Betta bulbs

I bought these thing from Petco called "beta bulbs" that you are just supose to throw in the water and they sprout and eventually grow. I out them in a 1 gallon tank with water, filter, gravel, and a little bit of food to get some ammonia in the tank (no fish is in there). Its been about 3 days and now looking at them they seem to have fuzzy stuff on them that goes about halfway up them from the gravel. I can't tell if it like a fungus, or if this is suppose to happen?

 

Maybe if you can get a pic some might be able to help more...I'm to scared to trust the bulbs but maybe others have opinions ..ill be keeping an eye on this to find out !

 

Sounds like something that they came up with that is supposed to fit in those little half gallon tanks that the bettas are supposed to "love". People think that if you label something with the word betta that we will go out and pay a fortune for it to make a playground for our betta in one of those nutsy little bowls. You can give it some time and see what becomes of it but I would not hold my breath if I were you. if it makes some nice plants you can transplant them to your tank but I would not put them in the tank until they mature.

Rose

 

I actually saw them for the first time at walmart yesterday...just seemed to me that if its that good and easy to grown plants for a planted tank, its not good..easy isn't always best but I'm still curious as to how they do..keep us posted !

 

I believe the plants are just Aponogetons. I bought them because they were cheap and I had nothing to lose. Here's a pic

 

Yea, we had little luck with those bulbs.

 

If they are Aponogetons then they may be nice. I had some of those and they take forever to germinate and grow but I loved mine when they got full grown. And the bettas did too. There were several different ones and the only one that drove me nutsy was one that had a leaf on one long stem that kept growing up to float on top of the water but the betta loved it. So I put up with it. It was beautiful but it kept catching the fish food and making me crazy. But the others were really quite lovely and even that one was pretty if I kept the thing picked before the leaf got to the floating stage. They were a gorgeous dark burgundy in color and made a nice resting place for the fish. I would let them develop.

Rose

 

I'm glad for all the talking about the plants but my question is on the white fluff on them, any ideas?

 

They do that sometimes. It's not a sure sign that the bulb won't eventually grow, but it definitely is better to not have them in a tank with fish like that.

 

I've grown quite a few of these (Aponogeton) bulbs before.

The white fuzzy stuff has never given me a problem, I'm pretty sure it's normal.
I've had one that grew to over a foot tall with 20-30 stems on it.



*Offtopic*
HI I'm Jesse. I'm new around here. Love the site.

 

For those who are worried that I have these in with a fish, I'm not silly! I'm not threatening my copernicus trying to grow some $3 bulbs. These are in a separate tank and will stay like that until they are full grown plants if they ever do.

 

I can't wait to see how they do...id love to have some but don't have a spare tank to learn if they are ok or not..thanks for sharing with us!!!

 

I bought those bulbs at walmart, and out of six bulbs..one sprouted. I don't know what it is though, but it grows like a weed!

 

For those things, that's not bad.. I think we got about 20% sprouting on the bulbs.. and that was after I put a whole bunch that I gave up on in a flower pot where they finally sprouted a month later.

 

I bought those bulbs at walmart, and out of six bulbs..one sprouted. I don't know what it is though, but it grows like a weed!

I had exactly the same results -- 1 out of six. It's a beautiful plant. The package cost me about 3 bucks, I figured that even with that poor ratio, it wasn't a bad price for a plant.

 

I have a feeling that they are not going to sprout (I have nothing backing that notion) so I'm curious as to when I should pull them out of the tank to stop them from getting gross if they don't sprout. They are in with a purchased Argentina sword that I don't want to go bad because of moldy bulbs.

 

I've tried those bulbs too. Few of them sprouted a grass type plant which were nice at the back of my tank. But if they did not sprout and got fuzzy, I would take them out and throw them away. I did not like it if it looked like it was molding. They are a long wait but kinda like an experiment.

 

If you are uncomfortable then discard them but I do not think it would make a difference. It really does not sound like they are molding to me. A lot of time they will develop a bit of algae but this will not affect them and their ability to make a nice plant.

But it is not worth the distress of you being nervous and worried. If you think they are going to hurt the other plant better to have one really healthy plant that you know of.

Rose

 

are betta bulbs any good..I see them in petco and petsmart...but would like to know how much time the light has to be on for them to grow...and would like to know if anyone has any experience with them?

 

They are aponogeton I've always assumed. the plant will grow (if it sprouts at all) regardless of light for a while because of it has an energy reserve in the bulb. Otherwise medium lighting (1-2wpg) should do. Not a fan of the plant myself, but others love them. The plant goes through periods of dormancy and iirc it needs to be yanked and given the fake winter treatment like some tulip bulbs do with a spell in the fridge. I assume most people just buy new bulbs at that point

 

how many hours do you keep the light on for though?

 

I light my tanks for 11 hours a day. Some people do 12 but I find maintenance increases too much at that length. You just need to find your "sweet spot" for your tanks & plants vs. algae.

Length of exposure cannot make up for craptacular lighting. 1wp @ 12 hours per day does not equal 2wp@8 hours per day for example.

There are a ton of plant profiles online for aponogeton so I'd hit those up if you want to get an idea of the best practices for growing it. Also, there are a bunch of different species that fall under this genus.

 

my boyfriend planted 2 betta bulbs in my 10 gallon tank over a week ago when I wasn't home. so far they haven't sprouted or anything. how long does it take them to grow? are they dead? is there something I should do?

 

Some of them aren't bulbs at all. That's why the package says it has "3" and there's like 6 in there. The higher the light, the faster they grow, if they are going to. Theres really nothing to do except take them out if they fungus.

 

they should only put in ones that will grow. I put another light in my tank to hopefully give them enough light

 

they should only put in ones that will grow. I put another light in my tank to hopefully give them enough light

You would think But often times, even the bulbs don't grow. That's why you send them back and they send you new ones.

 

The bulbs are good when packaged. The issue is due to the fact that they sit for months in the stores before purchased.

 

well I was curious so I decided to uncover them to see how they were doing. well they are kinda turning black but the bottom looks like its growing roots. but idk if I even replanted them right, I don't know anything about them.

 

Just like with garden bulbs, if you don't know which end is up, plant them sideways and the plants will grow.

Seeing new, white roots is a very good sign that the bulbs will begin to grow soon.

 

Can you give us an update? I just got some of these and wondering how they are doing now

 

oh they were duds well maybe somone else has better luck with them

 

aponogeton bulbs,

If you will do a Search Fish Lore for the above, you will find more information on the bulbs.

Ken