slowly growing, or slowly dying???

[Magnum Man]

pondering this morning if plants that are “slow growing” like a lot of anubias, aren’t actually slowly dying??? I expect in the wild, most of these plants grow seasonally, at minimum between wet and dry seasons… I have several aquatic plants that have been in tanks for almost 2 years, that have not put a leaf on, in 2 years ( not a bad thing, sometimes in an aquarium ), and while they look healthy, I suspect they are just slowly dying, then I have plants from the same family, that have doubled in size, each year, over the last couple years…

I guess it’s harder to sell plants that are listed as “slow dying” as opposed to “slow growing”… I still like the slow dying plants in my tanks, they beat plastic plants, and I’d suspect if I changed the tanks conditions , some may begin to actually grow…

thoughts???

 

[Magnum Man]

a prime example are these Hastifola… they are in a shaded tank, so algae has not overtaken them, yet they have not added or lost a leaf in at least 2 years… I love them in this tank, but suspect they are actually slowly dying… yet are still better to me, than the plastic plants that were here, before I added these…

where as this Coffeefola, is one that has doubled in size each year, for the same 2 years…

 

[Boundava]

Guess that depends on the bioload of the tank (nutrients) and light. You could add some liquid ferts to the tank with the hastifola to encourage growth, but that may encourage algae. I have my anubias mainly in the 125 and my gourami and SAE love to clean the leaves. I have had these since 2010, they are indeed slow growers.

 

[fishorama]

I had an anubias that had some kind of rhizome rot. I don't recall what species it was, it had a few strands of brown in the rhizome when I split it. I cut back to what seemed to be healthy tissue (no brown fibers) but still lost leaves slowly from both "halves". I think it may have been a virus-type disease but I'm not sure. For me, some anubias grow very slow & some have new leaves every week or 2, & flowers every month or so. Boundava may be right about ferts or maybe a water quality (pH, KH, GH) issue.

Just because most of a genus likes our given parameters doesn't all species do. Is it 1 of an anubias species or just 1 plant that's having problems? Most anubias are from areas that are flooded at times & drier, although not completely dry, at others. That's partly why they have 2 kinds of roots; the 1s that grip to wood & rocks & feed in the water column & the kind that head to the substrate looking for more nutrients ( & moisture?). That's my take anyway...I could be wrong

 

[Boundava]

Forgot to mention that like crypts, many anubias like hardwater...you can keep them in rift lake tank setup, that is how much they like hardwater.

 

[squirley]

a prime example are these Hastifola… they are in a shaded tank, so algae has not overtaken them, yet they have not added or lost a leaf in at least 2 years… I love them in this tank, but suspect they are actually slowly dying… yet are still better to me, than the plastic plants that were here, before I added these…View attachment 382229

where as this Coffeefola, is one that has doubled in size each year, for the same 2 years…View attachment 382230

it could also be slowly teleporting to another dimension

 

[Back in the fold]

Your plants look good Man and especially so being an unusual variety . Unusual to me anyway . Pretty sure you plant buffs have seen them before .