Tennelus

**doug z** · 08-15-2008, 12:57 AM

Just put my tank together yesterday..

Trimmed the roots a LITTLE bit..

About the other end..

Do I trim them now (some are 3" long), or wait till they've taken root?

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=28084

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 08-15-2008, 01:23 AM

Leave them alone for now. You've already trimmed the roots so you need to give them time to recover. If you were to trim them now you run the risk of shocking the plants and killing them. As for trimming them, the only thing you really do is snip the runners and move the mature plants to a new spot to take root.

**doug z** · 08-15-2008, 01:31 AM

Ok, thanks..

They're just looking pretty long in the tooth.. LOL

Was wondering if trimming them made them put out runners and spread out faster.

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 08-15-2008, 01:56 AM

Nope. E. tenellus is a rosette plant and as such you really can't cut the leaves, you have to take them off from the outside kind of like you would take the outside leaves from a head of lettuce. If you take scissors to the tops of the leaves it will leave the ends brown and frayed and will the leaves will likely die. All Echiniodorus species are the same when it comes to pruning.

**doug z** · 08-15-2008, 01:59 AM

Why is the tennelus in other tanks so uniformly short then (2", tops)?

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 08-15-2008, 02:02 AM

Tank conditions mostly. There is a possibility that yours was grown emersed at the nursery. If that was the case it will look different. After a while they will all get that semi uniform look to them. Remember, most species of sword and crypt are grown emersed in the nurseries and when they are submersed they get new leaves that are adapted to the submersed conditions.