# Fastest growing Anubias



## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

Which one grows the fastest and is does best grown in medium or higher light?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Fast growing Anubias is sort of an oxymoron. There's no such thing really. They all grow at about the same rate in my experience. Medium lighting keeps the algae away better and dosing iron will boost growth.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I agree with Aaron.  I made the mistake of starting a brand new tank with a lot of Anubias - mistake! They could be the poster plant for 'slow and steady'... Another suggestion is to keep your phosphates in the 2-4 range if you're going to have a lot of Anubias to keep green spot algae at bay. The Anubias leaves are incredibly long lived and if anything will get the green spot, it's them.


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

I had figured it would. I have nana now and plan to put root tabs under the roots whenever I decide where it is going to stay, and once I get the tabs. But there has to be some that grow faster than others. Other than emersed ones.


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

Bert H said:


> I agree with Aaron. I made the mistake of starting a brand new tank with a lot of Anubias - mistake! They could be the poster plant for 'slow and steady'... Another suggestion is to keep your phosphates in the 2-4 range if you're going to have a lot of Anubias to keep green spot algae at bay. The Anubias leaves are incredibly long lived and if anything will get the green spot, it's them.


Ahhhhh....but it most certainly can be done! That's what I have. Almost all Anubias and moss in my main tank. Low tech and I love it. The secret is a standard EI 50% water changes and a handful of duckweed.


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## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

Hi,

As mentioned above all anubias species are slow growers, but barteri var barteri is a bit faster than all others. To provide an healthy growth, all anubias species requires plenty of Fe, Mg and PO4 in regards to other aquatic plants. It is also very common that anubias planted on substrate (of course not burrying the rhisome) tend to grow faster than the ones attached to wood or rock. Besides these, what I can suggest you are; 
- when there is a rotting or damage on the rhisome clean or cut that part 
immediately,
- if there is any yellowing, dying, totaly stunted due to GSA infestion leaves cut them off immediately,
- plant them in groups, not as solitary plants,
- try to get additional rhisome growth from the main rhisome by cuttings or scratches,
- if you can provide the long term balance of nutrients (esp high po4) and some water current around the leaves, high light also increases the new leaf growth, otherwise always keep them in shaded or moderately low light areas,
- every six months or so, take out the plants (or what is convenient in your scape) and prune the roots and some older leaves, so that you will keep the plant young and fasten the new leaf growth.

I hope these helps.


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## Aquaspot (Jan 19, 2006)

Placed in water, all Anubias species grow at about the same speed. There is really no significant difference. Those that grow painfully slow are the Anubias barteri var nana 'Petite' and the Anubias barteri var nana 'Stardust'. 

However, it is possible to cultivate them emersed and that's when they take on much faster growth, compared to being underwater. However, the surrounding area must be very humid or the plant will dry out easily.


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

I'm trying the emersed approach on a number of them just for fun. So far, they seem to be growing a new leaf every two weeks or so. Maybe bubbling C02 will speed this up further.


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## snowy (Jun 6, 2006)

I have a 2' tank that is full of various anubias, those that are getting good water flow from the filter return seem to grow a little bit faster than the rest.


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## Ziggy Fish (Jun 6, 2021)

AaronT said:


> Fast growing Anubias is sort of an oxymoron. There's no such thing really. They all grow at about the same rate in my experience. Medium lighting keeps the algae away better and dosing iron will boost growth.


Not really.. maybe I'm one in a million lucky dude. My anubias barteri will bud a new leaf and quickly grow about 20mm in leaf length in 4-5 days. Only then it will do the usual pace of slow and easy growth. For my tank a new bud will take about a month to get about 3cm. I'm using 32 watt LED with 2080 lumens set on for 11 hours with auto dimming simulating sunrise and sunset and placed about 3.5cm above the water. The LED setting gives 5 hours of full brightness in the cycle. My tank temp is consistent around 29 deg celcius, PH 8, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite.and 5-10 nitrate. Don't now the GH and KH because I've never had the chance to get the tool but for the rest I use API master kit. This tank is 40% planted with fast growing stems and root feeder and about 10% of slow growing. I use JBL Proflora Ferropol 7-days liquid and tab weekly as nutrients since I only have gravel substrate, and also weekly maintenance of 30% conditioned water change. I should receive my JBL KULGHEN root tab which is clay base and long term by next week since I'm tired of poking the substrates weekly and disturbing the substrates to insert the tab for the past 1 and a half year. Sadly I only use CO2 tablet at the moment. Forget to mention this tank housed 6 healthy Dwarf Rainbow Tetra, 2 Cories, 2 Ottos and 5 Guppies supplemented twice daily with Prodac Biogran Garlic micro pellets, Prodac Wafer Mix and Tropical Supervit flakes. I also use 2 layers canister loaded with 3 layers of different mechanical sponges in one and mix bio-media rings types and some others medias in another (no charcoal). At the moment my Alternanthera reineckii still show good red and Limnophila Aromatica exhibiting pinkish hue here and there. Considering my tank setup do you think that makes the anubias barteri bud leaves like that? Oh yeah.. another thing to mention it was everytime I trimmed out older leaf I will see new bud after 2 or 3 days but I also see new bud coming in 3-4 month. Is that normal?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome to APC!

This discussion is from 2006, so you are not likely to hear from any of the original participants. Growth rate of your anubias sounds normal for optimal conditions.


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## Ziggy Fish (Jun 6, 2021)

Michael said:


> Welcome to APC!
> 
> This discussion is from 2006, so you are not likely to hear from any of the original participants. Growth rate of your anubias sounds normal for optimal conditions.


Oh I see.. just came across the discussion while looking for some informations. Well anyway thanks Michael for the answer and glad to hear from you! Stay safe buddy!


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

I have a 75g full of anubias varieties, from the tiny leaf Nana petite, broad leaf Barteri, wrinkle leaf Coffeefolia, to long leaf Congensis. They all grow slow, some slower than others, so there is observable difference in growth rate among different varieties. In general, the growth rate is proportional to the leaf size. The smaller the leaf size, the slower the growth rate which is reflected in the highest price among the pettite varieties. Higer light and CO2 will increase the growth rate, but still no more than 1 leaf per week for the large leaf and 1 leaf per month for the small leaf varieties.


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## Ziggy Fish (Jun 6, 2021)

tiger15 said:


> I have a 75g full of anubias varieties, from the tiny leaf Nana petite, broad leaf Barteri, wrinkle leaf Coffeefolia, to long leaf Congensis. They all grow slow, some slower than others, so there is observable difference in growth rate among different varieties. In general, the growth rate is proportional to the leaf size. The smaller the leaf size, the slower the growth rate which is reflected in the highest price among the pettite varieties. Higer light and CO2 will increase the growth rate, but still no more than 1 leaf per week for the large leaf and 1 leaf per month for the small leaf varieties.


Amazing scape you got there. Have to agree with you.. the epiphytes plants are slow grower. For that reason normally I use the anubias as my deficiency indicator through observing the old and new growth.


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