Nymphaea & Snakeheads...

[Outlander]

Everywhere you look for info on S/Hs in the aquarium it will say something along the lines of 'needs lots of hiding places, also heavily planted with FLOATING PLANTS'.
Duck weed, water lettuce, frog bit are quite commonly used as floating plants in Channa tanks it seems, but I`ve never seen any photo`s of Nymphaea sp (lilly pads) being used for surface cover.

Is there a reason for this?

I would have thought lilies would be perfect to darken off half of a breeding tank. What do you guys think?

 

[jelly]

They would work but for half the year the leaves die off removing the surface cover.

 

[Outlander]

This would be in the winter or cooling period perhaps? Resulting in..what, PH crash? What temperatures would they be able to withstand do you think?
Just curious thats all. I was thinking of getting a N rubra and planting in my gachua tank, but I guess I`ll go with something more commonly used like water lettuce. Oh but surely this would also die back as the temps dropped right?

Anyone else had any good/bad experiences. Any tips, hints, thoughts on this matter, please feel free.