How The Bleeding Hell Have I Managed That?!?!

[Miss Wiggle]

my oscar tank is 92 gallons, standard juwel lighting, no ferts, no Co2 and just plain old play sand as a substrate. Got a few really big amazon swords in there just cos i like a bit of greenery in the tank, it's by no means a 'proper' planted tank. In fact I was thinking I need to rip the swords out as I've noticed a bit of BBA on the leaves, been there for months now and hasn't got any worse but I've been meaning to do something about it.

Was looking at the tank last night and spotted something strange in the middle of the biggest sword, looked at it and it's got the bud for a flower growing out of the middle!!

I'm massivley shocked that it's flowering with no assistance whatsoever but I'm really chuffed, about time we had some good fishy news everythings been going wrong recently

i'll get some pics when it actually comes out.

does it flower underwater or when it reaches the surface? how long should the flower last for?

 

[lljdma06]

Amazon sword flowers rank among the loveliest of aquatic plant flowers. In a standard Amazon plant, the shoot with the buds will open when it is above the surface, producing lovely white flowers that remind me of Phaleanopsis orchids. Plantlets will also develop from these shoots as well, but they can develop underwater.

llj

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ooh sounds nice part of me wants to google for pics of the flowers but i'm just gonna leave it as a surprise when it opens, thought they were white, was sure i'd seen them somewhere before.

it is just a 'standard' amazon sword, not one of the fancy varieties although i couldn't tell you particularly which one it is.

how long do the flowers last for, weeks, months, years??