Propagating Anubias Nana Petite

Propagating Anubias Nana Petite
(Anubias Barteri v. Nana ‘Petite’) 

By Joy Twentyman-Crock

I’ve grown Anubias Nana Petite in a variety of setups over the years. It’s one of those hardy plants that will survive some of the worst growing conditions. It’s extremely small size makes it especially appealing. The overall plant is usually no bigger than the size of a half dollar and leaves are about 1cm in diameter.

I’m currently growing my Anubias Nana Petite in two of my tanks, the 2.5 gallon standard tank and the 5.5 gallon standard tan. For lighting in the 2.5 gallon I’m using two 13 watt work lights. For 5.5 gallon I’m using a Coralife 36 watt compact fluorescent fixture. Both are on for 12 hours a day and provide high light. I perform 50% water changes once a week using tap water treated with Prime. CO2 is injected into the tank using a DIY CO2 setup consisting of 2 x 20oz bottles on the 2.5 gallon and 2 x 1 liter on the 5.5 gallon for CO2 generation and an Inline DIY CO2 Reactor powered by an 80 GPH water pump. With this setup the CO2 averages between 45-60ppm under normal conditions. I currently dose both tanks with dry fertilizers based on a slightly modified EI method. Since there is Nitrates in the tap water, I skip the first dose of KNO3 after the water change and dose some extra K2SO4 to make up for the Potassium that would have been dosed with the KNO3. Exact amounts vary slightly as I work to find the best balance for dosing to obtain good plant growth and minimize algae.

I’ve had the best luck with Anubias Nana Petite by tying it to a piece of driftwood and allowing it to attach. This avoids the problems with accidentally burying the rhizome too deep. This usually results in the rhizome rotting which kills the plant. Rocks would work well too, but I tend to prefer using driftwood in my tanks.

Under these conditions the Anubias Nana Petite will put out an average of one new leaf per growth point per week. It puts out more leaves when I’ve recent trimmed several older leaves that have started looking tattered. Since it is such a slow growing plant and the leaves last for such a long time, it can be prone to algae. I find that mine usually either suffers from BBA (Black Brush Algae) or GSA (Green Spot Algae). This can be minimized by ensuring that there are other faster growing plants providing it with shade, as the shaded leaves tend to have less algae problems than the ones under direct light. I’ve also found that spot treating the leaves with Flourish Excel with kill the algae within a couple days of treatment, allowing the snails to clean them. When a leaf has become too tattered I trim it by cutting the stem as close as possible to the rhizome with a pair of sharp scissors.

Eventually the Anubias Nana Petite will grow large enough that it can be divided to form two plants. This generally takes about 2-4 months in my high light tanks. You can tell that is ready to be divided when it has a long enough rhizome that both pieces after division will be at least 1” long, have several leaves and a good root system. You will want a sharp pair of scissors to cut the rhizome as it is very dense making it hard to cut through. A sharp pair of scissors makes the task much easier and will result in a cleaner cut which is easier for the plant to recover from. It can take a few weeks for the plant to recover, after which it will start putting out new leaves again. Often the rhizome with develop one or more new branches at the point where it was divided.

Anubias Nana Petite is one of several plants that are excellent for beginners due to their durable nature and ability to survive in a variety of conditions including extremely low light. It makes a great center piece plant in Nanos and can be used as a foreground plant in larger tanks. I would recommend anyone with an interest in aquatic plants give it a try.

Bibliography

PlantGeek.Net 2002-2006, Plant Guide [On-line] http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php, Sept 10^th, 2006

Tropica.Com Tropica Aquarium Plants A/S [On-line] http://www.tropica.com/default.asp, Sept 10^th, 2006

AquaticPlantCentral.com 2005, Plant Finder [On-line] http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/index.php, Sept 10^th, 2006