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Re: Flowering Vallisnera Amer.
> I'm interested in knowing if anyone out there has ever seen the flowers of
> Val. Americana, better yet, information on how they got it to flower. I've
> been growing them with very high success for over three years, and have yet
> to see a flower. For the most part, my tanks have always had pretty low
> nutrient levels, but the growth rates have always been pretty good.
I had a flower off my valisnera and it wasn't really all that exceptional. There was
a long thin stalk leading up to the surface. At the surface a little tiny
trumpet-like flower opened up. The flower diameter was mayber 1/8 inch. I moved the
valisnera around after that and I never got a flower again. I am still really new to
the planted aquarium, so I am not sure what I did to make it flower. I think it was
getting decent light, it was in a 2.5 bed of gravel with laterite at the bottom. CO2
fertilization and sporatic fertilization. Sorry to not be of much help, but I don't
think you are missing out on any spectacular flowers. Maybe if you had a whole lot
of flowers at one time, it would look cool, but the best flowers I have seen are on
the sword plants and aponogeton bulbs. I might be getting my plants confused, so if
I am in error I am really sorry. I seem to remember the Tropica catalog having
pictures that included the flowers. I couldn't get a decent picture of the flower
because it was too small. I had the same problem with the flowers off my dwarf sag.
The flower was just to tiny and fragile to get a picture of. If you want spectacular
flowers, the aponogeton ulvaceus seems to be the most prolific bloomer I have ever
seen. Do you have an open top tank? For some reason, it seems to encourage
flowers. I know that the sword and aponogeton flowers project some distance out of
the water. The ruffled sword flower went up a about a foot!
Jennifer Glover
Waldorf, MD
http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/sword/3/Aquarium/index.html