Who has an Echinodorus species (dominant) only tank?

[cs_sg]

I am currently considering changing my setup to an Echinodorus (small-medium sized) only tank.

I wonder if it is feasible cos these plants will grow big in no time but I noticed that those I have seemed hardy.

I currently have the following and do not wish to give them up cos they seemed to be doing well despite my lack of experience and more than ideal condition to grow them.

Does anyone here has such a tank and can you share picture of your setup?

The E. 'Oriental' is my favourite and I would like to make it a centre piece.

I currently have the following in my tank:
E. 'Oriental' (2x 8", 2x3" wide)
E. 'Ozelot' (2x 6" wide)
E. Bleheri (3 x 30cm tall)
E. parviflorus 'tropical) (1 x 3")
Another green plain leaf sword which I cannot identify. Bought it emmersed from the Pasir Ris farm. (about 25cm in height)

Other plants like : HM fills in spaces for the sword plants (mid ground), APP fills in the spaces in foreground

Is my tank already overstocked with sword plants?
I have Hygro which I can remove when the swords grow bigger. Also about 15stalks of B.Caroliana.

[hwchoy]

well if you like plantlets of marble queen, shlutteri (spell?) and leopard let me know, they always flowering and I've been dumping plantlets left and right, especially the marble queen!

[cs_sg]

I like the plantlets floating around in the tank, though they can make the setup look 'unorganised'. I have yet to have any 'babies' from my sword yet cos I have replanted them at least 5 times in 5 months !

Is my tank already overstocked with the sword species?

How big (potential) can these 3 that you mentioned grow?
I just gave up on my E. martii yesterday and it was a pain to let go cos it was my first plant...

I'll read more on these before I proceed.

[cs_sg]

[quote:441e0dfc3b="hwchoy"]well if you like plantlets of marble queen, shlutteri (spell?) and leopard let me know, they always flowering and I've been dumping plantlets left and right, especially the marble queen![/quote:441e0dfc3b]


Do you have a picture of these 3 that you mentioned?
I can only see an emmersed form of the marble queen in the AQ plant profile

[hwchoy]

leopard and shlutteri are like marble queen except they're about half-size, no marbling, and the young leaves have maroon spots which fades as the leaf ages.

[cs_sg]

[quote:f7e4198a="hwchoy"]leopard and shlutteri are like marble queen except they're about half-size, no marbling, and the young leaves have maroon spots which fades as the leaf ages.[/quote:f7e4198a]

Do you use them as midground? Is it similar to the E.Ozelot? Cos mine has the brown specks too as the new leaves grow..
Maybe mine are not ozelot?

[hwchoy]

no they are growing emersed in a pond.

[cs_sg]

How feasible do you think of an Echinodorus species only tank?

Tank dimension is 90x45x45 cm only.
lighting : 4x 20 Watts flourescent.
Fan: 1 Fan 24hrs a day
DIY CO2.

Because I get BBA everytime I replant the stem plants or uproot them
so i thought swords need less maintainence?

EDIT. From my very little experience, I noticed that Sword needs just some pruning of old leaves and good substrate to grow well.
They also sends out plantlets when the condition is good.
Whereas the creepers or stem plants, it needs more maintainence, am I correct?

[hwchoy]

I know what you mean. Echinodorus is a bit tricky because they grow large and their leaves spread.

I have narrowed myself to hairgrass and Blyxa aubertii and other similarly behaving plants.

[cs_sg]

Yeah.. The main 'problem' with swordplants are their sizes.
I've tried to stick to the smaller species if I can ID them properly.

From your experience, how big can an E.Oriental get? i have got 4 of them and the biggest is as big as my hand.
I hope my 45cm tank is not too low for it eventually.

Sword ID:
Is this a E. 'Ozelot' ?
It has brown specks on new leaves.
[/img]

[Simon]

[quote:93273ffc6d="cs_sg"]Yeah.. The main 'problem' with swordplants are their sizes.
I've tried to stick to the smaller species if I can ID them properly.

From your experience, how big can an E.Oriental get? i have got 4 of them and the biggest is as big as my hand.
I hope my 45cm tank is not too low for it eventually.

