Anubias barteri Nana, best way to plant it

[fish_4_all]

I just got one and it is still in planter from the LFS. What is the best way to plant it:
One a piece of driftwood?
In the gravel with a root tab or similar under it?
Do I need to leave the root thing above the gravel?
Should I leave it in the planter with the rockwool?

Please tell me your best experiences with it and the best way to get it to grow the fastest.
10 gallon tank
Light 30+ watts NO
Dose NO3 and PO4 to 20:1.5
K to 20ppm
CSM+B with Mg added to .2ppm iron

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

I bury the roots but not the rhizome in the gravel. In time the roots grab on to the gravel and you are done. That said, I really like the look of anubias on driftwood. Also, if you have fish that like to uproot plants, you will want to tie it to some driftwood or a rock/decoration. No root tabs needed.

 

[fish_4_all]

Can anyone tell me the rate of growth for a healthy plant? How many leaves in a month? Anything about it's growth would be helpful. How durable is it?

 

[Purrbox]

Anubias are one of the most durable plants out there. They are however pretty slow growers. As a result they leaves have a tendancy to attract algae if you are having any sort of problems with algae in the tank. In prime growing conditions you'll be lucky to see 1-2 new leaves each week from each growth direction. More normal growth would the same amount of leaves in a month.

 

[HiFi]

Grows really slow.
My leaves grew to 9 from 5 in about 4 months In a low light setup

 

[fish_4_all]

1-2 leaves a month in all directions. I can live with that. Sounds like the hardy plant i need to stabilize the tank until I can get some really fast growers.

Mine has 1 central "stem" that everything is growing out of. Is it best to leave it like that or eventually divide it into smaller one later? What I would really like to see is for the Nana to wind up being kind of a support plant for the HC once I get it to start growing. Nana in the front of the tank with HC growing everywhere the light gets through. Just seems like a possibly really good hiding combination for fry.

One other thing, I know it isn't going to be a big issue with as slow as it grows but can you kind of "sculp" where the rhizome goes to aquascape with it?

I wish someone would do a plant profile on this stuff. If I knew more about my plants i would do them but I still really don't have a clue and only doing what I am told.

 

[HiFi]

I would always keep at least 3-4 inches of rhizome 'Stem'
Tie it to wood. rock or on the substrate.
You can cut a smill slit in a healthy part of the rhizome. a new rhizome will grow out.
Dont cut more than one slit at a time.

 

[fish_4_all]

Here is a picture of my newest addition. I hope I did this right. Some roots on both sides of the driftwood. Now I just let the roots grow and it should be fine, right?

 

[plecoperson]

Delicious plant profiles here:

http://www.plantgeek.net/

 

[Peyton]

Thats looks like that will work well planted like that. I've always loved that plant. I have one in my plant tank that is about 3 years old. As someone has already said their leaves seem to attract algae so take that into account. Expect 2-6 new leaves a month.

 

[mr funktastic]

i just got one aswell have been looking for it for a while. i planted mine in the substrate though. left the green stem part above the soil then burried the roots. they are amazing little plants and i cant wait to see the growth from mine.

 

[JRagg]

I got one a little while ago and I'm just now seeing it start to grow. The rhizome on mine was only about an inch long when I got it, and now I've got two new leaves coming out. Really neat looking plant, I can't wait for it to get bigger so I can split it and have more than one (I paid too much for it at the pet store and I'd rather not spend that much again).

 

[mr funktastic]

how much is 2 much? i dropped 10 bucks on mine but the rhizome was almost 2 inches and it is a tropica plant. it has like 10 or more leaves on it already.

 

[fish_4_all]

I paid $8 or so for mine. 3 inch rhizome and 9 leaves and potted. It wasn't grown there but was placed there afterwards. It had been sitting at my lfs for a while and grew a little into the rockwool. Is very healthy and very green. $10 is a little higher than I would have paid but well worth it for a healthy plant, especially as slow as they are supposed to grow.

 

[mr funktastic]

well i paid for the name. like i said it was a tropica plant. it was also potted in rockwool and i bought it from big als so it was in a waterfall set up plant system with metal halide light and co2 injection. the plant is in impecable conddition and i just went and looked at it and it is larger than i thought. it actually has about 15 to 20 leaves on it. here it is.

 

[JRagg]

I paid $10.99 (USD) for a 1 inch rhizome with about 5 leaves. I'm just excited to see it growing, that would have been a fairly expensive loss.

The place where I'm forced to buy most of my stuff is very expensive.

 

[joannde]

Hm, I got mine off of eBay for (don't faint) $3.75, unpotted. They had a 1 - 2" rhizome and 6 leaves each. Two of them had flower buds. Great seller. If anyone wants the name PM me.

 

[fish_4_all]

I keep seeing deals on Ebay and keep thinking about trying them but shipping to my home town is a crap shoot at best. It always takes and extra day or 3 for anything that comes from out of state. In state, 1-2 days regular mail, out of state, I don't think most shipping companies even know Aberdeen exists.

Anyway, nice plant. We should keep it up to date on how many leaves we get every month to get a profile for this popular plant.

 

[JRagg]

I'm actually probably going to get most of my plants online from now on. eBay or Aquabid. If you find someone shipping from the US that will ship priority mail you can usually get a pretty good deal. Definitely better than where I normally get plants. Crypts are cheap, exotics are... well not so cheap.

fish_4_all, You'd be surprised what delivery guys can find. I worked for FedEx Ground one summer and helped deliver packages occaisionally. I'm absolutely amazed we even found some of the stops that we went to. People who didn't have mailboxes (only P.O. Boxes) and we would drive 45 minutes out of the way to deliver one package.

But I digress... nana's... go!