Aponogetons

[Slaigar]

Hello All,
I have several species of Aponogetons but the bulk of them are still tubers. Over the next few weeks/months, I will be posting pictures of the Aponogetons. For now here are some pictures of a young Aponogeton boivinianus . It arrived in very good shape. These pictures were taken directly after receiving it:






I still do not know how to use my gallery, so they are hotlinked off my site.

I do not plan to hold a monopoly over this thread. So if anyone has good pictures of Aponogetons (and not just to get them identified ), get them posted!

Coming soon (depending on fast they grow!): A. ulvaceus, A. capuronii, A. madagascariensis "henkelianus", madagascariensis "West Coast", A. longiplumulosus.

[FC]

It is indeed healthy, the leafs are clean with shin (I like it) and is happy in your tank, bubling away.

[budak]

There has quite a bit of study done on African and Australian aponogetons, but Asian (esp SEA) species seem to much less known.... even Kasselmann sounds awfully tentative in her book on locales and distribution.

A. undulatus is common in the hobby, but I saw on this site that in Malaysia, it's only found in two locales!!

[Slaigar]

There are some nice Asian species, though other than the A. crispus from Sri Lanka, they are seldom in the trade. Until now, I would have never considered A. undulatus common as it has never shown it's face around my area just until a few weeks ago. I found the narrow leaf one at a shop and Zulkifli was kind enough to send me the broad form (A. stachysporus).

A few species I would not mind finding are A. robinsonii (Vietnam) and A. rigidifolius (Sri Lanka). It does make you wonder what limits the availability of these plants to hobbyists. Could they be hard to find? Hard to grow? Or just problems related to (or lack of) infrastructure of the country that they originate from? Another species, A. loriae, is also on my wishlist but is located in Papua New Guinea.

It also seems that Aponogetons from Australia, like A. elongatus are not regularly available. I stumbled upon a site* that had an article of a few newly discovered species. Also there was a picture of Aponogeton bullosus which had a striking resemblance of Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae.

*Cannot seem find that site again. It was something about native plants in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

[Slaigar]

My Aponogeton ulvaceus is turning into a monster! Aside from this plant, there are four more plantlets floating around that are about half the size of the mother. Quite a quick grower.







My A. madagascariensis tubers have rotted, so no luck with those. The other tubers, A. capuroni and A. longiplumulosus, are growing are growing slow(atleast when compared to A. ulvaceus), so maybe a few more weeks before I can post their photos.

[timebomb]

Mark,

Here are some pictures my friend Olaf Pronk sent me. Olaf lives in Madagascar. The girl holding the leaf is his daughter, Hanitra.











Loh K L

[nonamethefish]

Slaigar: nice pics! Has your ulvaceus flowered? Mine has been trying, but I have been cutting them off. I never new they would produce offshoots like that...definelty something I will keep my eyes peeled for.

[Slaigar]

No flower yet, but still waiting. Hopefully in two months something will show up. So far, I am convinced that this plant is the yellow/white- flowering form. I wanted the violet flowering form - that form has no dormancy.

When I received the tuber, it had about seven offsets! I was forced to remove some because I there was a smell of rotting coming from the tuber. Thankfully nothing actually rotted away.

The A. ulvaceus has now taken over my phototank. I will probably move it when the rest of the tubers arrive. I am ordering more A. madagascariensis "west coast", A. longiplumulosis and A. boivinianus (I love this plant). I really want to propagate these species through seed production.

[nonamethefish]

Slaigar: Well, I hear that ulvaceus is not self fertile. I just cut yet another flower stalk...critter just doesn't know there is no reason to flower...LOL

This one has small white flowers.

BTW, seeing I've had success with ulvaceus(and have some crispus under it), how much harder are the other apogonetons?

[Slaigar]

A. ulvaceus seems to be the easiest Aponogeton I have ever had. Seems to be tolerant of high temperatures. Currently I just left it floating in my nano so my Chocolate gouramis have some cover. Later, I am going plant it and the offsets in my 65g. If it flowers I will see if I can fertilize it with the offsets that came with the mother.

According to Kasselmann on A. ulvaceus:
Yellow/white flowers- self-sterile, dormancy
Violet flowers- self-fertile, no dormancy (I really want to find this one)

My A. longiplumulosus has just started to take off, hopefully I can get a picture of it next week. The A. capuronii is growing the slowest of all the Aponogetons.

I am getting multiple tubers of the other Aponogetons since as you have said, they are self sterile. Hopefully if none of them are rotting: 3x boivinianus, 2x madagascariensis "west coast", and 3x longiplumulosus. Then I should have good chances that the plants are flowering at the same time.

There is a hard decision whether to let the plants flower or cut the stems. Flowering can take a lot of energy from the tuber. I am wondering that can compromise its recovery after a dormancy.

