# Anubias Roots How important?



## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

I want honest opinions about this topic. No arguements, just personal experience.

My nana seems to grow a lot faster now that it has roots growing down in the substrate. Some say that the roots don't matter. I think they do. Mine seems to put down two types of roots, filament and rods. The filaments are many and don't go very far, maybe anchor roots. The rods go way down into the substrate and stay white where they are buried. This is my one opinion. I actually think that once the root system gets established, a root tab under there would boost growth tremendously.

What is yours and why? Please keep it nice, this is not meant to produce any arguement here.

This is my beauty and it is growing twice as fast and putting out new rhizome since the roots entered the substrate. 3-5 rhizome to be specific without any help from me.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

Mine grows the same speed whether I trim every root or leave them all. The only reason I could see increased root growth causing an increase in growth is that the plant is getting used to its enviroment. My sand hads no affect on anubias growth. I cant speak for those with NPT but with those of us using EI and PPS the water surruonds the plants slow growers like anubias dont need significant root systems since they grow so slow. This is just my experience I grwe two anubias into a whole bunch and have been giving them away. All the time hacking off roots every time I moved them. Which wasnt that often.


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

You could very well be right. A very good point and there is a good possibility that the growth is from acclimation. I know it took off a little better after I removed the emersed leaves. I now dose EI also. When you say slow growth but refer to getting numerous new ones, how long did it take to get to a point of dividing them? Slow growth to me means you have it for a year and it hasn't doubled in size. At the rate mine grows, it will double in size every 3 months. I realize that is slow compared to my sunset hygro but come on, most things are slow compared to them.

Let's add this, how fast does your anubiss grow and what species? Number of leaves a week, length of rhizome growth a month, etc. Anything that may be relevant.


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## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

Since the day I recieved my Anubias barteri nana var. 'gold', it has sprouted 2 new leaves within a week and a half. My Anubias barteri var. 'coffefolia' grows a new leaf every 2 weeks or so. You really just have to give it some time to grow, I don't think theres really a way to boost up their growth.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

I have had mine since october of last year. It probably doubled each 3 months. It is anubias barter var. nana. or atleast thats what I identified it as. Recently I have gotten a lot of new leaves but alot of them are small and a lot of them stay small. I broke off about 6 small plants that really resemble the petite many people have. I assume mine will grow bigger with time but up until recently It was growing a lot of quarter size leaves and these are less than a dime. Its pretty interesting. I probably get a few leaves a week the only problem is I have a whole bunch of them so I cant really remember how big each one was. All I know is I leave them and they grow no matter what I do. Anubias takes time to grow. If you are looking to get a lot of anubias then you are going to have to wait a while or cough up a lot of cash.


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

I love my anubias nana, I thinkthe growth rate is awesome. Mine has a lot of the smaller leaves also but most are less than a month old. I had a slow growth period when I first got it, then I trimmed back the emersed leaves and most of the old roots and watched. After it got about a dozen of the filament roots it absolutely exploded with growth. I now have over 20 new leaves in less than a month. I do have higher light and dose high because I have high uptake plants also and add CO2.

I am just looking for information here. I love the way mine grows and think it will be a major pain to keep small enough for the 10 gallon tank it is in by the end of the year. If it takes over, oh well, I woud love it. 

I just want your experiences with it. I need to know about the roots because I want to make sure it is happy and if the roots are what are making it happy, I need to find a place for it to stay put and leave it so the roots can establish themselves and the plant can flourish. If the roots aren't important at all then I don't have to worry and the growth rate will be fine regardless if I move it or not.

As far as waiting, I expected to wait 3 years to get a descent speciment that would be a centerpiece for my tank. At this rate of growth, it should only be a year or so and I should have my centerpiece. That is fast if you ask me. I figured that the plant companies were waiting for years to get a good supply. Now I realize that in the best conditions, it can only take a year to get 4-10 specimens from the original plant.


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## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

If you take a look at Aquaphish's 40g planted tank, he has a monster piece of nana. I'm not sure how long it took him but he has a lot.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

I've had the roots buried in the substrate from day one, so I can't say which method is faster. I can say that when I amped up my CO2, my anubias barteri var. "nana" put up three flowers in the space of a month. I've also observed the filamentous roots off the main roots. Roots being buried probably means more immediate access to nutrients moving through the substrate bed, whereas water column fertilizing doesn't offer as steady of a supply. Anyway that's my experience/theory.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Having lots of petite and some nana, I find no difference whether roots get trimmed or not and whether they reach the substrate or not. The petites I have on branches of wood grow at the same rate as the ones on the substrate.


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