johnsmith Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 I'm looking for something broad-leaved to fill in the centre of my tank. What I would like to know is: 1. will swords do okay with 1wpg? 2. will swords be readily eaten by africans? My vals were doing okay in this tank till I trimmed them, then the fish started tearing into them now they constantly look ratty, though they're still living and growing. Would swords be okay in this environment, or are there other plants that would do better. I know anubias and java fern are good but anubias are too short and java fern are too expensive, considering I usually only see 1 leaf/stem (?) for sale at a time. I'm hoping to do some plant shopping at the auction so any advice is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainmaker69 Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I have a sword in my 55 gallon, 36 x 18 x 20, and have 2 - 20W shop lights for illumination. The sword has grown over the year that it has been in my tank, but nothing spectacular. I use a liquid fertilizer, when I remember that I have it or my Hygrophila starts to turn brown. My Java Fern, on the other hand, has grown from a fist sized chunk to about twice the size of my head in the same year. The lights were used when I got them and are still being used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Hi, Swords generally require more light than that to grow large, strong and usually healthy. Growth is relevant term by the way. I do have some Swords in a tank full of juvenille Peacocks, which usually are not overly hard on most plants. I couldnt say the same for most other African speices. In this tank the lights are at least 20" away from the bottom of a 30 gallon tank. They do OK, but certainly have not grown out of the tank. I would say they hold there own by replacing leaves that have matured and died. They are shorter than there brothers in other tanks by at least 14-18 inches. In the other tanks they recieve at the least 3-4 watts per gallon with 65-6700 K lights. These plants will grow out of the tank if allowed. Having said all this 1 wpg seems very low for swords. But for a broad leaved plant that would do better it would be an Anubias bartieri, there are several spieces that would cover a larger barren area in a tank with Africans. They are almost indestructable to some degree when it comes to fish nipping plants... or get better behaved fish for your plants -roll- kidding Garhan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsmith Posted March 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 or get better behaved fish for your plants -roll- kidding Nah, that's what the other tank is for . Do any Anubias bartieri species get over 6"? I thought these plants were all very low and slow growing? If they do stay short I'll probably get more rocks and stack them up in the middle to provide a place to attach some anubias. The good thing is if I can find them cheap enough I don't mind experimenting with plants to see if they'll live or not. In terms of a sword I wouldn't really mind if it didn't grow huge as long as it lived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishManTy Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 My anubias grow slow under .5wpg, and they just rock out new leaves (2 aweek atleast), in my 5.5gallon with 25 watts on it... don't know what type of anubias they are exactly. They had some anubias at the auction that was atleast 6" tall... so I know some types will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted March 7, 2005 Report Share Posted March 7, 2005 There are several spieces. The common one you are thinking of is "nana" (Japanesse for small or dwarfed). Yes there are larger spieces, travel the petshops or post in the buy and sell for the larger 6-8" groups. Garhan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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