Anacharis

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alia258

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Feb 20, 2012
Messages
1,319
I bought some new anacharis plants, and I have discovered that you can cut the ends of, put them in the substrate, and they'll grow roots! But they keep floating out of the gravel, and float across the surface. Is it safe to leave them floating until they grow roots?
 
alia258 said:
They are floating plants??? Seriously???!!

Pretty much any plant can be floating if you dont stick in the substrate. Some plants look better than others obviously. But I think anacharis is generally rooted. In the wild too. But you can leave it floating and see how it grows/looks.
 
I was just checking to see I it was safe to leave floating as a hiding spot for my to be here guppy fry ^^
 
Supposedly, it can be used as a floating plant, although I've never done it either. Can you wedge it somehow? I hate when you get everything all nice; turn around and notice a plant floating.
 
I know, I just gotta wait till they grow roots. Sigh
 
alia258 said:
I know, I just gotta wait till they grow roots. Sigh

Anacharis roots pretty quick, so before you know it you will be set. But it is annoying in how it always pops up out of the substrate.
 
I have a problem with some new plants. I bought two batches of anacharis plants, one was older and had a few darker brown stems, the other had 3 young plants with smaller leaves and 2 stems that don't have leaves yet. My issue is the darker ones. The stems vary from dark green to brownish green and the leaves are all brown or brown and only a few left on the plants. I put them in my tank yesterday, and just now I saw my guppies nibbling on the dead leaves. Do you think the plants can grow back? I put some root fertilizer in the tank yesterday (bought the anacharis yesterday too) in the good news of the other plants, a few have already grown leafy buds! Perhaps it's the fertalizer? I also have a few floating on the surface, and plan to put them back later. Can anyone help me with my problems? I'd post pics, but I can't right now because I met the quota. I'll post pics once I clear out my other pics!
 
Anacharis will never form a "root structure" like other plants. It will drop roots out of any given point on the stem that will then attach itself to the substrate as an anchor. Usually the plant doesn't like to be stuck in the substrate and the parts that get covered will rot pretty quickly.

It sounds like the brown parts are rotted pieces of the stem that can be pinched off (which might help promote new growth). What kind of fertilizer are you using? A number of people on this forum and others have said that Flourish will cause their Anacharis to melt so just a heads up.

IMO it can be an awesome plant and give a really cool look. I used it almost exclusively in my 10g.
 
Then how do I plant them? I was told by another thread that letting them float around isn't the best idea. And I don't want a layer of them on the top of my tank :/
 
what i did was loosely wtap a plant weight around the bottom of 3-4 stems them let it sit in the tank until the roots take hold. Once the roots take hold remove the weight :)
 
Can I use string and just bury the string in the gravel, and only tie one string per stem? I want it a little more loosely planted. And about how high off the gravel should I tie it?
 
Can I use string and just bury the string in the gravel, and only tie one string per stem? I want it a little more loosely planted. And about how high off the gravel should I tie it?

to where the bottom of the stem touches the substrate. string would probably work if you could rig it.
 
I think I can. If that doesn't work, can I let them float and grow roots, and then bury the roots? (just looking for a plan B)
 
Oh and what about the brownish plants? And I've heard that cutting off leavs near the bottom is a good idea, but won't my guppies eat any dead leaves?
 
you don't want to manually bury any part of it. Let it do it on its own, so worst case let them float and attach themselves.

You can probably pinch off the brown parts since it sounds like they are rotted/rotting. Pinching those parts off could possibly help stimulate new growth as well. Anacharis is a very fast growing plant that sucks a ton of nutrients from the water column so keep an eye on your other plants to make sure they won't form any sort of deficiency.

P.S. How is that ribbon plant working out?
 
Ribbon plant? You mean my melon/sword thing? (I don't know what species it is)
 
I'll keep the other two plants well fertalized then ^^
 
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