Banana Plant Reaching Out of Water

[DeirdreHoyle]

I have two banana plants in my 6 gal betta tank. They aren't buried in the substrate because they are held in place by some decor and they never move, they seem to be flourishing. Anyway, the other day I noticed one of the plants had a stem protruding out of the water with no lily pad on it. I just pushed the root ball down so the stem was under water again, but the next day it had grown more and was out of the water again! It sticks to the side of the tank and is about an inch out of water now...I will post a pic soon. Does anyone know why?

 

[Fishfur]

It may be a flower spike, or it may be a much longer leaf stem. You can clip it off in any case, no harm done. And never bury the green 'bananas' as they rot fast when buried. They send out roots that will hold them in substrate or on decor, as you have seen.

They can grow quite long stems, tall enough to stick out of a much larger tank than yours.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

It may be a flower spike, or it may be a much longer leaf stem. You can clip it off in any case, no harm done. And never bury the green 'bananas' as they rot fast when buried. They send out roots that will hold them in substrate or on decor, as you have seen.

They can grow quite long stems, tall enough to stick out of a much larger tank than yours.

I don't know what a flower spike is but it seems to be kind of holding the plants onto the side of the tank, fine with me! I recently started using a new fertilizer so maybe that sparked some growth.
About my roots, the "banana" parts are pretty far off the bottom and none of the long roots are buried. They're pretty long and stay suspended in the water. I haven't seen others like that but they seem like very happy plants!

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

There are some pictures, sorry they're sideways. I'm on my phone at the doctor's office so no way to flip them lol

 

[Fishfur]

A flower spike is simply a way of saying the plant is going to flower. If you've ever seen an moth orchid in flower, that's a flower spike as well, and there are several underwater plants that send up a long stem, which eventually flowers at the top, most often out of the water, rather than under the water.

If you wish, you can bury those long roots, leaving the bananas unburied, but if they're happy as they are, it's not essential to do that. But if you'd prefer the leaves remain in the water, or float on the water, then burying the roots in substrate will keep the plant lower in the tank. You can bury it right to the tip of the banana parts, so long as they remain above the substrate you're good.

 

[cfosgate]

It looks like the plant wants to reach some dry air. That's okay for it and it will thrive as long as you are okay with it growing outside the tank.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Oh wow I didn't know banana plants flowered that would be awesome. You can't tell from the pictures but the spike is darker at the tip, kind of looks like it wants to grow something. I'll keep you updated on what happens. I did a water change last night and the spike didn't move at all, it's really stuck on the wall! I dont mind it growing out of the tank, I like it.