Anubias Nana (dwarf Anubias)

[fry_lover]

Hi

I have about 8-10 of these in my 300 litre community tank. Had them for between 6-12 months and they are great, grown a fair bit and look very healthy. I've always left them in the plastic containers they come in (there is gaps for the roots to come out the containers).

Question

I am re-scaping the tank and was wondering if i should take them out the containers? I've always read that you should take plants out of the LFS pots/containers they come in, or does this just depend what plant it is?

I am pretty sure Anubia's Nana does not need to be rooted though? Is this true?

I am 50/50 as its handy having them in pots as i can move them to clean the substrate (which is sand by the way), but then again, i am not too keen on seeing the plastic containers in my set-up, i try to cover them up but you can still see some of them.

Any tips and advice welcome, thanks

 

[fozziebear]

anubias are best attached to driftwood, you shouldnt cover the rhizome of the plant in substrate it should be in the water column, but yeah it would look much nicer if you attached them to driftwood or rocks.

 

[fry_lover]

thanks, good idea, i have loads of driftwood in that tank actually

whats a rhizome? from a brief Google it appears to be the main body of the plant and not the roots? How could a rhizome be in the substrate? Or does the rhizome start at the roots? Excuse my ignorance on that matter.

 

[fozziebear]

basically the rhizome is like a tuber, the roots and leaves grow from the rhizome, if you put it in the substrate it will rot, you can plant anubias but you only put the roots in the substrate, not the rhizome, it would be better to attach the rhizome and roots to the driftwood with cotton, over time they will attach themselves and the cotton will rot away. hope that helps.

 

[Shrimper]

The rhizome on an anuibas nana is the thick stem part the the thin roots and leaves grow out of.

If you have it potted you might not of have seen these bits so I've took a photo of mine to show you what i mean.

 

[kj23502]

fozziebear and Shrimper...wow that's helped me too! I'm looking at planting a tank in the near future!

 

[fry_lover]

excellent, thanks everyone! I'll be posting my pictures next week, cheers