# Amazon Sword taking over?



## argblarg (Aug 7, 2006)

Hi all, here is my 46 gallon tank. It has been set up for about 6 months and my Amazon Sword keeps getting bigger and bigger. Is there a smaller variety that wouldn't completely fill up my tank? Or am I doomed to just trim this every few days so it doesn't block the light for the other plants?


Here is a picture of my tank, I am still learning which plants work for me and everything.


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## oblongshrimp (Jul 26, 2006)

amazon swords get huge. I have 2 in my 120gal tank and both are all the way to the top of the tank


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

Yup, they are monsters. Some, like red rubins, don't get _quite_ as big, but the Amazons will grow to consume as much space as they can. If you grow them emersed it is even worse!


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## SammyP (Apr 26, 2006)

yes amazon sword gets very very large, i've seen them overcrowding a 75 R. there are plenty of other sword varieties to choose from that imo look better and are better suited to an aquarium. Echinodorus is the genus for sword plants.


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## oblongshrimp (Jul 26, 2006)

I have some red sword (maybe red mellon) that is even worse then my amazons since it doesn't grow up as much and the leaves spread out a lot more so its diameter is about a foot and a half. It also has leaves at the top of my tank and each leave is about as wide as your hand and 8-10 inches long....its a monster.


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## Hypancistrus (Oct 28, 2004)

My understanding is _echinodorus parviflorus_ tends to stay smaller than most swords.


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

i like my ozelot and red rubin. they don't seem as massive as my amazon sword.


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## jgc (Jul 6, 2005)

Mine started sending out shoots, before I pulled it from the tank I bet I had over 30 of them. Ended up loosing some plants species because of the shading it caused. I replanted one baby - it is already sending out shoots again...


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I grew a couple of kleiner bar swords which grew out the top of my 29 gallon tank, with leaves about 4 inches across! And, this is supposed to be a small sword. I don't think small and sword belong in the same sentence, unless you are talking about the foreground grassy varieties. But, I also had a parviflorus sword, which refused to grow at all. It had suffered through a two week trip by mail from Arizona, and never was the same afterwards.


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

Yep, that Amazon sword will take over... And I think that E. 'Rubin' will do that too... Plus, I don't think that you'll get a nice looking plant by pruning it all the time... I've found that to keep them smaller I have to prune the newest leaves and that makes an ugly sight... 

Here's some of the smaller Echinodorus (excluding the grassy type Echis = _Helanthium_s) that I would consider:

E. parviflorus 'Tropica' (a rather demanding plant, about 10 cm - I think that the _E. parviflorus_ will become as big as the normal _E. amazonicus_)
E. 'Oriental'
E. 'Kleiner Bär' (the 'real' one, seems there are 'fakes' around that grow much too big...)
E. 'Ozelot' red, golden or green
E. 'Red, Golden, or Green Flame'
E. 'Apart'
E. 'Rainers Kitty', 'Rainers Felix'
E. 'Regine Hildebrandt'
E. 'Roter Oktober'

One of these might be nice with their (near) heart-shaped leaves:
E. schlueteri
E. schlueteri 'Leopard', aka. var. 'Bicolor'
E. cordifolius 'Ovalis' (generally < 10 cm tall, but width can be much larger, I hear)
E. 'Harbich' (the 'real' one, the 'fake' might not survive submersed)

etc.. I just don't know the availability of these in the States...:icon_roll


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## seastar0328 (Apr 3, 2004)

I love the looks of swords in my amazonian biotope tank but it is only a 20 gal so I use echinodorus cordifolius "ovalis" aka radican sword because I have been told it stays smaller. Also the Bleheri compacta swords are also supposed to stay small as well....we shall see in a few months. LOL


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## sunmiztres (Mar 20, 2006)

I have a red rubin that is 2 feet tall in my 80 gallon. I trim the leaves so that is doesn't block the light from other plants.


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

Well Seastar0328, I have to say that I once thought as you did but guess what after about 6 months...it was growing out the top of my 20G. They look cute in the beginning but with a little co2, lights and flourite time will prove you wrong...of course if you add root tabs like I did it can take even less time, but I don't mind going crazy and trimming mine but you do have to keep watch over them....as for the Radican Marble Queen variety that was even WORSE! I couldn't control it...it was shooting little baby plantlets off everywhere!! (Although at the time my CO2 was out of control because I was trying to grow microsword which also eventually covered the entire substrate in the same 6 month period)...

My suggestion Argblarg is to continue trimming it unless you want to take it out completely but be prepared for algea rebound because these sword plants absorb a serioud nutrient load...I made the mistake one time of hacking the *&(^)(*^ out of mine and BAM! I had brown algea over everything in three days...eventually went away after the swords grew back and a few H20 changes...just some thoughts!


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

styxx1: Are you saying you had a E. cordifolius "ovalis" growing out of your tank? Wow, that's new!! I never heard of that one growing that big! I know that most of the time the _E. cordifolius_ aka. Radican Sword and E. cordifolius 'Marble Queen' do just what you described... but not that the "ovalis" too! :icon_eek:


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## styxx (Jul 2, 2003)

Noooo I was talking about the Echinodorus bleheri v. "Robustus" variety...


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