Sword ID:
Is this a E. 'Ozelot' ?
It has brown specks on new leaves.
[/img][/quote:93273ffc6d]

you have 4 echinodorus in yr 3footer?

E. parviflorus will naturally stay short, so it wouldnt occupy much space, ozelot ,oriental and bleheri are of the same size, depending on how you fertilizer the substrate, I have seen some growing almost 2 feet high.. My last bleheri grew that tall and covers a diameter of at least 1.5ft wide.

[ccs]

Used to have a echinodorus dominant tank can see the pic in the AQ gallery.

[Simon]

cs

My old 6ft setup, all echinodorus
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/aq_my...php?tank_id=64

another, with the E. bleheri almost reaching to the top
http://www.simonsng.netfirms.com/ima...40202/6ft1.jpg

[a_scape]

Hi all,
What I can share for you guys is let us assure that your tank can accomodate the optimum growth of each echinodorus species.
From my experience most of them is need good substrate , co2 at normal level and also good lighting.
I think better select some species that will grow medium to meet your 90 x 45 x 45 cm tank such :
1. Schlueteri Leopard (for middle position)
2. Red Flame (for back position)
3. Tennelus (for foreground)
4. Red Rubin Narrow Leaves (for mid-back position)

And pls be aware the rest than above I mentioned require bigger tank size.

And don't forget echinodorus with red coloring normally will need higher lighting level compared to the green one.
Last don't forget to put some troops once your tank finish setup ..such amano shrimps + oto .
Good luck..
Cheers,

AChen

[cs_sg]

Quote Simon: you have 4 echinodorus in yr 3footer?
BTW, your shocked emoticon made me a bit worried about 'overstocking' with these swords.

E. parviflorus will naturally stay short, so it wouldnt occupy much space, ozelot ,oriental and bleheri are of the same size, depending on how you fertilizer the substrate, I have seen some growing almost 2 feet high.. My last bleheri grew that tall and covers a diameter of at least 1.5ft wide.

So, is that a E. Ozelot in the pic I have posted?

Actually.. I have more than 4 Echinodorus in the 3 footer and just traded off 3!
If I did not ID wrongly:
I have the following remaining ones in my tank:
4x E. 'Oriental' (2 size of my hand, 2 little plantlets abt 4" wide)
3x E 'Bleheri' < I thought I had only 1, then I realised they are the same
2x E. 'Ozelot'
1x E parviflorus 'Tropica'
1 more unidentified ones.. they look like the one you have in the second pic which grew right out of the water surface.

BTW, your tanks are cool Looks wonderful with those angels.

I am getting lazy with the trimming and uprooting and it seemed that the Echinodorus are hardy though they seemed more expensive to start with.

I use the root monster and Dr.Mallick's liquid ferts only recently. So far, they seemed ok. But growth is so much faster after the fertilization (which is not good for my little tank).

[cs_sg]

[quote:784361f222="ccs"]Used to have a echinodorus dominant tank can see the pic in the AQ gallery.[/quote:784361f222]


OH geezz.. thats another 6ft tank?
Another angel paradise!
Its very impressive and I love those blyxa japonica!
Thanks for sharing

[Simon]

image too blur, can't really make anything out...

[cs_sg]

[quote:c54d35d63b="Simon"]image too blur, can't really make anything out...[/quote:c54d35d63b]


Is this picture better? This is the best I can capture.

Plant ID:
The sword plant infront of the E.Bleheri, what is it? I bought it emmersed at a Pasir Ris Farm.

[Simon]

chryl, 1st pix cant see the spots, FYI, E. ozelot has 2 var. green and red

the 2nd pix, can't give a positive ID, could be E. cord spp., have to wait till it matures

[juggler]

[quote:f18dcc4d89="cs_sg"]
Sword ID:
Is this a E. 'Ozelot' ?
It has brown specks on new leaves.
[/quote:f18dcc4d89]

From the leaf shapes and if the plant doesn't grow tall, then it could be a E. Schlueteri Leopard or maybe just E. Schlueteri. E.Ozelot will have a more brownish new leaves.

Other carpeting Echinodorus include E.quadricostatus and E.latifolius. Good for midground.