My plankton arrived yesterday woo! I was slightly dissapointed though, because on the container it said it was best for larger carnivorous freshwater fish and saltwater fish, but then on the front it said it was for all fish? One reason why I don't really like buying online. Anyways, I soaked and chopped up a couple peices and the fishies love them. Ruby (black neon) absolutely STUFFED herself, eating her share and all of Rummert's share. Rummert (black neon) didn't get any yet! Poor little guy. Orchard (betta) loved them too.

I also got my aquarium bulbs...a little dissapointed too. Online it said there would be 7-10 bulbs, but I only got 5 Can I call and complain to some one to get my money's worth?

so glad to hear ur fishies like their new treat, especially ruby

you ordered the bulbs from petco? i think they're customer service dept is alright, you might be able to talk them into sending you a new package of the bulbs. can't hurt to try, eh? just sound real confident and adult-like on the phone and act like of course you should be sending me more bulbs.

what are they supposed to grow? or did i miss that in another post?

I got them from petco.com and they just said "assortment of aquatic plants". On the product it says assortment of aponogetons and lists 9 different kinds. By the way the bulbs look, I think I've got 2 different kinds. I'm alright with that, but I'm dissapointed that I only received 5 They are guarenteed to grow within 3 weeks of purchase. If they don't sprout, I can send the bulb(s) to the Aquarium Plant Life company for replacements. Should I try petco or the Aquarium Plant Life company? I've gotta hurry and disinfect/set up the 10 gallon so I can try and grow these guys so I can get my replacements if needed.

I think I'll have my dad talk on the phone. My voice sounds pretty young and he's just so good at getting his way.

I think I am going to go to petco and exchange my bulbs for another pack if I can find a better package. If a lot of the others in the store hae less than 7 bulbs I will complain to one of those companies.

hmm, good question. i guess if ur dad couldn't get anywhere w/ petco, you could try the plant company.

or wait, i wonder if you can't return stuff you bought online to the actual store (asuming there's a petco near enough, and ya haven't planted the bulbs already) maybe you could take them in there and tell them you got one that only had 5 bulbs in it and ask to exchange for one w/ more.

hope which ever ya do works out

Yep, I've got a petco here and I'm pretty sure they sell the bulbs in the store too. That's the preffered way of returning/exchanging online merchendise and my receipt even comes with instructions lol

[edit: I didn't open the bulbs yet either]

LoL That's stupid they claim there are "7-10" bulbs in those -_- My first package had 5 and I got another package the other day from WallyWorld which also had 5. I think they should change the package so it's correct -_- I haven't seen any of them (I actually looked when I bought my first package and seen it was short some bulbs, but all the others also had only 5) with 7-10 bulbs -_- *sigh*

Kissy, before you plop them in water, I found it easier to plop them in a small container with water until you can see it starting to sprout and then plant it My last two bulbs I did that with seemed to grow a lot better than the ones I just tossed into the gravel in the tank right off LoL! Good luck! Two of my old ones have new sprouts coming up again, yay!

Thanks Atreyu! I think I'll look at petco just to see and have a claim before I complain. On the petco website, a member who rated said they also only got 5 so I guess we are seeing a trend here. Hopefully they'll take some action and at least change the description online.

Do I need to have the light over the container of the water? Should I use tank water? I've heard of sprouting them in containers of water before...I wonder why that is? How was your sucess rate with your bulbs, Atreyu? I think you were the one who recomended them to me. Its fun to watch things grow and I don't have to disinfect them

Hmm..this has turned into more of a plant thread lol.

LoL Nope, I don't keep a light over the container while I wait for it to sprout. That may speed it up a little though I used half tank water and half tap water for mine.

Only 1 of the bulbs from my 1st package didn't sprout, but then again I waited a few months before I tried to use it.. It was also rather small looking compared to the others. I'm not sure if it's size had anything to do with it, or that I waited so long before using the last one.

My very first 2 bulbs I used are pruned and new shoots have come up from the gravel. The one in my guppy tank has some leaves that are nearly at the surface again too! The one in my frog tank sprouted off another bulb I guess (took awhile to figure out what it was o.0) I figured it out when I seen roots coming out though LoL. Anyways, the roots are finally holding it down it seems and that has a few leaves started with some new shoots coming out as well

Mine have done very well. I'm going to add some of the bulbs from the new package to my 20 gallon if I can ever get a stand and such for it! LoL

[edit: Oh yeah! After the bulb sprouted and I put it in the gravel, I had my light on normally 7-12 hours each day and within the 2 weeks the leaves were working their way upwards pretty well! LoL]

Thank you for the info!

