[Dave-H]

Hi all-

I put 3 little anubias on some driftwood a couple of years ago, and WOW they are huge now! I did a serious tank cleaning this week and the anubias have big stems like the width of a magic marker, and maybe 10 inches long with tons of roots, etc.

It's great, but it's a little too 'rooty' and also the leaves have a lot of dark algae spotting, and it just looks like they are a little old and tired!

My question is:

- can I just cut off the tired looking leaves, will new ones grow in their place? I don't want to just cut off leaves and have bare spots that never regrow

- can I just snip the whole thing in half, and make it into two anubias? if so I can give away half of it and do a big cleanup

- there are way too many roots all over the place, can I just trim these??

thanks!! Dave

 

[ctaylor3737]

I always just cut mine into seperate plants when this happens. Sounds like you have some serious Anubias. I have a few like that also and they are great, You can definantly trim the roots back to where you want them. I always keep mine trimmed, splitting the plant to should also encourage new growth when it recovers. I havent ever snipped the leaves off though. Not sure about that never had the need to do myself.

 

[sbinf]

I would divide the large plants if I were you. You get a more trim and shapely plant to put back in your tank, and you can sell/give away the rest.

Though I'm not a fan of trimming the roots -- I prefer to let them grow as they may -- it probably won't hurt the plant too much. Anubias I believe will only grow from an active growing tip (like many orchids above the water), so cutting off leaves will not prompt the plant to sprout new ones in their place.

 

[Dave-H]

Ahh interesting. If they only grow from the 'tip' I guess I can just cut it down and let it start it's journey again.

I like the roots, they look really cool and some of them are reaching like 8 inches down and making it to the substrate. But, there are so many it's getting unruly!

If I just cut off the leaves, it would turn my nice a nubia into a big stalk - so I'm trying to confirm that the leaves won't actually grow back there. Anyone know this for sure?

 

[Knotyoureality]

-1 on Anubias only growing from a "tip". They'll readily put up new growth from segments cut all along the rhizome and readily put up new growth if an area has the older leaves clipped out.

I've anubia nana in my mid-light level tank and will trim back roots, prune excess growth and cut out any algae-covered leaves (usually pretty ragged from getting scraped by my BN pleco anyway) at least 2-3x a year. Last time I clipped every leaf off the middle 2" of the driftwood mounted rhizome (leaves several new leaves at each end intact) and had new leaf buds popping up along the denuded section within a week.

 

[Dave-H]

-1 on Anubias only growing from a "tip". They'll readily put up new growth from segments cut all along the rhizome and readily put up new growth if an area has the older leaves clipped out.

I've anubia nana in my mid-light level tank and will trim back roots, prune excess growth and cut out any algae-covered leaves (usually pretty ragged from getting scraped by my BN pleco anyway) at least 2-3x a year. Last time I clipped every leaf off the middle 2" of the driftwood mounted rhizome (leaves several new leaves at each end intact) and had new leaf buds popping up along the denuded section within a week.

This is great news for me. I think I'm going to pull my huge piece of driftwood right out of the tank, take the anubias off completely, trim this really nicely, then tie them back on. There are so many roots that I'm hoping it will be plenty healthy and be able to regenerate the leaves quickly.

 

[sbinf]

Interesting. Thanks for the correction. I've only experience growth when I cut the rhizome. Though to be fair, I've never trimmed leaves to see what happens.

 

[bigblueallday]

I have some new anubius myself so I don't have much real world experience myself but I've done a ton of research on it and everything I've read says to trim any abnormally large (or any leaves you want to get rid of) leaves down by the rhizome. Also scoring the rhizome with a razor will promote new growth. I have anubius barteri in my tank which is growing great and is a newer plant so I haven't had to do this yet but I did receive some anubius Nana in a plant assortment I ordered that wasn't doing well. I cut off and discarded the rotten part of the rhizome and scored the healthy sections. Did this about a week ago so I haven't seen any results yet but I'll keep you updated.

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