Echinodorus Amazon - Amazon Sword 3cm Terracotta Pot

Amazon Sword 3cm Terracotta Pot

Scientific name: Echinodorus amazonicus
Trade name: Amazon Sword
Difficulty: Easy

Amazon Swords are a fantastic beginner Echinodorus. The plants have long, attractive leaves in the most vibrant green colour. The plant will grow relatively quickly in the tank and is an attractive feature plant. They look great planted in groups or with other swords in contrasting leaf forms. 

Echinodorus Species

The Echinodorus family of plants are commonly called "Sword Plants." There are a diverse range of Echinodorus species and cultivars with many different leaf shapes and leaf colouration.

In the wild, in South America, Sword plants live in marshes and bogs that flood in the wet season. They have part of their life cycle during the drier weather where they grow out of water and reproduce. This natural emerse stage of their life is how most Echinodorus are grown commercially. The emerse plants are stronger and when the floods come to them in the wild or they are submersed in an aquarium, they happily adjust to their submerse form. With time, they will grow new underwater leaves, that are often softer and more colourful and the leaves may have a slightly different shape. 

Sword plants are very versatile and can be grown in most aquariums, with most fish except large cichlids. These highly sought after plants come in a variety of sizes and leaf shapes with colours from vibrant, light, frog green through deep, dark green then across to reds or coppers and even a variegated "Marble Queen."