Can I prune down this aquarium plant? How?

Question

I don't know what kind of plant it is, so here's a pic of it: http://i13.tinypic.com/2q09ftz.jpg

I bought this thing already grown from the same place I got the fish. It was a normal size when I got it ... It's only been a month and a half and now it's twice it's original size! It's so tall it's now growing across the top of my aquarium.

Can I prune it down? How? And how long after I prune it will the leaves grow back?

Answer 1

That looks like a sword plant. Probably an amazon sword.

There isn't much you can do to prune those. You can try cutting the longer stems/leaves at the base. This will train the plant to grow out instead of up. Depending on your light/nutrient levels you should see new stems shooting up within a few days.

If that is a small tank (10 gallons or less) the plant is going to grow too large no matter what. There are other plants that you can get that don't get too big for a small tank and are little to no maintenance either. I'm a regular at aquariumadvice.com, and they have an excellent planted forum. I'd recommend poking around there if you're really interested in planted tanks.

Answer 2

No. I have the same plant and it's overgrown in my aquarium. This can't be pruned since it grows in a rosette. I believe that it's call an Amazon sword plant. The only thing that you can do is tilt it so that it doesn't appear too tall.