Amazon Sword New Red Leaves

Hi Everyone,

So one of my Swords have a few new leaves. One of them being red in color with dark red spots on it. Anyone seen this on theirs? I think it will look great when fully grown. Sorry for the brown tint. That's my water.

 

I've had something similar a few months ago. New leaves on my common amazon sword came out pinkish with brown spots. Looked really nice but then as the leaves matured they turned green....:frown:

 

I have seen a guys tank with one in it that was totally red, all the leaves it looked amazing i am waiting for one of mine to do the same. it is a natural thing to happen i was told.

 

I must say it is a welcome sight. I think I have two different Swords in my tank. Not sure about the names now. The other two plants have brown and green leaves. However the veins of the leaves are red and very tough leaves compared to this plant. Also very Beautiful Swords. maybe I'll be lucky enough to get a few red leaves from them aswell?

 

wow.. this is the first time i've seen something like that, really cool!!

 

Jip, Same here. I knew about the brown tint on some of the leaves as some of the leaves on the other two have them. But not red. After seeing this I googled and found a pic with a sword with blood red leaves. Very nice.

 

that must add a nice tint of colour other than green to your flora most people really battle to find anything that can break the total "greenness of the tank" so i think you stumbled on somethign really cool

 

@SloMo.00. that plant turns red because of my awesomeness.

 

Ha ha.:reddy:

 

Yeah we'll see if it holds the red color... Will be very chuffed if it does hey.

 

dude, i love that you so modest

hehe

 

Luckily he understands my modesty :deal:

 

I have a sword that does that too, the new leaves are scarlet, always. But they do go green as they mature. I have been told that if my setup were higher tech, then they would stay that way. Its reaching MONSTER proportions in my 3ft though... :unsure:

 

@tracyp, when are you getting CO2 then? I must get it sometime. Maybe then....

 

he he - no time soon... I'd actually hate to see what would happen to it if I gave it CO2 - in terms of size I mean! :weird: It has taken 2 years, but it takes up a good third of the tank now, and I trim leaves off almost every week. I'm a low tech chick - trimming once a week is QUITE enough for me!!! I do feed it some extra iron though... I have Microbe-lift liquid iron, and it does like that!

 

Yeah I understand they need alot of Iron. I currently use Seachem Iron. Maybe this is also a contributing factor why red leaves pop out? Hope I have the little green leprechaun in my pocket and mine will keep the red leaves.. But seeing the reply's thus far I doubt that. Still a site to see though.

 

OK, so let me deflate all of you excited people a little.

Firstly, yes, new leaves of particularly those swords with the round leaves which are either pure Echinodorus cordifolius or perhaps Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica' can have new leaves that are reddish, but as they grow larger then will go green and loose the red colour, so sorry Slomo, I do not think this will persist.

However, tracyp, your sword plant is most probably one of the new hybrid sword plants of which there have been quite a few in the trade and which have been bred and selected for red leaves, such as 'Ozelot Red' and a few more. They WILL remain red, as a matter of fact they are actually never green. However, they also do not grow all that easily and need a little more nursing.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi @Dirk, Thanks Prof. My Bubble is burst... LoL! These Ozelot Red swords. Do they grow to the same sizes also? I have never seen these.

 

Hi Slomo,

There is an "Ozelot Red" and an "Ozelot Green" both grow to be massive and if given enough light will push their leaves out above the water and the leaves will get about 1 metre long! Most varieties of red leaf colored swordplants do stay smaller and below water. Just google for "Echinodorus red" and you will see many colour varieties. Ozelot swords have certainly been imported into South Africa, but they are not commonly available.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks for the info @Dirk. I will definitely be looking out for them. We learn something new every day.