Anubias nana on steroids, Updated

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fish_4_all

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
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Aberdeen, WA
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I know they are supposed to be slow growing but this one must be hyped out on something. The pictures shows them fairly well. The new white roots come from one new rhizome split. There is one right behind that one and another one near the right end. Possibly 2 more starting in the same area.

I am really thinking about burying the entire ceramic piece it is connected to so the roots can really get going and maybe I will see even better growth.

I hope this is normal for this little lady because I really want it to get huge; in a good way. :wink:

A little off topic, but I really love photobucket! So much easier than uploading to the site and saves a lot of space for the forum.

www.photobucket.com
 
I'll confirm this when I get home, but I'm pretty sure Anubias nana doesn't get much in the way of nutrients through the roots. It uses its roots mainly for anchoring and nutrient storage. My nana has actually grown much much better attached to driftwood than it did when I had the roots in the substrate.

Also, this is one of those "slow growers" that picks up pretty well if you give it extra light.
 
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Just had to update the growth of this beauty. I know it is slow but I think it one of the best plants I have and I hope it eventually gets big enough to cover half the tank. The roots are imbedded deep in the substrate and is not able to be removed with a light pull. Since the roots took hold it has put out 3 new rhizome splits so I am leaving it where it is and the roots are going to stay.

Not bad growth for 43 days for a plant that is supposed to put out 2-3 leaves a month.
 
I have an anubias (I don't believe it is the nana version) and have seen tremendous growth as well. Not in speed of growth but the size of the rhizome and strength of the leaves are incredible. Interesting thing happened. The rhizome which was about 6" long or so and as thick as a fat marker sent off a smaller rhizome. This smaller rhizome was slightly hidden by some plants and the leaves it shot out only got to approximately nana size (maybe 1"-1.5" wide or so). I cut this separate rhizome off and now have a pseudo nana plant in the other corner of my tank.

The main plant just created a GIGANTIC new leaf (I assume a testiment to my better CO2 and fert schedule). It has got to be 3.5"-4" in diameter with a stem that is probably 4" long as well. It's so large and sits so high in the tank that it blocks the light on 1/2 of a java fern!!!

I agree that this plant is awesome, I've had it through BBA/staghorn battles, and its been treated with hydrogen peroxide and is still going strong (I've never removed a leaf yet)!

Oh, and I prefer photolocker.net for my images as I find it the easiest to quickly upload a pic and have it ready for viewing.

Here's the pic. On the left middle portion of the tank is the large anubias plant, and on the far right side at the front is the little rhizome I propogated off the main plant.

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I don't have any experience with Anubias, but I have a narrow-leaf Java fern that I got in a plant grab bag....stuck it in my high-light 55, thought I'd see what it would do in 4 wpg.... The leaves are shorter but it is growing like MAD. I think there is a difference between plants that will still grow in low light, but also like high light, and plants that only like low light. Apparently Anubias and Java fern are of the former variety!
 
newfound77951 said:
I don't have any experience with Anubias, but I have a narrow-leaf Java fern that I got in a plant grab bag....stuck it in my high-light 55, thought I'd see what it would do in 4 wpg.... The leaves are shorter but it is growing like MAD. I think there is a difference between plants that will still grow in low light, but also like high light, and plants that only like low light. Apparently Anubias and Java fern are of the former variety!

What plants only like low light? I was under the impression that all plants are like your first example (some are more light tolerant than others, but all will benefit from higher light). Not burn your leaves high light, but higher light than they require to not die...
 
I guess it depends on what your definition of high light really is... One plant that I have reaches 1/2 way up the tank and then grows sideways - it has enough light to think it's at the surface and starts growing across the "surface". So that particular plant might have a lower threshold for "too much" light than another plant that will grow closer to the light before turning.

I guess I had always heard that Anubias and Java fern were "low light" plants, and somehow thought that they didn't like higher light.....you know what happens when you assume.....
 
