Baby Amazon Swords

[Marala]

My Large Amazon Sword in my 40g tank has 4 little baby plants growing off of it. I haven't had this plant for very long, and I am delighted that there are new plants this soon. What I want to know is how long I should wait before cutting them off. Is it bad if you cut them to early? The largest has roughly 8 leaves that are approximately 2-3 inches long and has maybe 4 roots that range from 1 to 3 inches in length. Can I cut that one or should I wait? Is there any special way that I should cut it or does it not matter at all? I am still really new to the whole plant thing, but I am loving it!

 

[John N.]

Lots of people have amazon's and never have any luck with plantlets. I would wait until they have a developed root system and many leaves before cutting it off.

If you cut it before it's ready they'll likely die since they haven't fully developed. The largest one you speak of sounds like you can cut it.

-John N.

 

[loaches r cool]

I remember reading somewhere you should let the young plant get to 1/4 the size of the adult plant before removing it... that might take along time though. My Amazon sword (well I think its an amazon, it was just sold as misc sword plant) was probably 8-12" tall when it shot off a stem that had a whole string of little plantlets... I removed em when they had about2-3" long leafs and roots that were nearly as long. The biggest of all of them is grwoing slowly, now about 4-5" long leafs 6 months later, another couple perished in my plant tank, and the rest I tried to acclimate to brackish and either died or were eaten. The little sword is getting not probably as much light as it should where its placed though, which is ok because the big one is way to big for my liking in my plant tank.

 

[Marala]

The largest that I mentioned above is growing very fast so that you can see the difference daily without looking very hard. I think that I will let it grow a bit larger before removing it. Thanks for both of your help!