Anubias barteri nana

[Aqua sobriquet]

I just popped in to Pets at Home and they had a Tropica one of these in there and it was only £4 and looked so good it got mixed up with the cat food by the time I got to the checkout!

It was an impulse buy though so what do I do with it. I seem to remember you can fix them to bogwood?
Any help much appreciated, I know I should have read up on it first but as I say it was an impulse buy and Pets at Home only stock the “Easy” Tropica plants so it should be fairly safe to buy anything in there?!

 

[Simon Cole]

You can simply tie them to the bogwood using anything you have to hand (string, fishing line, cable ties, rubber band etc.) and they should root on within a couple of weeks. It's quite fun with anubias to grow several strains together. I have the standard Bartari and the Nana on one bit of wood, but my favourite was the Anubias Augustifolia Longifolia. I also have some of the Anubias Bonsai which I must say looks stunning. At this time of year you can put any spare bits in flower pots and grow them emersed if you can keep enough moisture in the air and avoid direct sunlight. They also like to live with their roots in the water, growing out of the tank.
Pets at Home actually had some bucephalandra Tropica Red for £4 last year and I got enough in one pot to make 5 large plants that now need to be divided.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

Thanks for that Simon.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

This is the plant, I’m really liking Tropica stuff.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

Update: when I took the plant out of the packet it was so big that it almost naturally separated into two distinct plants. Both bits seem to be doing really well at the moment and have produced new leaves. I’ve had to sweep some brown algae off of a couple of leaves but apart from that I’ve only had one other problem. Two leaves have disintegrated a little at the edges leaves a feint “skeleton” for a short time. Both leaves now seem to have stabilised and not got any worse. I’m just wondering what caused this?

 

[Simon Cole]

That is quite common and is usually caused when they are put in water for the first time, or if they dry out a little bit. Normally the leaves look a bit odd but the plant will continue to use them for photosynthesis, so it's all good

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

Thanks for that Simon

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

The plant I bought is doing very well along with another Anubias I got a little later - the Bonsai version. In fact they seem to be the perfect aquarium plant in my setup at the moment so I’ve just bought another three different types to try!