I couln't find photolocker because I was using .com instead of .net. Oh well, there should be a sticky somehwere talking about uploading photos and these really cool sites. And even the deluxe versions are very inexpensive.

As for the anubias, I wish you knew what species. I would really like to see person experience with growth and size instead of the guesses on the fish sites. I don't know of any plant that would ONLY grow under low light but it would be interesting to find one.
 
newfound77951,

I can speak about anubias and java fern directly. These were the 2 species of plants I started off with in my 20gallon with stock NO 17w light. They both grew fine but very slowly with no fert dosing or CO2. I had a fully stocked tank so they were getting ample nutrients.

I then got a Coralife 65w CF light and the growth just exploded on both. I'll see if I can find an old picture or 2 of before and after the light change. I did start dosing ferts when I added the higher light, but didn't add CO2 at the start (big mistake :) ).

With old tank lighting (anubias in center, java fern on left and right sides):

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After lighting and ferts (and a month or two :) ):

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Nice Jungle, Where did all the fish go! lol

Nice pictures and I had the same happen with my java fern, until I managed to kill it. somehow.

I thought about removing my Nana yesterday and tugged on it, the substrate moved out almost 6 inches from the rhizome. I think it is either there to stay or when I do pull it out I will have to trim a lot of roots. Mioght be the perfect time to seperate rhizome splits but I don't want to chance killing it.
 
I've heard that as little as 1/2" of intact rhizome is enough to create new plants. Personally I wouldn't do less than 2" but the one that I propagated off of the main plant is only about 1" (I just looked). Since cutting it off the main portion it has sprouted 2 new leaves in about 2 weeks. Both are about the same size as the others (nana size almost), while the main plant has shot up another very large leaf that is currently in the process of unfolding (probably 3.5" across)!
 
It makes sense that the mother plant would produce some really big leaves without the drain from the sisters. I can't decide if I am going to remove the offshoot rhizomes or leave them and let the plant become a huge one. The rhizomes are too small from what you have said, maybe 1/2 inch long but the leaves coming off of them is amazing, more than the mother plant. Thinking about that it could also be a major drain on the mother plant and I would wind up with sisters anyway when the mther either starts to die off or she throws them out. lol

Oh how I love the infinite decisions to make when it comes to a favorite plant.
 
fish_4_all said:
It makes sense that the mother plant would produce some really big leaves without the drain from the sisters. I can't decide if I am going to remove the offshoot rhizomes or leave them and let the plant become a huge one. The rhizomes are too small from what you have said, maybe 1/2 inch long but the leaves coming off of them is amazing, more than the mother plant. Thinking about that it could also be a major drain on the mother plant and I would wind up with sisters anyway when the mther either starts to die off or she throws them out. lol

Oh how I love the infinite decisions to make when it comes to a favorite plant.

The leaf size of the "mother" plant has not changed IMO due to the propogation of the sister plant. I think its just that I finally got my CO2 and other ferts up to snuff that is causing the larger growth. This is based on the 2-3 leaves I got prior to clipping off the sister plant. They were much larger than the previous leaves as well. It is intesting that my sister plant is still throwing out nana sized leaves. The rhizome looks like a porcupine, basically just a tiny stump with 5-8 leaves coming off of it!

And I don't know how anyone could not love this plant, its a tank, looks nice, doesn't grow quickly, gives a wonderful resting spot for my Oto's and even my BN pleco, and seems to have enough sugar and nutrients stored in the rhizome that I could probably put it in distilled water for a month in the dark and it would be fine.
 
If I would have known that this plant actually grows this fast, I would have had a tankfull of it before moving to higher light and CO2. Then agan I wuoldn't have gotten this kind of growth without it. So easy to care for and to remove algae without killing the plant, no leaf shedding, very hardy and puts up with even the roughest treatment from my 5" BN without batting a leaf. What could be better in a plant?

There are also so many species that you can find one that will be the centerpiece for any tank.
 
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