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okay i bought a pygmy chain sword the other day and how fast will it grow? what fertilizer should i use? i want it to cover my 10 gallon with a nice carpet

Hi,
Much of how well the plant will do will depend upon
how long the tank has been established (will there
be enough nutrients in the gravel bed to support it),
how many fish are in the tank (will they be able to
supply the nutirents needed over a prolonged period
of time), how much light, and for how long per day.

Be sure your light is at least 1 watt/gallon, that
the bulb is SUNLIGHT or DAYLIGHT rated, and leave the
light on for 10 hours/day. 10 gallon tanks are shallow
compaired to others, so 1 watt/gallon is about the same
as 2 watts/gallon in other tanks.

The plant is a root feeder, and will take very little
nutrients from the water column. It is a relatively
slow grower, and algae could start to grow on it
as it grows.

I'd toss some floating plant in the tank too in order
to compete directly with the algae, and give the
chain sword time to grow.

Frank



-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanks somuchfrank

It's also easier to grow it if you tie it in clumps, take one of the runners and wrap it around several, then plant them 1 inch apart from one another, as a group they would hold better to the substrate and soon runners will be entertaining with one another forming the carpet, it's actually a very hardy plant IME, and looks wonderful as a carpet, the green is wonderful!

Good luck