24" Amazon Sword Plant???

5149 Views 21 Replies 6 Participants Last post by tazcrash69, Sep 28, 2007

PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · Sep 26, 2007

I have an amazon sword plant that is about 1 to 1 1/2 years old and the stems measure about 24" in length.:icon_surp The leaves are larger than my hands. It has grown out the top of my 55g tank now and the leaves begin to turn brown (not enough light maybe?)when they get past the light.

I mean how big can these things get?
Anyone else have pics of their enormous sword plant?

Brian

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if_fishes_were_wishes

· #2 · Sep 26, 2007

These were my 4 big guys, leaves at about 22 inches:

Well, actually I have one left, the other ones are going into a nice big home, they were crowding my fish

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PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 26, 2007

Nice! What size tank is that? 22" and they haven't grown out of the top of the tank yet?

I also like that piece of driftwood in the center.

Brian

if_fishes_were_wishes

· #4 · Sep 26, 2007

Thank you

It's a 55 and the leaves were all bent across the surface, blocking lots of light to the plants below. The tank is now much more open with room for the fish to actually swim

Your plant is huge! Looks very cool sticking out of the top like that.

PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 26, 2007

if_fishes_were_wishes said:
Thank you It's a 55 and the leaves were all bent across the surface, blocking lots of light to the plants below. The tank is now much more open with room for the fish to actually swim

Your plant is huge! Looks very cool sticking out of the top like that.

Mine was also blocking a ton of light when I kept versa tops on the tank. The leaves would just lay across the top of the water. I have since removed the versa tops because I found it was easier to do my trimming/maintenance without them and it allowed me to use the adjustable mounting legs for my cf.

Thanks

When I removed the versa tops I just decided to let it go and see what it would do. I think I may try hanging a light above the tank to see if I can get the leaves to stay a nice green.

I never really thought it would get this big.:icon_eek: But I like it.

Brian

frozenbarb

· #6 · Sep 26, 2007

What the Sht. What kinda Sword is that, That is more like a Banana tree Inside your tank,

How come there isn't no Sumerged Leaf, Wow this is amazing

PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 26, 2007

frozenbarb said:
What the Sht. What kinda Sword is that, That is more like a Banana tree Inside your tank,

How come there isn't no Sumerged Leaf, Wow this is amazing

I am probably just as surprised by this thing. Thats why I thought I would post a pic of it.

I feel like I'm killing a small animal when I go to trim a leaf off of it.

It takes more than one squeeze of the scissors to get through a stem.

I have another amazon sword just to the left of the driftwood in the back if you look closely at the pic. That is what it looked like when I first got it except a little smaller.

Brian

frozenbarb

· #8 · Sep 26, 2007

My friend, My advise to you is get a sword and trimm it, I wonder what sword this is, Maybe a pond plant

evilknieval69

· #9 · Sep 26, 2007

Looks like a marbled sword. I had one that grew out of the water like that. They eventually just grow leaves out of the water, and none underneath the water, ending up looking like a big ugly stalky thing in the tank. Heres a pic of mine when i took it out

It was over 60cm (2') high (tank was only 50cm!)

EDIT: looking at your pic again id say it is definately a marbled sword (aka marbled queen sword)

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PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 26, 2007

frozenbarb said:
My friend, My advise to you is get a sword and trimm it, I wonder what sword this is, Maybe a pond plant

LOL. Thanks for the advice.

I thought it was just an amazon sword. Like this one in the link:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=802

The info on that link says that they can get up to 20". Like I said it looked exactly like that other one in my tank when it was younger.

Brian

PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #11 · Sep 26, 2007

evilknieval69 said:
Looks like a marbled sword. I had one that grew out of the water like that. They eventually just grow leaves out of the water, and none underneath the water, ending up looking like a big ugly stalky thing in the tank. Heres a pic of mine when i took it out

It was over 60cm (2') high (tank was only 50cm!)

EDIT: looking at your pic again id say it is definately a marbled sword (aka marbled queen sword)

That looks a little like mine. But mine has much thicker stems. The stems on mine going towards the base of the plant are about equal to a large pinky finger. And each leaf is larger than my hand.

I think you may be right. Take a look at this link. It says they can get up to 24" tall and the pattern on the leaves look a little like mine except the leaves on mine stay mostly green when they get plenty of light.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/208934/product.web

http://ausyfish.com/marble_queen_sword.htm

I may have to hold on to this thing and transfer it to my pond when I get it started.

Brian

evilknieval69

· #12 · Sep 26, 2007

The stalks on mine in the photo were about the size of a pinky at the bottom. Cant realy tell its real size in the photo, but it was pretty big!

