Amazon sword questions...

[Rocky998]

So I have a few questions about amazon swords... Thank you in advance for help on these questions...

1) Do these plants NEED a fertilizer? And if so, what?

2) How fast do they grow?

3) Do these plants spread out?

4) How should I keep these anchored?


Thanks again for any help!

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

I love amazons! I have several variety. They grow quite tall under the right light and with ferts. You do need to fertilize as they can be quite greedy, more so for nutrients beyond what fish poop can supply. Straight off, they do not tolerate copper, at all. They will melt back pretty quickly if it is in your water supply or in the ferts you use. They propagate from a "maternal" stem. I allow mine to grow some nice roots before I snip it and plant the little Amazons. I use easy green root tabs. I like them because they are capsules and I feel I have more control over getting it into the substrate. If you do not have overly aggressive diggers, you do not need to weight them. If you do, I would use simple plant weights until they have strong enough roots to hold.

 

[Rocky998]

I love amazons! I have several variety. They grow quite tall under the right light and with ferts. You do need to fertilize as they can be quite greedy, more so for nutrients beyond what fish poop can supply. Straight off, they do not tolerate copper, at all. They will melt back pretty quickly if it is in your water supply or in the ferts you use. They propagate from a "maternal" stem. I allow mine to grow some nice roots before I snip it and plant the little Amazons. I use easy green root tabs. I like them because they are capsules and I feel I have more control over getting it into the substrate. If you do not have overly aggressive diggers, you do not need to weight them. If you do, I would use simple plant weights until they have strong enough roots to hold.

Thank you!
What brand of capsules do you use? And how do the roots stay down with no plant weight by itself? Is it naturally weighted? I have a shallow layer of sand

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

Thank you!
What brand of capsules do you use? And how do the roots stay down with no plant weight by itself? Is it naturally weighted? I have a shallow layer of sand

These are the ones I use. If it has a good root system it should be able to be simply planted. If it is sparse on roots but heavy on leaves, you'll need to weight it. Do not bury the crown however or the plant will rot.

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

So this is a Red melon sword I got from a friend. With roots like these, a sword should easily be planted without weights. If you have any pebbles that can help weight it down if your substrate is not deep enough to hold.

 

[Rocky998]

So this is a Red melon sword I got from a friend. With roots like these, a sword should easily be planted without weights. If you have any pebbles that can help weight it down if your substrate is not deep enough to hold.

Thank you! I don't know if I can get those aquarium co-op capsules but I'll see... My sand is fairly shallow and is small but big enough to where it gets kicked up easily and moved easy if that makes sense... I will be using pebbles in the future on my tank I believe so maybe I can do that

 

[OliveFish05]

Swords are awesome. Mine grow quickly, when I remember to fertilize. They do need, ABSOLUTELY NEED fertilizer tabs. These plants are heavy root feeders. I use Seachem Root Tabs. I got a pack of 80 on Amazon for a great price

 

[itiwhetu]

If you are going to vacuum the substrate, use fertilizers. I don't vacuum so I don't use fertilizers. Be careful with what you put in your tank, everything that you put in your tank affects your fish's environment.

 

[Colin_T]

1) Do these plants NEED a fertilizer? And if so, what?

2) How fast do they grow?

3) Do these plants spread out?

4) How should I keep these anchored?

1) All plants do better with some fertiliser. You can use any liquid or tablet fertiliser designed for aquariums or ponds. If you grow the plants in pots, you can use terrestrial plant fertiliser. I will describe how under section 4.

2) Under ideal conditions sword plants can grow pretty quickly but they don't grow as fast as Ambulia or Vallis. Normally they grow faster than Anubias and Java Fern, but slower than Ludwigia. You might get a couple of new leaves each week.

3) The plants do not spread out like Vallis. However, some species can get big (12 inch long leaves) and have lots of leaves, thus taking up a bit of space.

They can produce a runner (flower stalk) that can reach 4 feet long and small plants will grow off the runner. The runner can be held on the substrate with rocks or plant weights, or left to float in the water. The baby plants will come away from the flower stalk when they are big enough.

4) Sword plants need a substrate that is 3-4 inches thick. If you only have a shallow substrate, you can grow them in pots. I used 1-2 litre plastic icecream containers and they gave the plants a decent amount of gravel to grow in.

GROWING PLANTS IN POTS.
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.

You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.

You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.

 

[Rocky998]

1) All plants do better with some fertiliser. You can use any liquid or tablet fertiliser designed for aquariums or ponds. If you grow the plants in pots, you can use terrestrial plant fertiliser. I will describe how under section 4.

2) Under ideal conditions sword plants can grow pretty quickly but they don't grow as fast as Ambulia or Vallis. Normally they grow faster than Anubias and Java Fern, but slower than Ludwigia. You might get a couple of new leaves each week.

3) The plants do not spread out like Vallis. However, some species can get big (12 inch long leaves) and have lots of leaves, thus taking up a bit of space.

They can produce a runner (flower stalk) that can reach 4 feet long and small plants will grow off the runner. The runner can be held on the substrate with rocks or plant weights, or left to float in the water. The baby plants will come away from the flower stalk when they are big enough.

4) Sword plants need a substrate that is 3-4 inches thick. If you only have a shallow substrate, you can grow them in pots. I used 1-2 litre plastic icecream containers and they gave the plants a decent amount of gravel to grow in.

GROWING PLANTS IN POTS.
We use to grow some plants (usually swords, crypts, Aponogetons and water lilies) in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.

You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.

You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.

Hmmm... Idk if I can have these in my tank then... Maybe I should just get more java ferns? But I need to get the light schedule and intensity reset on my tank cause I think its too bright.

 

[Rocky998]

Thank you for all the help!

 

[Colin_T]

grow them in pots

 

[Rocky998]

I really hate the look of pots in an aquarium. I will just try to find another type of plant. I have a pretty good scape idea in my head that I'm doing...

What plants would you recommend that are semi-fast growing and are very hardy. Also something that doesn't need deep substrate

grow them in pots

 

[Slaphppy7]

I really hate the look of pots in an aquarium. I will just try to find another type of plant. I have a pretty good scape idea in my head that I'm doing...

What plants would you recommend that are semi-fast growing and are very hardy. Also something that doesn't need deep substrate

Crypts....though most plants need at least 2" deep substrate...unless you consider java fern or anubias, which are grown above the substrate...as well as floating plants, obviously

 

[Rocky998]

Crypts....though most plants need at least 2" deep substrate...unless you consider java fern or anubias, which are grown above the substrate...as well as floating plants, obviously

I could look into crypts... How should I measure the substrate depth in my tank?