Re: Care of Anubias

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Care of Anubias
From: krombhol at felix_TECLink.Net (Paul Krombholz)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 12:55:13 -0500

>From: STEVEN R AMOR <n1036416 at student_fit.qut.edu.au>
>Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 12:41:04 +1000 (EST)

>        Yesterday my fairly smallish Anubias opened up it's new leaf.
>Unfortunately, this leaf is a lot smaller than all the other, and has
>holes in it thatt look like snails have gotten to it.  However, none of
>my other plants have these holes, and it's only this leaf!
>I also noticed that it ttook a lot longer to grow and open than in the past.
>
>I starting to think that my tank is slowing down. It's almost 12 months
>old, and back then I did not know what Laterite was! I liquid fertilize, but
>do not yet have a CO2 unit.  Is my little holed leaf because of lack of
>soil nutrients, or is it something else?

My experience with Anubias nana is that it can grow floating about as well
as rooted.  It has small roots that cling to stones like ivy rootlets and
the roots have very small air passages in them, so I would not expect them
to do well in anaerobic mud in contrast to most other aquatic plants which
have much larger air passages in their roots.  I grow Anubias in gravel
with only a small amount of mud, less than 1/4 inch, at the bottom.
Anubias appears to extract iron very will from the water.  For me, it is
like a plastic plant that slowly grows.  It seems almost indestructible.
It grows even slower than crypts, but it does very much benefit from CO2
additions and good light, although it will tolerate  dim light.  I have
never seen any snail damage to anubias with ramshorns and pond snails.  I
can't imagine what is making the holes in your plant.

Paul Krombholz