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Emersed versus submerged growth in aquarium plants


Why sword plants and other aquarium plants drop leaves

Emersed Growth
Emersed growth is a fact of life for many aquarium plants. Most aquarium plants are amphibious, or are adapted to grow both out of the water and in the water depending on the season. When the rainy season in the tropics occurs, plants that have been growing above the water level are usually submerged. When this happens a transformation occurs much the same as when you purchase a plant that has been growing emersed in the nursery at the wholesalers. When you purchase an Amazon Sword Plant that has been growing in the wholesale nursery, you take it home and put it in your aquarium and all of a sudden the leaves look terrible? It is simply the transformation process from emerse to submerged growth. Generally speaking, the leaves are thicker and bigger when emersed growth is the factor.

Submerged growth in aquarium plants
(1.) This is of course the state you want the aquarium plant to be in when you are setting up your aquarium. If you purchased aquarium plants in the emersed state, and it looks like it is dying it is really going through the transformation to submerged growth. Once new submerged leaves begin to form, and there are at least two or three leaves, you can begin to carefully remove the emersed growth leaves on that plant. It is a fact that emersed growth aquarium plants are generally stronger and have more reserves than the submerged plants, and so if you receive an emersed growth plant it just might be a blessing in disguise!

Conclusion
(1.) So now you understand that maybe instead of getting a bad aquarium plant you just received an emersed growth amazon sword plant that needs time to adjust to it's new underwater home! We maintain and grow as many submerged growth plants as we can however there are times when emersed growth plants are the only plants we are able to supply due to demand.
Don Matakis

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