I've had purchased several anubias about 6 weeks ago and tied them to rocks with rubberband. They don't look like they're attaching anytime soon. They all look healthy and a few new leaves have grown on a few of them, just wondering how long it takes for them to attach and if their is anything that could speed up the process, it's a 55g currently running 1 T8 bulb.
How long does it take for anubias to grab on to rock...
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gunna have to say it would be hard to even come up with a ballpark on that, as sag said every system is diffrent and there are just too many growth determining factors give a figure. might be a few months for one person might be close to a year for another.:dunno:
Cool, crazy that it can take that long. I just thought I was doing something wrong, guess not. Currently don't have any floating plants as I had a serious FAIL with duckweed and salvinia last week, I do have several bunches of pennywort coming Thursday to use as floaters.
Do anubias actually grow better/faster in shade?
Do anubias actually grow better/faster in shade?
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I've had them latch onto rocks or driftwood within days, and I've had others that took their time. Some of this was influenced by what I was trying to attach them to. If the rock has no or very little grain and a smooth surface, it will be more difficult for the plant to 'grip' onto it. If the stone is highly textured and/or porous, the roots will be able to attach much more easily and securely. . . I've found that they attach most quickly to driftwood. 
With lighting, some of this depends on which type of Anubias you have, but in general - yes. This plant is generally slow growing, so you will want to keep it lightly shaded to ensure that those beautiful leaves will be protected from algae.
With lighting, some of this depends on which type of Anubias you have, but in general - yes. This plant is generally slow growing, so you will want to keep it lightly shaded to ensure that those beautiful leaves will be protected from algae.
Cool, crazy that it can take that long. I just thought I was doing something wrong, guess not. Currently don't have any floating plants as I had a serious FAIL with duckweed and salvinia last week, I do have several bunches of pennywort coming Thursday to use as floaters.
Do anubias actually grow better/faster in shade?
Do anubias actually grow better/faster in shade?
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I'm not sure if they eventually will or not. I've never had the patience to wait it out to find out! There are many kinds of rock, so you'd really just have to try and see what happens in your situation.
All of mine are grown on rocks or wood, but I've read that they can live just fine unattached - or until they find something to attach themselves to - provided their rhizome is not buried. But again, I've never grown this plant in this way.
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I don't know about anubias, haven't tried them and likely won't.
What the heck is a serious fail of duckweed? That baffles me as it must be the hardest plant to kill off.
Jeff.
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Leave it to me to ask the tough questions, eh?
It was one of the plants that was at least $12 for a single... maybe $15. Everything that I wanted was to be easy, cheap and reasonably fast growing and I didn't want something that, should it fail, I would regret... trial and error has it's drawbacks even though I am certain now that it would have been fine. Now that I have my tank mostly full, I just would still not choose to add it. There are tons of other choices yet.
I don't think a derailment can be official unless it lasts for 4 or more posts that don't at least make some attempt to address the original query...:roll:
So, I would suggest that wood would be the best surface for these, or any non substrate plant, to cling to. Something that was mentioned to me as a method of securing plants if I didn't want to tie them was to use a sharp knife to create slivers of wood still attached to the main piece. The plants could CAREFULLY be slid under these slivers to hold it in place while the clinging occurs. I haven't taken the time to do this with my new driftwood and baby java ferns but that is likely what I will do.
Jeff.
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heehee, nice save.
I've attached Java fern to driftwood using natural splits in the wood, and it does work well, but you have to be sure that the 'slices' are the right size for the rhizome. How securely the rhizome is held to the wood initially affects how tightly it will ultimately attach - but it can't be gripped too tightly as to damage the plant.
In a few instances, I've had plants that have somewhat slipped free, and while they did attach, they're now more or less floating - gripping on by only a few small roots! I've left them, as I'm curious to see what they will ultimately do in this situation. . .
I've also had similar success attaching these plants using a small rock to hold them in place while they take hold.
I prefer to use small silicone rubber bands, either clear or black (depending on the plant). This is much easier for me than trying to tie them on, doesn't involve cutting into my precious driftwood, and isn't very noticeable if done right. By the time the bands lose elasticity (at which point they are very easy to pull away with fingers), the plant has successfully attached.
I've attached Java fern to driftwood using natural splits in the wood, and it does work well, but you have to be sure that the 'slices' are the right size for the rhizome. How securely the rhizome is held to the wood initially affects how tightly it will ultimately attach - but it can't be gripped too tightly as to damage the plant.
In a few instances, I've had plants that have somewhat slipped free, and while they did attach, they're now more or less floating - gripping on by only a few small roots! I've left them, as I'm curious to see what they will ultimately do in this situation. . .
I've also had similar success attaching these plants using a small rock to hold them in place while they take hold.
I prefer to use small silicone rubber bands, either clear or black (depending on the plant). This is much easier for me than trying to tie them on, doesn't involve cutting into my precious driftwood, and isn't very noticeable if done right. By the time the bands lose elasticity (at which point they are very easy to pull away with fingers), the plant has successfully attached.
As for the duckweed, well I've had this once before as a hitchhiker and kinda liked it but removed it. Needing a floating plant I ordered about a 1/2 cup of it from aquabid. Now I know duckweed is small but the duckweed I received was very,very,very tiny and I was having second thoughts if putting this into my aquarium...well I rinsed it and dumped it in. ( big mistake) it was all over the place, blowing everywhere and these long root like things making a mess of the tank and clogging the filter . I knew after about a half hour I wanted this out. It took a few hours but I removed say 99% and the 1% left is not growing . This was duckweed like I've never seen before as far as the small size. I can officially say I'm done with this stuff
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"long root-like things" doesn't sound like duckweed to me? Interesting. . . duckweed is a fairly small plant, though. . . it's not too difficult to create a sort of corral for duckweed in order to keep it out of your filter, but it sounds like you're done with it. For now. You didn't get all of it, it'll probably be back soon enough ;-)
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It can really blow around when it gets hit with the water output of the filter if you are using an HOB I suppose. Mine stays on top but my output from the canister is below the surface and I coralled it using a floating tube so it stays at one end now where it shades my low light plants.
Here I thought that you actually killed the stuff.
Hmmm.... long root things?
Here's a shot of one in my hand and one of the top of my tank with them swirling about. The roots never get any longer than in the first picture either. Maybe you didn't actually have duckweed?
No matter, whatever it was obviously was a pain.
Jeff.
Here I thought that you actually killed the stuff.
Hmmm.... long root things?
Here's a shot of one in my hand and one of the top of my tank with them swirling about. The roots never get any longer than in the first picture either. Maybe you didn't actually have duckweed?
No matter, whatever it was obviously was a pain.
Jeff.
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It was definitely duckweed , just VERY tiny, as far as the stringy root like things it looked like it could have been some debris from another plant that was never part of the duckweed, that's what made more of a mess than anything.
I do have a HOB filter but I have it baffled but the stuff was so tiny it was still blowing around. Did not have this issue with my prior experience with it.
I do have a HOB filter but I have it baffled but the stuff was so tiny it was still blowing around. Did not have this issue with my prior experience with it.
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HOB filters, in my experience, are the hardest to keep duckweed under control with, but you can make a corral pretty much from anything you have laying around that is safe and will reach across the tank. You can find a few options here if you're still interested. Sounds like Frogbit, possibly may have been mixed in with your duckweed, or at least the roots. I've had that happen before
I looked at that link for how to corral floating plants and wondering where would you buy that black netting screen at? I've got some pennywort coming and would like to keep them on my anubias side of tank and keep the sword side clear.
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