The Bananas Fell Off My Banana Plant!

[DeirdreHoyle]

I have had 2 banana plants in my 6 gal betta tank for about a year. There is no light except the natural sunlight in my apartment and I add Flourish comprehensive every week w/water changes.

I was changing the water today and the bananas (the root ball) had fallen off one of the plants. I'll try to attach a picture to show what happened. Is it possible to regrow this or is the plant done for good?

 

[Autumnsky]

Yeah that has happened to every one of my Banana plants which are in low light. My roots would be like a foot long, no bananas, they would rot off, yuk!

I gave up, though that really is one of my favorite, fun plants! They will make a flower too.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Yeah that has happened to every one of my Banana plants which are in low light. My roots would be like a foot long, no bananas, they would rot off, yuk!

I gave up, though that really is one of my favorite, fun plants! They will make a flower too.

Did your plants live for very long after the root fell off? I love these guys!

 

[Autumnsky]

Yes, for a couple years. I think the thing to do is make sure it has some root tabs where the roots grow, because as I said I had roots very long over a foot, one looked like it might have been 18". I changed up my tank and gave it away.

The part I didn't like was how it was rotting, so every month when cleaning up the dead leaves in the tank I pulled off a rotting banana or 2. I haven't have a tank with one for a while now. They do like the light that might also be key for getting them to thrive, all my tanks have been pretty low light.

Do you still have any roots on your plant? They are very in expensive and Bettas absolutely love resting int their leaves.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Yes, for a couple years. I think the thing to do is make sure it has some root tabs where the roots grow, because as I said I had roots very long over a foot, one looked like it might have been 18". I changed up my tank and gave it away.

The part I didn't like was how it was rotting, so every month when cleaning up the dead leaves in the tank I pulled off a rotting banana or 2. I haven't have a tank with one for a while now. They do like the light that might also be key for getting them to thrive, all my tanks have been pretty low light.

Do you still have any roots on your plant? They are very in expensive and Bettas absolutely love resting int their leaves.

Yeah one of my plants still has bananas. The whole root ball fell off when I changed the water on Sunday, not one at a time. My betta loves sitting on the leaves! I will pick up some root tabs next time I'm at the fish store

 

[wildroseofky]

It is common for the bananas to fall off. The plant will still grow. Just put the long roots into the substrate. You can sometimes start a new plant by cutting a leaf off close to the base. Let the leaf float and it will form roots. These new plants will sometimes grow bananas but not always. My Beta loves his banana plant too. He also has a small amazon sword plant floating in his tank that he sleeps on.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

It is common for the bananas to fall off. The plant will still grow. Just put the long roots into the substrate. You can sometimes start a new plant by cutting a leaf off close to the base. Let the leaf float and it will form roots. These new plants will sometimes grow bananas but not always. My Beta loves his banana plant too. He also has a small amazon sword plant floating in his tank that he sleeps on.

I will definitely try cutting off a leaf and replanting...I also didn't know amazon swords could float, I thought they have to be planted in the substrate? Do you have a light on your tank? I love swords!

 

[wildroseofky]

Well, normally you plant them but I took it out of another tank and threw it in the Beta tank until I could decide what I wanted to do with it. The Beta liked it so much I just left it for now. I have had swords in a jar, just floating, before and they made little swords. They are very hard to kill. I have two 20 watt CFL bulbs on the Beta tank.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Well, normally you plant them but I took it out of another tank and threw it in the Beta tank until I could decide what I wanted to do with it. The Beta liked it so much I just left it for now. I have had swords in a jar, just floating, before and they made little swords. They are very hard to kill. I have two 20 watt CFL bulbs on the Beta tank.

Wow that's cool. I'm debating whether I should get lights for my betta tank but I would still want low light because I don't want to scare him with the bright lights. How big is your betta tank?

 

[wildroseofky]

My Beta tank is a 10 gallon. I have high light on it and it doesn't bother him. My first Beta was afraid of everything. He hid every times something moved in the room. This Beta, I haven't named him yet, isn't afraid of anything. He meets me at the front of his tank every time I walk over to it. He even follows my hand around when I do tank maintenance. Here is a photo. I recently changed out some plants and it is still growing in.
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a530/Cyndie47/newBeta_zpsc39d53a1.jpg