushing up contributing to longevity.

 

[Stan510]

Mine of two and a half weeks has 4-5" wide leaves and - yep- its sending out surface leaves already. As Barney Fife would say "You have to nip,nip,nip it in the bud". Soon I will remove those two.
My tan Nymphaea stellata usually can't reach the surface of the 24" deep aquarium and the current/flow of the pumps makes that even harder. TL is a bigger plant and might reach if I let it. I want it to look like the one in this vid.