help. any idea which sword this is?

[SnakeIce]

my lfs sold it to me as a mellon sword. the emersed leaves that it had at the time were oval with slightly pointed ends on a distinct stalk that was 2/3 the length of the leaf. now it has typical swordplant leaves-not real narrow, not wide like the emersed leaves. it has three main veins in the leaves-center and one down each side. the latest leaf is about 10 inches tall, but each set of leaves has been bigger than the last.

The plant has one end in my 20 gal and I am trying to find out if it will get bigger than the tank or not. I didn't get the lfs's reggular sword cause I know it would get to big for my tank but I don't know about this one

Edit: I over estimated how tall the plant is. now corected

[djlen]

Snake - it would be a lot easier to I.D. if you'd post a pic. Do you have any idea how many different swords there are out there?
Len

[SnakeIce]

ok. I may get to do so this afternoon. I am going over to a friends house who can show me how to do so.

I am kind of noob on the aquatic plant thing. I have had various small house plants and kept a garden when I was still at my parents

[Slappy*McFish]

Sounds to me that you have a melon sword if that's what it started out as when you bought it. From your description of it when it had emersed leaves, and the fact the the lfs sold it as a melon sword, I would say that you, indeed, do have a melon sword. Melons can get rather large, and it will eventually outgrow that 20. Hopefully it will be a mother plant that produces babies, then you can just take the babies, grow them in your 20 and trade in the mother plant when it gets too big....I've done this in my 10 gallon. The babies grow out in the 10 while the mother lives and produces babies in my 55. When the babies outgrow the 10, they either go to the 55, or go to my lfs.

[SnakeIce]

so it is a melon sword. I have picts that I could email... don't have a chance to get them hosted untill wednesday in order to post here.

another question. I looked on various sites trying to find a scientific name linked or known as a melon sword with no luck.
I found a red melon but the plant I have shows no sign of red so i figgured that it wasn't it

and one last question for now. what sword would you recomend to live in a 20 gal. as in smaller than filling half the tank or less.
I know of the really tiny ones but I don't think enough light reaches the lower portions of my tank to grow short(7" or less)swords

an area 12"x12" and between 7" and 14" tall is what i could 'fill' with a sword

no biggie I may let the sword out grow the tank and then trade it for some cripts. I am trying to increase my general knowlege of aquarium plants befor I have the mucho grande tank and want it well planted:D

[SnakeIce]

I found a retailer that has the comon and tech name together and yeah the melon sword does get just a little big for my 20
the site is aquariumgarden.com

thanks for all the help.