They dont realy get any marbling on the emersed leaves i found

tazcrash69

· #13 · Sep 26, 2007

I had 2 Radican Marble queen swords that I had to remove because they totally outgrew my 125, and the 2 of them pretty much shaded the rest of the tank.
Here is a pic with a 12" ruler.

I have a closed top, so it couldn't grew like yours (very impressive BTW)

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Daniel*Swords

· #14 · Sep 26, 2007

I think that is an Echinodorus grandiflorus (often sold as E. argentinensis), Brian. The leaf peduncles ('stems') are round, right? It can grow much bigger, actually, about 1,5 metres tall. If the peduncles are not round, but ridged, then it could be an Echinodorus palaefolius (pic by rain-). Not an Echinodorus cordifolius 'Marble Queen', IMO.

My 'Marble Queen' has marbling only when emersed, never submersed. This also what Kasselmann writes, that the marbling doesn't show submersed... I guess it depends on the tank conditions as well...

Please, be careful if you place it in your pond. It seems very probable that an E. grandiflorus escaped from cultivation in Florida and was later described as a new species (E. floridanus). The plant is self-fertile, so the seeds can spread even if the plantlets won't.

Oh, and my E. grandiflorus has that kind of browning to its leaves, too. I'm growing it in a pot on the window sill. I think my problem is that it's in a too small pot. Don't know if this could be the case with your plant too (not enough room for the roots)...

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PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #15 · Sep 27, 2007

tazcrash69 said:
I had 2 Radican Marble queen swords that I had to remove because they totally outgrew my 125, and the 2 of them pretty much shaded the rest of the tank.

What did you end up doing with it? Just throw it away?

tazcrash69 said:
I have a closed top, so it couldn't grew like yours (very impressive BTW)

Thank you.

I know what you mean. It got pretty big when I had a closed top but it could only do so much. It was starting to not only block light but also take up swimming space too.

Brian

PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 27, 2007

Daniel*Swords said:
The leaf peduncles ('stems') are round, right?

Yes they do appear somewhat round.

Daniel*Swords said:
Please, be careful if you place it in your pond. It seems very probable that an E. grandiflorus escaped from cultivation in Florida and was later described as a new species (E. floridanus). The plant is self-fertile, so the seeds can spread even if the plantlets won't.

I was just referring to a small man made pond (koi pond) I plan on setting up in my backyard when I move to a bigger home.

Daniel*Swords said:
Oh, and my E. grandiflorus has that kind of browning to its leaves, too. I'm growing it in a pot on the window sill. I think my problem is that it's in a too small pot. Don't know if this could be the case with your plant too (not enough room for the roots)...

You don't think there would be enough room for it to root in my 55g? The leaves only started browning when I removed the tops and let it grow out beyond the lights. Before that they were always fully developed and a nice green.

Thanks for the info and interest everyone,
Anyone else have pics of live ones out there still planted in a tank?

Brian

tazcrash69

· #17 · Sep 27, 2007

PRESTON4479 said:
What did you end up doing with it? Just throw it away?

2 times the mother plants went into the composter, And I replaced them with their plantlets. After a While, I donated the ones I had to a friend with a pond. They got composted again into Koi Poo.

I didn't know this at the time:

Daniel*Swords said:
Please, be careful if you place it in your pond. It seems very probable that an E. grandiflorus escaped from cultivation in Florida and was later described as a new species (E. floridanus). The plant is self-fertile, so the seeds can spread even if the plantlets won't.

Daniel*Swords

· #18 · Sep 27, 2007

PRESTON4479 said:
You don't think there would be enough room for it to root in my 55g? The leaves only started browning when I removed the tops and let it grow out beyond the lights. Before that they were always fully developed and a nice green.

Oh, judging by the size of the plant vs. tank size, I'd say you have a surprice waiting for you if you try to remove it now just by pulling it up.

I had one with E. uruguayensis the diametre of which roots was about 1,2 metres (4 feet). A lot of other plants and sand came with it... Oops!

But otherwise, yes, the browning could be because of the not so humid air, too.

Oh, if the peduncles are not round(-ish) but triangular, with ridges/ grooves, or just angular, then it's not an E. grandiflorus.

Daniel*Swords

· #19 · Sep 27, 2007

tazcrash69 said:
After a While, I donated the ones I had to a friend with a pond. They got composted again into Koi Poo.

I didn't know this at the time:

Well, I think that E. cordifolius (and hence, E. cordifolius 'Marble Queen') is not self-fertile. So, it should not be able to spread via seeds but it's a weed otherwise!

PRESTON4479

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 28, 2007

Daniel*Swords said:
Oh, if the peduncles are not round(-ish) but triangular, with ridges/ grooves, or just angular, then it's not an E. grandiflorus.

I will take a close look at the shape of the stems so I can give a good description. Thanks for the info.

Brian

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