Anacharis Question?

[Eleven13]

Hey everyone,

I have Anacharis in my 10 gallon tank, which right now is stocked with 3 zebra danios and other plants (java fern, amazon sword, anubias, hygophilia, micro swords). Everything seems to be growing great (I hope ), I have a 15 watt 6500K fluorescent light, and my water temperature is about 76F.

However, I'm confused about the Anacharis. Right now, the base stems I planted first in my "design" are brownish, but they are growing beautiful bright green "branches" that are getting taller every day. The anacharis that I had left over I used to fill space doesn't look as great, but it is still branching albeit slower and not quite as bright. Here are some pictures:

The ones I planed first, that look the best out of all of them. You can see the bright green tall stems here, with the brown bases.

Here is one of the "space filler" ones that are mostly brown (in the corner)

The other bunch of space fillers are in the back behind the driftwood. These may be brownish because they are directly under my filter which I didn't realize at first, which may be blocking light?

So, will the base stems ever get green like the tops? Or will I eventually have to cut the bright green ones off and replant them if I want a fully green "bush" type of look? And do you think the "space fillers" will actually grow nicely, or should I remove/relocate them?

Thank you for your help, sorry for the long post!

 

[kylealastairlove]

i had some anacharis too and the same thing happened to me, the top half kept on growing lovely and green but the bottom went brown, if you cut off the not so healthy looking bottom parts and replant the healthy parts they should continue to grow no problem

 

[Eleven13]

Oh okay great! Thank you for the advice, so do you think I should just let them grow for the moment until they get longer and then cut them, or would doing it anytime be fine?

 

[FishFanatic04]

The parts that are bad can produce ammonia. I had a hard time with my nitrite tests when my anacharis was rotting away. I was hoping yours would do better, since you weren't dosing Excel.

If it helps...I did cut off the bottoms of 3 pieces are put them in a different spot and they are doing ok so far.

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks FishFanatic, I tested my tank a few days ago and my ammonia and nitrite levels were 0ppm, and I had a slight nitrate reading. I'll test again today and if things are creeping back up I'll be quick in getting the dying parts out.

So I'm literally just going to take the whole plant out of the water, cut the green parts from the base where they connect to the brown, pull off 2-3ish nodes of leaves and then just replant them like I did when I first received them?

 

[FishFanatic04]

Use something sharp and your good to go.

 

[Eleven13]

Alright great, thank you for your help