got a couple new leaves on my coffeefola... how big will this plant get???

[Magnum Man]

there is plenty of room where I put this ( it's actually 2 plants planted together in a double pot ), I've looked before, but don't often see mature plants of this variety... is this a slightly smaller plant, like the nana's, or will it get pretty good size with maturity??? several fish in this tank keep it clean, and it appears to be thriving, without anyone damaging the plant... a large flying fox resting on it here...

 

[Magnum Man]

it appears to like the filtered light, I put a small piece of tinted plexi across the top above the plant, as this is a bright tank, that I actually try to grow algae for my hillstream's, and the tinted plexi piece seems to be about the right amount of filter for the plant, while limiting the algae from actually growing on the plant... it has a very healthy look, without me having to do anything to it...

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

A. coffeecola is a bigger Anubias. It can definitely get 8 inches tall. As you see it puts out long stalks with a leaf on the end. More of a background plant for most people. There is always the possibility of growing it emerged from your tanks just like you do with your pothos. Might look pretty cool like that.

 

[fishorama]

I've had a. coffifolia eventually get fairly large...slowly Not as big as some anubias get. You might want to separate the 2 plants while they're small.

 

[anewbie]

The new leaves will get as big as they get but not bigger than they get. As time goes along new leaves will continue to form and get as large as they get but be glad they will get no larger than they get large.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I have some coffeefolia growing emergent. They grow very slowly so it's easy not to notice, but some of them are getting surprisingly big. Not amazon sword, taking over the world big, but at a guess mine are getting around 8-10" tall, similarly wide, with huge root systems in the water to match.

 

[anewbie]

I have some coffeefolia growing emergent. They grow very slowly so it's easy not to notice, but some of them are getting surprisingly big. Not amazon sword, taking over the world big, but at a guess mine are getting around 8-10" tall, similarly wide, with huge root systems in the water to match.

In truth my coffeefolia grew faster and larger than my amazon sword as my amazon swords only grew large when i injected co2. The ones i have now stay low and bushy but are not very tall - i had a large coffee but not sure where i put it when i moved - in the 600 i have a pair of batari that are not small but the question wasn't so much how large the plant get the the individual leaf (in truth these plants have not limit in size because the rhizome just keeps getting longer) i want to say the largest leaf i remember was in order of 4 inches diameter but that is just a wild guess as i never measure them and i'm sure in africa they get much larger. I found one reference that indicated the leaf can get as large as 6 inches though i also found a site that said the sister plant gigantea can get leaves that are 15inch x 5 inches.... now that would be a real tank buster esp if you had 10 to 15 leaves

 

[fishorama]

Oh my! Badger, Rusty & anewbie, that's bigger than I've seen in my old tanks! Whee!! I don't think I have any now. Barterii were my big & bigger fast growing anubias compared to coffeefolia. But that's just from memory, I don't have either now...or that I recognize them. No telling in club plant swaps, lol.

 

[Magnum Man]

I currently have 4 different varieties of Anubis... the hastifolia and congensis, are quite large, the couple nanas are small, and all seem to be thriving in my RO water...
I still have some Java fern, but it seems to be missing something, in the RO, as my massive tangles have shrunk a lot in the last year, since I switched over to the RO... it could also be the fault of plant eaters I'm pretty sure a silver dollar is to blame for the almost complete disappearance of a nice flowering nana... and the dollars seem to leave the larger Anubis alone, so far, no one in that tank seems to be eating the coffeefola, though a good portion of the population in that tank graze biofilm from it...

 

[Magnum Man]

this tank at one time, was half full of Java fern tangles, but it appears to have succumbed to the massive peace lily root on the right side, now the 2 blips of green upper and lower right, are all that is left of the Java fern... a large congensis on the left side... this tank is 24 inches deep, for scale on the size

this is a standard 55 gallon, with the hastifola in it, almost reaching the top...

and a fresh picture of the coffeefola, also in a standard 55 gallon, reaching only about half way to the top... Gourami begging for food... sorry buddy, you got fed last night, after your water change...

 

[anewbie]

My java fern does well in ro water but it is of course slower growing than with co2; the thing is that it can cost a year growth to transition from tap water to ro water as i learned when i transition a couple of aquariums. Oddly 2 of the aquariums i transition didn't even noticed .... gotta ponder on that one.

 

[Magnum Man]

so the coffeefola is a focal point in this tank, between the pagodas, it seems to be growing a little faster lately... the pot they are in has no dirt, they were empty, when I placed the plants, and I just used a handful of ceramic filter media ( new ) to hold them down... assuming mulm will settle into the bottom of the pot, though with all the inhabitants of this tank being consumers of mulm / bio film, there is never any visible... but guessing there is starting to be more nutrients at the bottom of the pot, available for the roots... as has been said, these are often back ground plants, but with the plant's shape, and texture of the leaves, I think it'll make a nice center piece as it continues to grow...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have had coffeefolia reach the surface give enough time. Most of my anubias were purchased 15-20 + years ago. I bought a single coffeefolia and now have big ones in many tanks. Java ferns also grow more slowly. So your other plants may be using up the nutrients much faster leaving little for the ferns to get.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Java ferns can be sneaky. They grow slowly but they can really spread. One day you wake up and realize they've taken over the tank. And their roots really become gunk repositories, too.