You can put it in the substrate of the tank and let it grow out of the water. Most Echinodorus get rather big growing emersed, ive seen Discus tanks about 50 cm height with Echinodorus growing like this extending the same height above the tank. I have one growing like this in 60x30x30 tank and is about 60 cm in hieght.
You could grow it on from the lfs in a pot till it is high enough so it has some leaves sticking out the water. And plant it in the tanks substrate, it will keep growing emersed form leaves.
Or plant a little one from the lfs submersed, at first it will transition to submersed and grow on, once leaves start reaching the surface do not trim them off. It firt begings with popping some submersed leaves out of the water, these will dry out very quickly, within a day. Still do not yet cut them off, just let them be, It seems the Echinodorus senses this, that it has reached the surface and it will immediately start to grow emersed leaves from the substrate. You just have to wait for these leaves to show. These leaves you will recognize by having a totaly different shape, a smaller egg shaped leaf on a longer stem. But firts it just looks like a stem with a very small narrow leaf sticking out. Once this leaf is emersed it become more egg shaped. Once the plant has growen 1 emersed leaf it will completely stop making submersed leaves.
🙂 And it grows surpricingly fast.
Example, complete plant.. This one also started out as a completely submersed version.
Few days old young leaf unfolding, it stays folded on a long stem and is much narrower as long as it's submersed. Young shoots of this sp. are red in color. But become green while maturing..
This size of a plant on a piece of wood, probably wont work because of a rootsystem which likely is as big as the plant itself.
And this is yet not the biggest Echinodurus.
Ah found it back, the discus tank..
🙂
