Horemanii sword

Care at a glance

Overview

A classic collector sword and a genuinely demanding one, so treat it as a background centerpiece for a mature, stable tank. It wants cool, soft, slightly acidic water, strong light, a deeply fertilized substrate, and CO2 to color up the red form and keep growth from stalling. Growth is slow, it dislikes warm water, and melt during acclimation is common, so give tissue-cultured or converted plants time before judging them.

In the wild

Native to the southeast of South America, across southern Brazil, Uruguay, northeastern Argentina, and Paraguay. In the wild it grows submersed in relatively cool, fast-flowing, acidic rivers and rivulets, often forming large stands and knitting the riverbed together with a network of rhizomes.

Good to know

The name Echinodorus horemanii Rataj is treated as a synonym of Echinodorus uruguayensis (family Alismataceae), which in a 2018 reclassification is placed under the accepted name Aquarius uruguayensis. E. uruguayensis is an extremely variable species, and much of what the hobby sells as horemanii, veronikae, or africanus are simply forms of it. It comes in green and red-leaved forms with long, narrow, slightly wavy leaves.

Did you know

Did you know horemanii is one of the few aquarium swords that actually prefers cooler, current-swept water? It comes from brisk subtropical rivers rather than warm tropical swamps, which is why it sulks in a hot, still tank.

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