Is there such thing as a red apogeton? My three bulbs have sprouted reddish brown stems and leaves and I can't find any that resembles it!

Anyone? The biggest has a few leaves now. They have 3 very distinct points.

three-pointed leaves? sounds like a Nymphaea dwarf lotus!

Like this: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/People/sb-big-lotus.jpg

I googled and thats the closest thing I've found. Its the same color but the leaves on that one are much broader. Mine are pointier and skinnier, but then again, they are only the first leaves. Whatever the three bulbs are, they probably won't survive in my tank because I don't have CO2 or sufficient lighting for anything red

I'll see if I can take a photo this weekend.

Lotus leaves that just sprouted from dormant corms (they're technically not bulbs) are pointed and skinny like a devil's tail barb. Subsequent leaves become broader.

Dont worry about special care or CO2. They will even sprout ina barebottom goldfish bowl since the corms store a lot of nutrition in them. They dont even need high light levels. Ordinary fluorescents will do fine. They will send out floating "lilypads" which we are familiar with when we think of water lilies. Sometimes they even bloom in an aquarium!

Oh that is such good news!!!! My aquarium plant care is really limited unfortunately. Its a 10 gallon with regular gravel, no CO2, and standard 19W florescents that came with my All Glass hood. I do add a bit of Seachem Flourish fert every few days though. Do they need lots of iron? I'm thinking of buying the iron supplement soon. Do I need anything more to care for them? I had already asked my parents about getting rid of them and they said no to pretty much every solution I suggested and I didn't want to sneak them into the LFS tank!!

I've got three of these bulbs, and I think you are right about IDing them Man Yu. All are sprouted, but only one has unfolded leaves. The first leaf was just three toothpick-like points, but the new 2nd and 3rd leaves are so much broader. Now I'm wondering, how did these three sneak into my apogeton bulb package??? I've never even heard of those before, are they more rare?

Is the latin name nymphaea and the common name dwarf lotus?

These pics show the Nymphaea I had for more than a year now. I have it planted in a burger-patty tub with fracted clay particles to provide iron (they are heavy root feeders, necessary since they need to store nutrients in their corms). As you can see, I have it planted in a tank by a window. Its all the light it ever needed. (my tanks have no lights over them). It's planted with a Sagittaria subulata (the one that looks like a Vallisneria). yes, Nymphaea is the scientific genus name although not all lotuses within it are dwarves. It's rather unusual but hardly rare. the red ones are pretty common here in the Philippines, green ones occassionally available but we hardly get aponogetons here. If the plant gets too little light, it grows surface-floating plastic-like leaves and if it's satisfied, it may bloom. If the light's strong enough, it may be content to retain its submerged soft broad leaves and never bloom, but planted tank enthusiasts will prefer the submerged leaves




As for the mix-up with the plant's packaging and labeling... where'd you get them anyway??

I got them online at Petco. This is the product: http://petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=6293&...D=9452&#details

I see a red on the package but its too small for me to see what it is, and I threw away the original package.

one of the red specks is a Rotala. A different plant altogether. so thats what the package looks like? hmm... not really surprised about the mixup... the bulbs really do look similar to lotus corms although, there is a possibility they're marketing the plants under a fallacious name to market them as "easy" Aponogetons. Apons are not easy plants to maintain...

BTW, the correct spelling is "Aponogeton", not just "Apogeton"

Good luck with the lotuses, Im sure they'll be more hassle-free than real Apons would have been...

Thanks for the clarification Man Yu. Here's a photo. I think its starting to look like a red tiger lotus.

yep. unmistakably a red tiger lotus. I think it'll do fine in your tank from what I could see in the pic.

See, they're a better deal for you than Aponogetons would have been!

Thanks This one's growing like a monster! The other two haven't progressed much past shoots. I guess that's fine though, If they all make it I will have too many plants!