# Flowering Anubias



## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

How do you get Anubias barteri v nana to flower? 

About a month or so ago, my Anubias barteri v nana in my 20g long all began to flower in unison. I had never been able to flower this species before, so having three or more flowers appear all at once was pretty exciting. I thought my conditions were perhaps so good, that the plants were flowering out of being so healthy. My NO3 was 10 ppm, PO4 2 ppm, 21 mL weekly of Flourish and Flourish Iron.

This past week, I returned to Miami. My 55g was a disaster, with carpets of black sludge over everything. While cleaning this aquarium out on Monday, I noticed that, despite the horrid conditions in the aquarium, most of the Anubias barteri v nanas in the aquarium (a total of eight specimens) were flowering. The same test kits from the 20g read 0 ppm NO3, 3 ppm PO4. Iron/traces were added sparingly. From this, I figured that Anubias flower not so much because they are healthy, but from high levels of PO4 in the water column.

So do you want your Anubias to flower? Dose the PO4 up to 1.5-2 ppm.

Carlos


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Carlos,

Congrats on the flowers man. Eight at once? that's awesome! Upping PO4 will encourage most plants to flower, just about every commercial "Bloom Booster" type fertilizer is super high in phosphates. I've used that trick to get Crypts and pond plants to flower in the past.


Best,
Phil


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Carlos,

Maybe Floridian Anubias barteri nanas have some type of biological clock, because I have one which is flowering as well!  My NO3 is 10-15, PO4 is 1.25. 

Anyways, I'm excited! It is only the second flower I have ever gotten from my plants, the other being one from my saggitaria.

BTW, how long will the anubias flower last? It would be great if they were as long lived as their leaves are! 8)


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## litesky (Feb 9, 2004)

my flower stayed out for 2 weeks. Then it slowly disappeared. Hmm..actually...i don't really know how it disappeared....


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## neonfish3 (Feb 12, 2004)

Hi. Im not sure if this is a flower or possibly a leaf or branch coming out in the middle of the plant. Where do the flowers usually form? Do new leaves ever form anywhere but the end of the growing tip of the rhizome?
On a side note if I cut the rhizome in half will it grow from both ends of the cut piece or do they only grow in one direction? hmm...


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## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

Besides beign interesting, is there any use for these flowers? Like propagation? It'd be interesting, but probably inconvenient. If anyone here does tissue culture, they might be able to put the seeds in too.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

It's possible to propegate Anubas by flowers, but it's nearly impossibly underwater. You'll have to grow the plants emersed if you want to pollenate the flowers.


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## Khamul1of9 (Oct 25, 2005)

I am going to try to pollinate my anubias in a few days, or weeks. I have one plants emersed that is about to give me three flowers. Two will come in at what I now guess to be two or three days apart. Hopefully I will be able to take the pollen from one and pollinate it the other. As I understand it the female part of the flower is the first part of the flower to become viable. It takes 2 or 3 days for the pollen to come into its right, by which time the female parts are no good any more. So, if I get two flowers two or three days apart, one flower will have good pollen, and the other will have good stigmas(female parts). Hopefully this will produce seeds. I am crossing my fingers. I will post on my progress.


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## opiesilver (Dec 30, 2004)

High levels of PO4 will get them to bloom but then you have the possibility of a bad brush algae outbreak as well.

Anubias barteri var. (whatever type you have ever seen, nana, round leaf, petite, ect....) and Anubias hastifolia var. hastifolia are the only know types of Anubias that will voluntarily flower underwater.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

I know this is an old thread, but has anyone actually flowered their Anubias barteri var. 'Petite'? I've kept the plant for a long time, and while my regular Anubias barteri var. 'Nana' flowers two or three times a year, my petites have never flowered.


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