I am having a hard time with A. madagascariensis and A. boivinianus because of their cooler temperature requirements. I tossed them both in an empty, unheated tank until I can get the temperature in my tanks to stay 24-25 degrees Celsius. It is cool here in Canada, but the temperatures in my 65g and nano tank are being raised by the lights above the tanks. These plants are also more sensitive to water quality and fertilization(or lack of) than the A. ulvaceus. Good water flow may be a requirement for a keeping these plants alive for long periods.

If you had good success with A. crispus, you should try A. undulatus. Easy to grow and no dormancy!

[nonamethefish]

Cool water and good flow matches my tank quite a bit. No heater, and I suspect the water stays at around 74-75 degrees(sorry metric world!). The montezumae swordtails like it quite a bit.

So what do you do when the aponogeton decides to go dormant? I agree, that violet flowered one sounds like something worth looking for!

[Slaigar]

Dormancies are not a problem for A. boivinianus and A. madagascariensis. These species can just be left in the aquarium. Hopefully they should revive if they were fertilized well and if there is water flow to make sure the tubers do not rot.

Though for A. ulvaceus, that species might need a dry dormancy. Can't say that I will try that as I will probably just leave it in the aquarium. With my carelessness, I will probably end up losing more tubers that way . If there is a well detailed document about dry dormancies, I might try it once.

This gives me an idea. Maybe we should compile a list of Aponogetons and their dormancy types.

[nonamethefish]

Or you could remove one and experiment with dry dormancy?

I see things all over like putting them in peat or paper towels and putting them in the fridge or in a low light aquarium though I bet the writers themselves haven't even kept aponogetons or tried dormancy.

[Slaigar]

I agree, there are too many different articles on dry dormancy. None of them were detailed enough for me to try them. When the A. ulvaceus tubers go dormant, I will try it with one tuber and stick closely as I can to what Kasselmann recommends. She has quite a detailed section on Aponogeton environments.

I would not try the placing them in the fridge. The is probably too cold for them. I tried that method with Nymphaea species before, it did not work out well.

The method of placing dormant tuber in low light and cooler aquariums is what is probably done with A. boivinianus and A. madagascariensis. I would rather just shade the tubers with a floating plant and lower the temperature by a few degrees instead of moving them. Moving them from different aquariums usually involves placing them in pots.

[timebomb]

Mark,

My Madagascar Lace produced a flower. Here's a pic:



Kho who visited me last week and saw the flower said there's another type of Madgascar Lace which is red in colour. I have never seen such a plant.

My Aponogeton ulvaceus threw out a bud yesterday too. I think it's going to flower soon. How can we pollinate such flowers? Can we reproduce baby Aponogetons from flowers?

Loh K L

[Slaigar]

LohKL,
Some species of Aponogetons are self fertile and can produce seeds without much interference. But for A. madasgascariensis and A. ulvaceus, that may not be the case.

To fertilize, it is the same technique used for house plants such as orchids. Get a soft brush and gently run it along the side of the inflorescence. I would do it at regular intervals to increase chances of fertilization. Reason being (I am not sure if this applies to Aponogetons, but I play it safe) is that some parts of inflorescence are active after a few days of flowering and then may close/die off after a few days. So your period of fertilization may be smaller than it appears.

You might have better success if there are more than one flowering plant available, since some self-sterile or just plain hard to fertilize (ie. A. madagascariensis, A. boivinianus). I have been busy with classes, so I my reading on this subject has lessened a bit. But I will be sure to post more info if I stumble upon some.

When Kho mentioned the red Madagascar lace, did he mean red leaves or red inflorescence? Red leaves would be quite nice! So far, other than the shades of green, I have seen one that was quite near being black. It was from RVA, so I assume they did take a good photo.

My website seems to be down so the pictures are not showing. I may have to edit them out if the site does not get back up in a few days.

[crshadow]

In "Aquarium Plants" by Kasselmann (Pg. 133), she shows a pic of A. madagascariensis var. madagascariensis that appears to be a reddish brown color... I wonder if such a color morph is available anywhere...

-Jeremiah

[Slaigar]

The photo is Aponogeton madagascariensis var. madagacariensis. It does look a bit more red-brown than the dark green that I have seen it in. Perhaps lighting over the aquarium? Have not heard of anything like it though. I do not grow in CO2 enriched environments so I do not get to see everything .

I barely have enough time to take pictures of my Apongetons. But midterms have ended! I will get a picture of the absolutely huge A. ulvaceus(tons of volume!) and the sprouted A. capuroni and A. longiplumulosus.

[RonWill]

When Kho mentioned the red Madagascar lace, did he mean red leaves or red inflorescence? Red leaves would be quite nice!

urm... Mark, I confess. Couldn't resist and went shopping again... twice last week! :wink:

Is this the 'Red Lace' you're referring to?



I took some pics of the farm that I shop at and will upload more pics when there's time. Album is here.

[RonWill]

oh ya... there's another Aponogeton I bought but couldn't ID. [heh, I think fish-folks like myself should just stick to fishes! ]



Like the texture of the leaves. Maybe I'll go again this weekend :wink: