Amazon Sword plants get their name from their broad sword-shaped leaves. These medium to large aquarium plants are bright green and grow up to 2 feet tall. Amazon Sword Plants need strong light and plenty of nutrients but are easy to care for. They are also easy to propagate; most reproduce using runners.
Getting to Know Amazon Sword
Aquarium sword plants belong to the Echinodorus family. The group is found mostly in the Amazon River basin, giving you an idea of the conditions they prefer. Amazon sword temperatures (73-85℉) are often higher than what other live plants prefer.
But there are Amazon sword plant species found in both North and South America. Many do well even in temperate conditions like those found in most of North America (55-75℉).
Sword plants for aquariums are easy to recognize. They are a vibrant green color but also come in orange and red morphs. Most also have beautiful leaves with a broadsword shape to them.
Aquarium plant swords are easy to care for and make for a great focal point in most aquascapes. If you want to try a large, impressive live plant for your first planted aquascape, Amazon Swords are some of the best species to start with.
Types of Amazon Sword Plants
The name “Amazon Sword Plant” is used to describe the entire group of plants in this group. There are around a dozen species that are regulars in the aquarium hobby. New varieties of each of these plants also pop up every year. But these are the four Amazon sword aquarium plant types you will most likely run into at your local fish store.
Amazon Sword Plant
The plant often goes by Echinodorus amazonicus, Echinodorus grisebachii, and Echinodorus bleheri. The jury is still out whether these are separate species or synonyms for a single plant. Botanists have a hard time classifying plans because species boundaries aren’t as clear cut as they are with animals.
Still, the “classic” Amazon Sword Plant is the most popular of the group and the one I will be discussing most often in this care guide.
Dwarf Chain Sword Plant
The Dwarf Chain Sword Plant goes by the name Echinodorus/Helanthium tenellum and is found throughout North America as far north as Michigan and Massachusetts all the way down to Argentina in South America. It is a hardy carpeting sword plant that grows a few inches tall.
Dwarf Chain Swords are aggressive spreaders when the conditions are right. They need strong lighting since they grow near the bottom of the tank. But when given enough light and a rich substrate they will send runners out in all directions. Dwarf chain swords clone themselves to colonize as much of the bottom as possible. They are not as difficult to care for as other carpeting plants and are a great choice for beginners to live plant care.
Melon Sword Plant
Melon Sword Plants are popular due to their rounded leaves, which are different from the sword-shaped leaves that are common to the family. They are also as showy as classic sword plants, growing up to 20 inches tall. Melon Sword Plants make great showpiece specimens for larger aquariums that have room for them to grow tall. Many have both green and red leaves but the red usually fades as the leaves grow larger. When kept in high light conditions and enriched with CO2 the leaves may remain red even into maturity.
Micro Sword Plant
Brazilian Micro Sword Plants (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) are easy to find in most aquarium specialty stores. Unfortunately, they are one of the more difficult plants to grow and the majority die if not well cared for.
They are not related to true sword plants at all but they look similar so they are called sword plants. Micro Sword narrow leaf need at least moderate lighting but thrive under high light conditions. A rich, fine grained substrate and carbon dioxide also encourages them to spread. Despite how cheap and easy to find they are Brazilian Micro Swords are better for intermediate to expert level aquatic plant keepers.
- Scientific Names: Echinodorus sp. (ex: bleheri, tenellus, ozelot, etc)
- Origin: North & South America
- Size: variable: anywhere from 2 to 24+ inches
- Ease of Care: Easy
- Growth Rate: Moderate
- Light Requirements: Moderate to High
- Fertilization Needs: High
- Carbon Dioxide Needs: Preferred but not Required
Lighting for Amazon Sword Plants
Amazon Sword Plants are medium to high light plants. If you prefer a more compact growth form then place them in high light conditions. Strong lighting will encourage them to grow bushier. But as a general rule sword plants are tall plants and will take up a lot of space.
Also make sure your light is of the right color spectrum. You need photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) when keeping Amazon Sword Plants. PAR is what helps plants crack apart carbon dioxide and water to create oxygen and simple sugars. Even if you have multiple incandescent fixtures, which are often found in older aquarium hoods, the light is of the wrong spectrum and useless for your plants.
Full-spectrum fluorescent, LED, and power compact bulbs are the most efficient. LEDs used to be too expensive for any but advanced aquarists. But LEDs are now very affordable. LEDs are more energy efficient and cooler running than incandescent or fluorescent lighting.
As far as hours per day, anywhere from 8 to 12 hours is best for these light-hungry plants. You might decide to lower the amount of light if you have algae issues. But more light is better since it helps sword plants put out additional growth.
It is best to stick to a lighting regimen once you’ve decided on one. Changing how many hours of light per day Amazon Sword Plants receive will cause many problems in your tank. Live plants are used to the slow changes of seasons and adapt their metabolisms in response to light. They have trouble performing basic regulatory functions when light levels are shifting all of the time.
Shifting light and plant functions also means that your aquatic plants won’t be able to process excess nutrients and carbon dioxide well. That will lead to algae issues arising. Most aquarists reach for a bottle of algaecide when waiting for your plants to rebalance is a better solution.
Substrates for Amazon Sword Plants
Amazon Sword Plants are a prime example of root feeding plants. While they do uptake nutrients through their leaves like most aquatic plants, they uptake more through their roots. So water borne fertilizers aren’t as effective as substrate based ones.
You should place plant root tablets near the base of a large aquarium sword plant. Or scatter them around the tank so all of your plants can uptake the nutrients over time. If you prefer water-based fertilizer dosing, use a substrate that has a high cation exchange capacity (CEC).
