Madagascar lace plant
Aponogeton madagascariensis
Also known asLace plant · Lattice-leaf plant · Madagascar laceleaf
Water parameters
Light and nutrients
Substrate type: nutrient rich. Propagation: rhizome division.
Substrate compatibility
| Substrate | pH effect | Nutrient load |
|---|---|---|
| Aquasoil (ADA Amazonia) | lowers pH | very high |
| Mineralized clay substrate (Seachem Fluorite) | neutral / inert | moderate |
| Dirted tank (mineralized topsoil) (DIY soil substrate) | slightly acidic | very high |
With fish
Origin and habitat
Endemic to Madagascar, in fast, clear streams and rivers. Aponogeton madagascariensis, the lace or lattice-leaf plant, family Aponogetonaceae, is among the most striking of all aquarium plants: its submersed leaves are reduced to a lace-like skeleton of veins with no tissue between them. That fenestration develops through programmed cell death, a controlled self-destruction of the tissue between the veins, so the first few emerging leaves are solid and every later leaf is perforated. The leaves spread horizontally beneath the surface, 20–40 cm long, growing from a starchy tuber a few centimetres across. The plant has a deserved reputation as one of the harder common aquarium plants. Wild stocks are increasingly rare as Madagascar's freshwaters suffer deforestation, siltation and farming pressure, so most aquarium plants are nursery-propagated from tubers; recognised varieties include the standard form and the larger var. henkelianus.
Care notes
One of the more demanding aquarium plants, fussy about temperature, flow and clean water. It is a cool-water plant, happiest from the high teens to low 20s Celsius and prone to decline above about 25°C, and it needs steady, moderate-to-strong flow, because its lace leaves have huge surface area for their mass and clog with detritus and algae without good circulation. Medium light suits it; bright light just feeds algae on the lattice, so clean the leaves every couple of weeks and keep the organic load low with regular water changes. Plant the tuber only half-buried, since fully burying it causes rot, and feed it through the roots with a nutrient-rich substrate and root tabs; CO2 helps but is not essential. It takes a natural rest after months of growth, dying back to the tuber; some keepers lift the tuber and store it in damp sand in a dark, cool place around 10 to 18 C for two to three months until new leaves sprout. With cool, clean, well-circulated water and good root feeding it grows reliably despite its reputation, but it is a project for experienced keepers. It is an ornamental, not a crop, so it is unsuited to media-bed aquaponics or hydroponics.