Brazilian sword

[Gramazing]

So I bought one of these from my LFS last weekend. Now I learn it's not a real aquatic plant? Is this right? If so I'm really pissed that these people sell stuff that's not appropriate. I could have bought a brazilian sword or an amazon sword - I got the former cause it looked a bit bigger and was 2 bucks cheaper. Should do my homework first.

How can I grow this? I take it it will eventually die if it stays in my tank. Do I need to make a little terrarium or something to provide a little ecosystem for it?

[rich311k]

Just pot it. It will grow just fine in a pot with planting soil. Keep the soil moist.

[jestep]

It will grow in your tank for a while, but eventually it will cease to flourish and start to die.

You can keep it in the tank for a while, but best bet is to pot it and grow it dry. They're also called peace lily's, so you should be able to find care information very easily.

They are actually a very nice plant when grown out of the water, or in a semi-aquatic environment. They grow large full leaves, and have very attractive flowers.

As far as aquatic plants, generally stay away from petco and petsmart, unless you know what you are looking for. I've seen Brazilian swords labeled as amazons on several occasions, and it's unlikely the staff can tell the difference.

If you want a good full size sword, find a true Amazon, ozelot, marble queen, or a radican. Stay away from anything else. Argentine, brazillian etc...

There are also smaller swords which are legitimate water plants, melons, chains, kleiner bar's, narrow leafs, ruffled, amazon compact, rosettes, orientals, but most of these stay slightly smaller or grow differently than the larger swords. When in doubt, don't get it, as it will just muck up your tank after a few months.

[Gramazing]

Thanks. I've had a melon sword in there for a couple of months which has hardly changed. I've also got an amazon sword - same deal. I just finished making a new hood with higher lighting output so we'll see how that goes. The brazilian sword I took out and put into a glass vase with some pebbles in the bottom and some tank water half way up the stems. It needs more light too! It hasn't grown except the roots and the leaves have a couple of brown edges but I assume that is lack of humidity.