Substrates with a high CEC include baked clay and aqua soil. They have the ability to bind nutrients to themselves, holding onto them until plant roots uptake them. Inert substrates like gravel don’t bind nutrients. But a gravel grain on the right side will allow water to flow in between the grains, helping liquid fertilizers find their way down.
Amazon Sword Plant Fertilization Needs
What is most important is ensuring your aquarium plants are getting their macronutrients; the ones they need large quantities of to survive. These are the NPK trio: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Nitrogen can come from several sources, with the most common being ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Amazon Sword Plants prefer ammonia but it is also the most toxic form of nitrogenous waste to fish. So most aquarium fertilizers use nitrate, which is well tolerated by fish. A lack of nitrogen is identified by new growth remaining as small, pale leaves rather than expanding and darkening over time.
Phosphorus is another essential nutrient that most aquarium fertilizers provide in the right amounts. If your phosphorus levels get too low the older leaves of your Amazon Sword Plant will start to yellow. Dead patches may form and other leaves may simply fall off, far too fast to be normal shedding of old leaves.
If potassium levels are becoming too low you will start seeing tiny pin holes forming right in the middle of the leaves with yellow edges to them. Over time the holes will expand if no potassium is added to the system.
Iron deficiencies are also common in Amazon Sword Plants, identified by yellowing of the entire plant. Make sure that you test your macros + iron in order to catch issues before they arise.
Do Amazon Sword Plants Need CO2?
Amazon Sword Plants don’t need carbon dioxide but they certainly love it. Carbon dioxide is often the limiting factor for most planted aquariums. Enriching your water with CO2 will increase plant growth by as much as 5-10x, depending on the species.
Carbon is the foundational building block for plants, forming the structure of their cell walls, leaves, and stems. And CO2 is their primary source of carbon. Plants intake carbon dioxide exhaled from animals, releasing oxygen, which animals then inhale.
So fish are a source of CO2 for aquarium plants. But not as much as you might think. And not as much as can be provided by CO2 enrichment.
Liquid CO2 boosters like Seachem Excel work well with Amazon Sword Plants. Some plants, like mosses and Cryptocoryne, are stressed by the active ingredient. But African sword plants will show a nice boost in growth without needing to buy a CO2 injection system.
Adding carbon dioxide also helps plants outcompete algae since their growth is no longer limited by available carbon. Algae needs less CO2 than multicellular plants and will take up extra nutrients from fertilizer and available light if plants don’t grow fast enough.
The topic of carbon dioxide also touches on growing Amazon Sword Plants out of the water. Many aquarium plants will grow fine exposed to the air so long as you keep them in high humidity conditions. Amazon Sword Plants tend to grow alongside river banks and in the splash zone. So they transition between the emersed and submerged states.
The benefit to growing Amazon Sword Plants out of the water is that the air we breathe has more CO2 than water does. It’s the foundation of the Dry Start Method, which relies on the unlimited CO2 of the atmosphere to help aquarium plants get established faster.
Once your sword plants and other aquarium plants that grow emersed get established, you will then flood the tank. By doing so, you start out with a lush aquascape faster than if you’d tried planting amazon swords the usual way.
Amazon Sword Plant Propagation
An Amazon sword aquascape is easy to maintain and propagate. These species require no additional effort beyond providing them with the right conditions.
Your Amazon Sword Plant may even flower if it is close to the surface. Aquarium sword plants are pollinated by bees in the wild. Since there aren’t many bees in your house you’ll need to pollinate them by hand if you’re interested in completing their life cycle.
Most aquarists rely on the second way that these plants reproduce. Healthy Amazon Sword Plants will send runners out in all directions. These thread-like growths look like long roots with a little bud on the end. Sword plant runners may be above the substrate or below. And as they extend you’ll see baby sword plants growing along the “line.”
These are clones of the original Amazon swordplant. They help their mother colonize fresh living space faster. These young sword plants should be left attached to the runner for as long as possible. They will draw nutrients from their parents before growing large enough to survive.
Once the plant is a couple inches tall and has at least 4 leaves you can clip free the baby sword plant using sharp planting scissors and replant it elsewhere or give it to friends. Never use paper shears or other tools not meant for aquarium plant use. These tools are too dull and wil crush plant tissue.
Crushed tissue doesn’t recover well and becomes bruised or infected by bacteria, which may kill your plant.
Conclusion
Amazon sword plant care is not difficult. They require stronger lighting and fertilization. Carbon dioxide will speed their growth but is not mandatory. Sword plants are large, showy, and reproduce with ease. They are best alongside discus, tetras, and other soft water aquarium fish.
Amazon Sword Plant FAQ
“Classic” Amazon Sword Plants are tall specimens, reaching 16 to 24 inches in height. Many of their relatives, including the Melon Sword, also grow tall. While others, such as the Pygmy Chain Sword, stay close to the substrate.
Amazon Sword Plants are not floating plants. They are root feeders and will soon die if left floating for an extended period.
Yes they will. They grow alongside rivers in the wild and will grow both submerged and emersed! Amazon Sword Plants are ideal for terrariums for this reason. They provide frogs, salamanders, and other semi-aquatic animals dry perches to live on.
Amazon Sword Plants need at least medium light levels to thrive. They may not die if the low light is of the right spectrum but they won’t do much growing in these conditions.
Can Aquarium Plants Grow in Gravel?
Aquarium plants do well in gravel so long as they have fertilizer. Gravel is inert and does not contain nutrients to fuel plant growth by itself.
