How long till lily pads bloom?

[Pyramid_Party]

Hi,

Some of my dwarf lillies in my tanks have sent up shoots. I decided to leave the pads because I wanna see if they will bloom. ANyone know how long it takes or if I will even have them bloom? I am thinking about cutting them, but will wait if it is worth it.

 

[Burto]

I wouldn't count on them flowering. I kept several for a year or so and let their leaves take over half the surface of the aquariums they were in, but they never flowered. I still have one in a shallow pond in my backyard, it's been there for about a year but hasn't flowered either.
There may be some specific conditions necessary to trigger flowering.

 

[JamesF]

I had my tiger lotus send up a flower every week for years. Usually they need at least 5 leaves floating. The one propblem to letting the leaves reach the surface is that it can be very hard to get them back under. Also, once they start with floating leaves, the root system becomes truly enormous.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

I ended up clipping them. If I try it again I will try it in a pond.

 

[smithj427]

typically depends on the type of lily, some can take quite a while to reach flowering size and even then some only flower once a year other's numerous blooms several times a year. I've rarely seen any bloom in a tank, typically they flower better in outdoor set-ups