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[APD] aponogeton life cycle/growth speed + sagittaria brown leaves



After checking the archives and the krib, following issues are a bit
unclear to me. Any help in gaining understanding is appreciated!

I obtained a small ( 5mm ) baby aponogeton bulb from a friend of mine.
After waiting a month or so, new leaves started sprouting and I could
identify the bulb as an Aponogeton stachyosporus also referred to as  A.
undulatus. ( ID from pictures, I don't know if its hybridised )
Now the plant has  been growing for 3 months in a low tech soil/peat based
substrate tank. It has sprouted a dozen leaves but the leaves remain small.
About
3 to 4 inch length. The leaves look healthy  but I am wondering why they
remain small. I would expect Aponogeton to shoot leaves up to the surface.
The archives mention good fertilisation is necessary to prevent the plant
from burning out its bulb reserves , rather provide enough fertiliser to
grow more starch/energy  in the bulb for the next growth spurt. So I added
plenty of tetra initial sticks around the bulb. Growth did improve, more
leaves form faster, but they don't increase size a lot. So here my
questions:

1) I assume the bulb has plenty of nutrients and light. Why doesn't it
shoot bigger leaves? Does it have to do something by the original bulb size
which was really "juvenile " and do I need to wait a couple of growing
seasons to  get larger leaves? I would think that the plant uses its bulb
to shoot out initial leaves and roots after which plenty of energy is
available from these roots and leaves and the plants should gradually start
producing larger leaves even though the original bulb was tiny, the roots
take over the energy supply from the bulb ( like growing an onion or
garlick  ) . Or is growth really limited by the initial bulb size  and do I
need to get the bulb slowly to larger size and wait for the next growth
season for it to sprout larger leaves?

2) Are  A. stachysporus and undulatus really the same? Internet can be
confusing as some people upload wrong or unclear pictures . The leaves of
mine are slightly undulated and the leaves show a patched green colour
pattern.Some square patches are darker green /lighter green, almost a chess
board effect, especially on the edges. the bulb is drop shaped.

3) If I were to place this plant in my hight tech tank with lots of light,
co2 nutrients etc... : Do I run the risk of burning out the bulb? The
substrate of this HT tank is clay laterite based with heater cables and no
organics added artificially.Glosso and tenellus thrive , I would think that
so much light and CO2 would make the plant suck its bulb empty before it
gets the chance to grow a root system large enough to supply enough energy
out of a rather low fertility substrate. In other words: Do aponogetons
tend to grow better, slower, more consistently on the long term in low
energy input , high fertility versus high energy input lower fertility
tanks? I like to know before I put this beauty in the showtank.

4) Does this species require a dormant period? So far it grows but stays
small, do I expect a decline or do I decide myself when to cut all the
leaves and uproot. Or can I leave the plant growing in the same spot  for
years to come ?

The low tech tank has 2 X 38 W T8 on it , no CO2, all of the plants  in
there are healthy and growing slowly( 70 % of footprint planted ) . ( this
is my plant back-up/quarantine extreme low maintenance tank following the
principles outlined in "ecology of the planted aquarium")
My water is at KH 7, GH 12 .

My High tech tank grows some beautifull Sagittaria subulata in glosso
carpet. Reproducing by runners and shooting beatifull green leaves.
Recently the biggest newest central leaves turned brown in a matter of
days. first turning yellow then brown , then transparent starting from the
lower part of the leaf.  I believe this is a monocotyl like Vallisneria .
The growing tips remain more or less intact, the damage occurs lower at the
leaf from  the center out.
Does Sagitaria grow cyclic like Vallisneria ( my experience with Vall is
that they reproduce quickly and after a few months just die messy  in
masses, a few weeks later they resume growth spurt., Is this a natural
cycle or does it indicate substrate depletion? )
( laterite heater cable type, CO2 up to 20-30 ppm, KH 7,  medium fish load,
TMG + K2SO4 addition, 27 degrees Celsius or 80-81 F )

Your help would be appreciated!

suisoman Dirk .



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