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Re: E.Quadricostatus and other chain swords
>From: KB Koh <KB_Koh at ccm_ipn.intel.com>
>Date: Thu, 16 Nov 95 12:30:00 PST
>Subject: How to shorten E.Quadricostatus
>>
>I've got tired of my tall growing E.Quadricostatus. They are about
>15-20cm tall, some taller than my E.Amazonicus. I need it to grow less
>than 10cm. I saw the same thing at the fish shop and their runners are
>less than 5cm tall. It must be the CO2 as the shop do not inject any
>CO2. Someone please advise me how make it grow shorter. Don't tell me to
>use E.Tennellus because the shop are not selling them over here. Thanks.
>
Are you sure that you have quadricostatus? In the table presented below are
some measurements of four chainswords which I have grown under different
condtions. I think the best indicator for quadricostatus is the width of the
leaves. I have not yet been able to grow quadicostatus as tall as yours, and
wonder if yours can be the tall variety of tenellus or something similar to
the one I call 'unidentified.' Unfortunately, I have not studied all
combinations of substrates, lighting intensity and use of CO2, so I hesitate
to comment on the effect of CO2 alone.
Table 4. Dimensional information of chain swords grown submersed in my
collection,
by various cultivation conditions (for a 'typical' plant).
Cultivation Conditions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
TANK No. -> 1 2 3
-------------------------------------
-------
|Tank size(liters) 300 120 280
|Lighting (watts) 160 20 80
|Substrate soil peat peat
|Use of CO2 Yes No No
Chain sword type
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
'pygmy' chain Leaf length (cm) 12 16 3.5-12
E. tenellus Leaf width (mm) 2 2.5 1-2
var. tenellus Number of leaves 27 16 12-32
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
'narrow leaf' chain Leaf length (cm) 15 11 9
E. tenellus Leaf width (mm) 3.5 3 4
var. parvulus Number of leaves 21 16 18
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
'wide leaf' chain Leaf length (cm) 11 - 2.8
E.quadricostatus Leaf width (mm) 10 - 6
Number of leaves 14 - 14
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
Unidentified chain Leaf length (cm) 27 - -
('long narrow form') Leaf width (mm) 4 - -
Number of leaves 23 - -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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