Bob Alston wrote:

My large amazon sword, which takes up about 1/2 my 55 gal tank has put
up what appears to be a flower staulk. snip

Any suggestions for ensuring I get new sword plants? I think I had
heard once about gently bending the shoot under water. But this shoot
is very solid & rigit. It would appear to break if I tried to bend it
much at all.

I have done it two ways-bending down the stalk to bury it in the
substrate, and just waiting for the roots of the plantlets to grow on
their own on the stalk. Although you get more roots faster by bending down
the stalk, this usually doesn't work in my tank. The stalks can grow 40"
(1 meter) or longer, perhaps due to the depth of my tank (24 inches/60cm).
So I just leave the stalk alone and cut off the plants when they get 5 or
more leaves plus roots.