Ozelot Sword is a colorful, bold plant with short stems and large ovoid leaves showing hardy veins and dark spotting — perfect for mid- or background accents. Colors range from red, pink, and gold to green, depending on the variant. It's a hybrid of E. schlueteri 'Leopard' and E. barthii. Skill Level Easy CO2 Not Required Requires Aqua Soil Not required, but recommended — heavy root feeder Type Rooted Max Height 8-18" Placement Midground to background Light Level Moderate (approx. 30-60 PAR) Origin Hybrid cultivar Other Moderate light keeps it sprouting new leaves weekly, but it tolerates a range of lighting conditions. Care & Planting: Remove from the pot and root wool before planting into a nutrient-rich substrate. Propagates via side shoots off the leaves — remove and replant, or discard to control spread. A note on "melting": Like most Amazon Swords and Cryptocoryne species, this plant is farm-grown emersed (above water). When you first submerge it, don't be alarmed if the original leaves die back over the first few weeks — this is called melting, and it's a normal part of the transition, not a sign the plant is failing. Emersed leaves are built for air and only have stomata on their underside; once submerged, the plant sheds them in favor of new underwater leaves with stomata on both sides, better suited to absorbing CO2 from the water. New submersed growth typically appears within a few weeks.
