Leopard Sword Flower! Wheee!!

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zenkatydid

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jul 30, 2005
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My first flower ever! I am over the moon! :D:D This is my favourite plant in all my tanks, my gorgeous leopard sword - and though I have no idea where I'll put its babies, I still want them! LOL

One question - once the flower blooms (I assume it will do this above the water?) how do I ensure it is fertilised? How long before I should expect a plantlet stalk thingy? Do I just leave the flower to die of it's own accord, when is it safe to remove it?

And here's some pics... I'm sure you've all seen sword flower, but this is MY sword flower :D

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My Echinodorus 'Red Special' has done that on many occasions. I just let it reach the surface and get as many as 6 new plants off it. Once they get a little root structure to them I cut them off ( usually one by one starting from the end ) and plant them.
 
so i don't need to do anything to ensure it's fertilised? simply having a flower is enough? and then at some point later, it will send out another shoot with plantlets on it, yes? or is it from the same flower shoot?
 
it flowered today (gosh that took a long time!) but it's still under the water, and the petals have been chewed at bit by my fish. is that right? i thought it was supposed to flower above the water? i am worried that i have induced early flowering by doing a water change and reducing the level to under the flower, making it "think" it was above water. will it still produce plantlets?

yes, i am a worried plant-mother :D

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Echnodorus will flower under water without any special prompting. The flower bit, and the plantlet bit happen at the same node, but are different parts and separate items.

The little "balls" are flowers, the little "spikes" are plantlets.

btw, that looks very much like an Ozelot (of which there are several varieties). The leopard, has heart shaped leaves and black spots.

Pics of a leopard:
http://www.aquazone.org/aqua_zone/web/water_plants/echinodorus/leopard.shtml
http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=073C

Here is a nice pic of a green ozelot, which looks very much like your plant.
http://www.aquazone.org/aqua_zone/web/water_plants/echinodorus/green_ozelot.shtml
http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=073G
 
re the ID, is the difference between an ozelot and a leopard only the leaf shape, then? it's true my plant does have slightly wavy leaf edges, and the leaves are long rather than round. however, when i got it, the leaves were round and on stems - i assumed this was just the emersed leaf form. the two photos you link to look like the same plant, but one in emersed form. photos i have seen of ozelot before always include a red tint to the new leaves, which my plant definitely does not have.

in another tank, we have what i was calling an ozelot. it's a pale green, with long leaves (again, they started out round and on stems) but they are mostly stright, not wavy like mine. the new leaves come out a very pale greenish pink, almost an off white, with very pale spotting, but this fades completely before the leaf is full grown. my plant holds the very dark spots until the leaves are very old, when they fade very slightly. surely these plants couldn't be the same thing?
 
The spots on the leopard, really are not red..they are black. from your description sounds like a green ozelot, and a regular ozelot...two cultivars of the same plant. These, ID's are academic, as what matters is that you have one awesome looking plant that is putting up cool flowers. ;-)
 
Whatever the plant is, that is AWESOME! How long have you waited for this to bloom. I have an orchid cactus that is almost 4 yrs old that has yet to bloom for me....oh, it's not an aquatic plant btw!

Congrats!!!
 
thanks guys, i am overjoyed at the flower :D my tank has been set up since october last year, and this was one of the first few plants to go in over the next month or so. this is what it looked like back then :

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