Can't believe it!!

NeonHaze · 10-10-2003, 5:07 AM

I bought 3 larger (12" ish) amazon swords from my LFS about a month ago, 2 of them had long stems that were already propagating, i put them in my 20 gal south american tank, with no natural sunlight and only a 20 watt fluorescent that came with the tank. i checked tonight, and on one of the plants, two more shoots have popped up, each with about 3-4 small amazons growing, the other plant (placed int he tank about 2 weeks after the first amazon) also has a new shoot, and the small plantlets growing on the existing shoot are almost twice the size. within a month i've propogated 6-8 new plants, and will be planting them soon.

I've never had good luck with live plants, apart from an anubias that propogated and now lives in both my 20 and 33 gal tanks. I'm hoping that the plants keep going and hopefully someday i'll have a beautifully planted tank like sum of the pics i see in this forum.

Also on another note, in my 33 gal i have 2 Hydrophilia Simensis, and i've noticed that the top leaves near the surface have turned pinky-red, but it's still growing and nothing has turned brown in over a month. Is this normal? because it really adds to my tank and actually brings alot of natural color in.

SnakeIce · 10-10-2003, 9:23 AM

that makes me wonder what your water is like... can't say I know how you are doing that but good for you

DIYMatt · 10-10-2003, 1:19 PM

Although, I've never had the regular green amazon swords, I have/had Rubins, Ozelots, Orientals, melons and others. Many of my swords have put out runners when I first put them into the tank, especially with lower light. I beleive what has happened to me is that I have bought a nice big sword that was probably grown emersed. Meaning the roots were grown in water, but the plant leaves were grown in the air. They do this because the plants grow faster this way for sale. SO, when it is put into the tank fully submersed, it has to adapt. I think it is one of those things that the plant senses the change and feels it may die, so it trys to propagate before it perishes. I think they use the energy stored in their root system from when they were growing fast. Kinda like a perrenial plant in a terrestrial garden. I don't think they will actually die, but i bet after a couple of months the plants will look much different than they do now. Actually, my rubins will send out runners anytime there is a change in the chemistry for the worse, especially when I have discontinued CO2 in a tank.

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I don't think swords always propagate just because they are very happy. IN my tanks it has been somewhat the opposite. But, either way it is still a lot of fun. Don't you wish the swords would stay small forever? Kinda like kids I guess.