Echinodorus ‘Chocolate Marble’ is a striking and relatively new hybrid Amazon sword plant prized for its highly variegated, blotched leaf pattern. It features broad, emerald-green leaves splashed with rich chocolate-brown, burgundy, and deep green marbling. Young, newly emerging leaves often display a bright brownish-pink or dark red tone before maturing. It is a hardy, beginner-friendly plant that adds unique texture and warm contrast to midground or background aquarium zones.

Plant Overview:

• Care Level: Easy. Very forgiving and hardy for beginners.
• Placement: Midground to Background.
• Size: Typically grows around 30 to 45 cm tall, making it best for medium to large aquariums.
• Growth Rate: Slow to moderate.

Care & Tank Parameters:

• Lighting: Moderate to high. While it tolerates lower light, strong lighting significantly enhances the marble pattern and rich chocolate colour contrast.
• Water Temperature: 20°C to 28°C.
• Water pH: 6.0 to 7.5. It adapts well to both medium-soft and hard water.
• CO₂ Requirement: Not strictly required. However, CO₂ supplementation promotes faster, more vibrant growth.

Feeding & Substrate Requirements:

• Heavy Root Feeder: Like all sword plants, it absorbs most nutrients through its roots. It requires a nutrient-rich aquarium soil or regular supplementation with root tabs pushed deep into the substrate.
• Planting Depth: Do not bury the plant’s rhizome too deeply in the substrate, or it may rot.

Maintenance & Propagation:

• Trimming: Periodically prune older, yellowing, or decaying leaves at the base to clear space for new growth and prevent it from shading smaller companion plants.
• Propagation: Very straightforward. It reproduces by growing adventitious plantlets on running stems or via rhizome division, which can simply be separated and replanted.