Growing Lace Plant (Aponogeton Madagascariensis) In The Aquarium

This is endemic species which comes from fast-moving and slow-moving rivers in Madagascar, Mauritius and Comoros. This is an aquatic plant. There is 3 variants of this species: var. Madagascariensis, var. Henkelianus and var. Major.

The plant has small, cylindrical and brown rhizome with rosulate, single and perforated leaves on long leaf stems. The leaf stems are somewhat shorter than leaf blades. The small roots grown from rhizome. The first 3 leaves are young leaves and they don't form characteristic lace. Just another fully grown leaves form openwork patterns.

In the world of plants only 2 families have perforated leaves: aponogetonaceae family and araceae family. There is about 40 species from aponogetonaceae family but only described species forms perforated leaves in process programmed cell death (PCD). PCD is active process of cell's components elimination that ultimately leads to the death this cell. This process occurs during the development of the plant. In other words, the parenchyma tissue of the leaf disappears between its veins and this process is natural.

The variants of this species differ each other shape of the leaf blade and appearance of the perforation. Variant Madagascariensis has narrow and elongated leaves. Their parenchyma tissue doesn't entirely disappear and their lace are rounded. The rhizome this variant is also rounded. Variant Henkelianus has wide and short leaves. Their parenchyma tissue disappears almost completely. Their lace are rectangular and they are unevenly arranged. The lace have additional transverse veins. Variant Major looks similar to variant Henkelianus but its lace are evenly arranged - the lace are perfectly equal on the entire leaf surface.

This is big species so it should be planted in the center of the middle of the large aquarium. Its leaves lie on the sides of the plant so they should have enough space around.

This is moderately difficult species and it grows well in optimal conditions. It prefers incompact, permeable and fertile substrate, so we should mix fine gravel or coarse sand with clay or laterite and we should add fertilizer in tablets or sticks form. We can't cover whole rhizome – we cover only roots. It is very important that base of the leaves has always been uncovered. The plant prefers soft and acidic water (pH=6.5) or medium hard and alkaline water (pH=7.5). The lighting should be scattered, about 0.25-0.5 W per litre. We should use T8 and T12 fluorescent tubes. The water flow should be moderate. The water must be clean without any suspended solids. Small partial water changes should be systematic done. This plant goes dormant in the summer when water temperature rises. So we should also increase water temperature to upper value of the range in the summer. Then the plant begins to lose its leaves. We can't move the rhizome – it must stay alone in the aquarium, in the substrate. We reduce the water temperature up to 17-21°C in the autumn. Then the leaves develop again. The plant is sensitive to algae, herbivorous fish and snails.

This is spermatophyte species and it can bloom under water. It develops flower stalk with pink-violet flowers (it has mullioned spikes inflorescence). The ripe seeds float on the water surface for 1-2 days. Then we should collect these seeds and we should plant their in small containers with water (this water should be the same as water in aquarium). In aquarium we can reproduce this plant also vegetatively – by dividing the rhizome. We should divide it when it has developed extensive root system. The seedlings often lose all leaves after planting.