"Michi Henning" wrote in message
...
"Dave Millman" wrote in message
...
Marvin Hlavac wrote:

Swords are slow growers and I think I would not plant
them extra 2 or 3 inches apart in anticipation of future growth.

I recently put some swords into my 360L (90g) aquarium and I put them a
little
to far apart. I will be replanting them in a few days. Or I could just
wait
months or years for it to start looking dense ;-)

Marvin,

I have two plants sold to me as Amazon swords. Although I have removed 77
leaves
from the pair (yes, I counted exactly) in the past three months, together
they cover
20 inches along the back of my tank to a height of 19-20 inches above the
gravel.
They started out as standard potted plants, each with just a half-dozen
rounded,
emersed-type leaves, about 9 months ago.

So I think your advice about swords may be a bit conservative. His species
aren't
clear, but most swords are medium or fast growers.

I would agree. I planted three Echinodorus Ozelot six weeks ago. They were
about
5" tall at the time, and maybe 6" in diameter. Now, the leaves are over 20"
long,
about 5" wide, and the three plants (which I planted in a group about 5" apart
from
each other) fill a volume that is around 15" in diameter and 20" tall. One of
the
plants has grown a spike out of the (open top) tank. The spike is about 40 in
long
above the water line, with five nodes; each of the nodes is growing leaves and
puts
out one or two flowers every morning (white, with yellow stamen, three leaves
each).
The flowers wilt by the evening (presumably because of the heat coming from
the
overhead metal halides).

At any rate, I wouldn't call that a slow-growing plant by any stretch of the
imagination...

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
Triodia Technologies http://www.triodia.com/staff/michi



Hi Dave and Michi,

What would you then suggest to Matt, the original poster. How far apart should
he put the new plants when they arrive? He wants his tanks to look full along
the back and sides, but doesn't know how far apart he should plant them.

What I'm doing now in my tank is I'm planting my swords close to each other
along the back wall of my 360L (90g) so it looks *full*. A few weeks (months)
later I may need to move them around a bit.

--
Marvin
hlavac (at) rogers (dot) com