Bolivian Chain Sword

Helanthium bolivianum

A small light-green rosette that spreads by runners into a low lawn. It is a sword plant scaled down: the easy temper of the big ones with none of the size.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 10 – 15 cm (3.9 – 5.9 in)
Temperature: 10 – 30 °C (50 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: rosette
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground, nano tank +3 midground, nano tank, foreground, carpet, background
Propagation: runners
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow light-green leaves 10–15 cm long form rosettes about a hand's width across. The pale colour stands out against darker plants, and very pale leaves mean it wants fertiliser.

Keeping

Undemanding: dim light and no carbon dioxide are enough. It feeds mostly through the roots, so a nutritious substrate matters. Growth is fast, and in good conditions it covers the floor within a couple of months.

Placement

The front and middle of the tank in groups, or the whole bottom of a nano tank. In a big aquarium a strip of it makes a soft transition from carpet to taller plants.

Propagation

By runners: young rosettes appear along a creeping shoot. Cut the shoot when a youngster has its own roots, or let the group thicken.

Water conditions match

The water suits 841 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Helanthium bolivianum 'Angustifolius'

Helanthium bolivianum 'latifolius'

Helanthium bolivianum 'Vesuvius'

Other varieties: Echinodorus angustifolius, Echinodorus latifolius, Echinodorus quadricostatus, Helanthium bolivianum 'quadricostatus', Helanthium bolivianum 'quadricostatus var. xinguensis', Echinodorus Magdalenensis, Echinodorus Xinguensis, Echinodorus 'Vesuvius', Echinodorus bolivianus 'Vesuvius'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Alisma bolivianum Rusby, Echinodorus bolivianus (Rusby) Holm-Niels., Echinodorus angustifolius Rataj, Echinodorus latifolius (Seub.) Rataj, Echinodorus magdalenensis, Echinodorus quadricostatus var. xinguensis, Echinodorus sp. tortifolia, Alisma bolivianum, Alisma tenellum latifolium, Echinodorus angustifolius, Echinodorus australis, Echinodorus austroamericanus, Echinodorus bolivianus, Echinodorus isthmicus, Echinodorus latifolius, Echinodorus quadricostatus, Echinodorus quadricostatus magdalenensis, Echinodorus quadricostatus xinguensis, Echinodorus tenellus apanecae, Echinodorus tenellus latifolius, Echinodorus xinguensis
Helanthium bolivianum: (Rusby) Lehtonen & Myllys
Family: Alismataceae

Bolivian Chain Sword

Tank conditions

Care and keeping