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I had a little Amazon I bought about a year ago, cute little 4in plant. A year later and it turned into an under water tree.

Wasn't doing much harm actually stuck in the back corner. But I have an Uruquayensis sword that's getting 2ft long leaves and was right at the front. Had to be moved so the Amazon was out anf the Uruquay was in.

Just to prove how big these monsters get I took a pic. That's a 6" ruler beside it for scale.

Shame it was a beautiful plant and totally algae free but just was getting way too big for even a tall 65gal tank.

So kiddies, next time you go to the LFS and see a nice little potted sword you think would look sweet in your 10gal or even 50gal tank remeber uncle Bens words "just say no !"


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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

That's awesome. Clearly you need to start another, bigger tank to house that sucker! Or maybe just a 30 gal. tall where that would be the only plant.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I'm amazed the root system is so small... did you trim it down?

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Back in the saddle!

Oh indeed, what a shame. It must have been quite magnificant.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

That was a beautiful sword, I don't know if I could bear to let it get away.

I'm growing swords for my brothers 55g, they are just outgrowing my tanks now after a year and they're moving soon.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

I am a little dissapointed,

I would have liked to see a picture while it was in the tank

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

My Amazon Swords are not as tall as that, but boy, do they have a LOT of leaves ....

I'll have to post a recent pic of them. They're pretty luxuriant!

I think mine are about 8 to 10 inches tall, and I think the total leaf count is in excess of 100 leaves ...

UPDATE : photo of Amazon Sword and my new Bacopa) in this thread

Enjoy ....


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I'm amazed the root system is so small... did you trim it down?

No. I was quite surprised too.

I've done this before on the old tank which had a coarse tropical clay substrate , that was a nightmare to remove, huge roots.

I've since changed to a sand substrate and this one popped right on out, every easy.No mess. The whole process of removing this and removing/relocating the Uruquay took no more then 15mins

I've noticed that with the lighter grain substrate the roots are smaller on all plants including crypts. But as you can see it didn't effect growth at all The roots did get trimmed when I replanted in the sand set up , but that was 5 months ago. It's increased in height about 33% since then.

I've never been a proponent of root ferts, and always felt the "heavy root feeder" thing was a bit of myth. I guess the above is some proof that good water column ferts are sufficient. Notice how healthy and clean the leaves are

Shame it had to go.beautiful plant but was become too big. Tank does look bigger and more deep now that it's gone.

Excuse to fiddle with the scape again

LF I'm sure I have a pic of it in the tank somewhere I'll post later. That plant would make a fine centerpiece in a 125, no ?

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Yup Bensaf,

that one looks like a good plant for a 125G. It seems to be somewhere between 15" and 18" tall and as such not too big. The tall Amazons I see at my LFS are much taller and would not look good anymore .

Glad you brought up the plant sticks, as I just yesterday started to think about maybe using them under some of my plants (in particular the crypts).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Re: the root tabs - I've played around with different root tabs before and most were junk. They're supposed to be placed at certain intervals and then melt as time goes on. I'm found that with most this never happened, I'd look a few months later and it would still be there, fresh as when I put it in. The plants didnt show much change either. I do use one kind, however, and that's the seachem flourish tabs.. and for the same reason as you, LF, under my crypts and tenellus. It's hard to explain and I guess there's no such thing as 100% proof they work, but there is a correlation between faster and fuller leaf production when the tabs are there. Plus they break down and spread throughout the area pretty quickly, which helps distribute whatever nutrients to the surrounding area. Just IME of course.

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Back in the saddle!

bensaf, slightly off topic, but i have 2 swords in my 70g. the were really healthy plants and gre like crazy one of the even producing runners.

now they look awful, all the leaves are full of holes and browning at the edges. i cut one right back and the new leaves in the middle look healthy. whay do i need to be doing to look after them better?

hembo666,

I am not Bensaf , but I hope you don't mind if I give you my input:

Holes in plants usually indicate a lack of Potassium in the tank. Do you use any fertilizer, and if so then what and how often?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

thanks LF, i use flourish and flourish excell, i am still toying with the dosage. it seems to be only the swords that are effected but they have a bigger leaf to show symptoms earlier. if i get time tomorrow i will ask the question again on a new post and try any put some pictures up

now they look awful, all the leaves are full of holes and browning at the edges. i cut one right back and the new leaves in the middle look healthy. whay do i need to be doing to look after them better?

Got pictures of this?

Only whenever I hear of Amazon Swords going downhill, my first thought is to ask about something called Aphanomyces.

Aphanomyces is a fungal organism that attacks Amazon Swords. It's particularly harsh on certain species (Echinodorus brevipdeicellatus looks as if it's been in a nuclear war after an attack by this fungus) but in theory at least, all Echinodorus species can be affected.

However, the appearance of the disease is fairly specific. If your leaves develop translucent areas and 'net veining' that wasn't visible before, followed by rotting of the leaf-stalk or petiole, Aphanomyces could be implicated.

Oh, and my Otocinclus just love grazing on my Amazon Sword leaves. They also use the plants as a hang-out zone. Only thing is, with 100 or so leaves to hang out amongst, seeing the Otocinclus when they're there can be difficult - sometimes they hide so well I need a robot submersible in there to go hunting for them!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

LF is right. The holes and browning of old leaves indicate a shortage og Potassium and Nitrate. These are moveable by the plant. If there's a shortage the plants move the limited nutrients to sustain new growth resulting in the old leaves looking ragged and dying off.

Swords are very macro hungry. If using Excel you should really be adding some macros as well as the micro ferts.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

i have just started a new post for my swords with some pics.
thanks for the help so far, hope the pics will allow you to give me the answer.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/27094.1.htm?0.471035#244153