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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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