Right now I just started the process of changing out my gravel in the tropical tank. I'm scooping out a few net-fulls a day to be sure nothing bad happens to my cycle. I'm going to petco tomorrow and I'm going to go crazy and buy all the things I need because I've got a 10% off entire purchase coupon! I feel the need to share, so here is my list

10 lbs small black pebble gravel
A few aquatic plants
A small peice of driftwood with a plant on it (Only $6 I think!!!)
zeo-lite for Orchard


Actually...that's not a lot! I'm running out of things to buy..its almost surreal! After the plants are treated and I'm done with changing the gravel, they'll move in there and I'll start the bulbs. Then I get to buy my fishies and ghost shrimp yay!!! I'm so excited..I've been waiting for so long.

lol, i think we posted at the same time kissy. great minds think alike

anywho, can't wait til you can finally get ur tank up w/ some new fishies. i'm excited for ya! mostly cuz i know you'll get pics up as soon as you can

aight, i gotta interject my piece about bulbs. i didnt have any luck w/ them at all. but then again, i had them in my cichlid tank and they just would not leave them alone. any time anything started to sprout out of them it'd be eaten. then they took to picking up the bulbs out of the gravel and tossing them around! so yea, none of mine grew. hope you've got better luck (haven't seen a black neon yet big enough to pick up the bulbs tho)

Ya never know Justin...Ruby's over an inch long and she boasts of being a heavy-weight champion

LoL.. After a few weeks of my betta living in the spare 10 gallon, he started tearing at the leaves pretty good but he couldn't drag the bulb out of the gravel and it kept on growing!. It rooted down pretty well for not having much gravel in that tank o.0 My guppies have never bothered theirs, and my froggies like to try and rest on the top of the leaves LoL. It's funny to see

LOLOL cute smiley kissy. tell ruby that i'm sorry and that i didn't mean to offend anybody and that i know if ruby wanted to lift that bulb, then it would get lifted

In the bulb packs, the ones with 5, i have founhd, have BETTER looking plants.. the ones with more, have little, stringy apos, my 5 pack ones are much bushier!~

I would keep the 5 pack

Okay thanks Magick That brightened my day a little. Stupid potassium permaganate. Stupid Jungle Clear Water. Stupid Petco. Stupid hardware stores. Stupid plants. Stupid stockers. Stupid people! GAH!!!!

[Edit: As crazy as it sounds...I feel better after saying "stupid" 7 times also ]

Hey Atreyu and Magic, did you happen to get those 1" diameter ovaly shaped bulbs? I have 3 of those and I'm so interested in finding out what they are! I bet they are neat

So those bulbs actually work? I've been wanting to get some but I've always been afraid they wouldn't sprout. Perhaps I'll get some for my 10 gallon

*gasp* Atreyu you only paid $3-4 for your bulbs? I paid $7! Nick, maybe you should go to -mart to get yours if you do heh.

Perhaps I should...thats a big difference for pretty much the same thing

Yep, hehe I bought them at 'WallyWorld' instead of a regular pet store Cheaper Heh, the last ones I got free though! Somebody else bought them for me, hehe...

I have a few smaller, flatter bulbs and a few larger, rounder ones. I'm waiting for a few to sprout still *tries to be patient* I noticed the one in my frog tank has more "smooth" looking leaves (the one in the guppy tank looks similar) but the one in with my betta has sort of ruffly, wider leaves and a bit more rough in texture. Either way they all look great though and my critters love them!

I had 1 really big bulb, but it never developed. I wasnt upset though, because my tank was already COVERED in apos by the time I knowticed.

The 1 inch diameter bulbs are probably dwarf lilies. They are slow growers at first, but pick up a bit after they've put out a couple of leaves. The leaves are arrow-shaped and often have a reddish tint on the underside. As they mature, they start to send up small floating lily pads. Here's a link to an older picture of one of my dwarf lilys. It's the one with the arrow shaped leaves in the lower left.


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/br5...ewplanttank.jpg

Wow, old thread!! I actually found out what they were. I think dwarf lilies are the same as red tiger lotuses or very similar. Thats what mine was ID'd as. Unfortunately I trimmed the roots too far a couple months ago and it went downhill from there and I don't have it anymore They really are great plants. Awrieger had one in one of his old tropical tanks and it definately put ours to shame! Without CO2, they'll stop producing submerged leaves and make lily pads instead. Here was mine at the same developmend as yours...right before it started making lily pads.



Right now I've only got a couple meek surviving aponogetons. One's unidentified and the other's a crispus like the other one you've got in your photo. If my two don't make it I'll probably try again with the bulbs. They were fun!

I also found a picture on the internet that shows, given time, they produce a light purple flower.
Since I took that picture of mine, it has put up about 6 pads. My apons are doing quite well. I think I have 2 or 3 different varieties (they are some of those bulbs from Wmart.) The last 2 groups I have bought started sprouting less than 24 hours after I dropped them in and one put up a flower spike only about a week later.

All my Apons are doing great still too. I have 2 that have been going for a full year now that I have to trim back now and then. They like to try and take over the tanks LoL The others are slower growing and have been in the tank for half a year I think now but they are doing well.

I also got a dwarf lily back in June for my 20 gallon tank. The first bulb sprouted within a few days and it has a nice bunch of red/green leaves sprouted. The 2nd bulb I added a couple weeks later but it has yet to sprout. I keep checking in on it and hoping something will pop out of there soon!