[ValMM]

What are your preferred ways to plant/grow anacharis?

I have about 13 stems in my tank that has sand in the bottom. When I stick them in the sand, the bases melt off. I was wondering what ways people like to keep their anacharis, and if leaving the plant floating would be better.:icon_conf

 

[allaboutfish]

IME anachris really doesnt float at the top, or atleast mine doesnt, it just floats weirdly all of the tank.

 

[Rainer]

How about weighting down a stem horizontally and see what happens?

 

[james0816]

I can't grow it at all. So my favorite would be anyway it wants to grow.

I can grow everything else though.....which is weird.

 

[Studman0143]

I have wrapped it around pieces of driftwood when it's long enough, or more commonly, I bunch them all together with string, and then tie that string to a rock, wood, or some sort of weight and let them grow all bunched up.

And you may know this, but coming from personal experience, it doesn't seem to grow well in warmer water.

 

[ValMM]

allaboutfish and Rainer- some of the stems float and some of them seem have one end that grew thick enough to weigh it down on it's own, I think it's kind of odd

Studman0143- It seems to grow fine in my betta tank, that usually stays about 74 degrees

 

[Rainer]

I no longer keep it but it rooted in gravel well enough. Sounds like the stem is rotting on yours; weighting one down in several places horizontally might cause enough true roots to form that you'd get a nice stand.

I'd remove all leaves on the underside first, of course.

 

[ValMM]

Okay, but why horizontally?

 

[Rainer]

To both maximize the potential rooted area and number of shoots. My anacharis never developed extensive root systems when planted vertically but developed aerial roots well enough.

I haven't tried this myself so I'm not positive but think it's worth a try.

 

[ValMM]

That's interesting, thank you for your advice.

 

[Mannie Bothans]

Two questions from a newbie.

1.) Is this Anachris?

2.) Is this what you mean-- horizontally weighting it down?

My "weights" are little glass circles, just enough to hold portions of the plant down. This is a top-down shot, looking straight down into the holding tank (10-gallon tote bucket).

 

[Rainer]

My phone won't display your photo for some reason. I'll check it tonight from the laptop.

 

[Studman0143]

It looks like anacharis. Not the best quality, but it looks pretty close.

 

[ValMM]

Anacharis is also called Elodia, especially by Bio professors. From what I can make out from your picture, yes it is.
I'm not quite sure how to horizontally weigh it down either, I guess you could weigh both ends down. Or have string attached along intervals of the stem to weights.

 

[Rainer]

Yes, that's what I had in mind - weighting at the ends and maybe the middle if needed. That technique works with HG (although it's usually weighted with substrate) and I suspect it would work on larger plants like ludwigia, which has large numbers of "aerial" roots.

The question is whether the "aerial" roots will act as regular roots when they contact the sand.

I'm glad you're trying this experiment. Please keep us updated.

 

[ValMM]

I can't try this at the moment, I injured my finger in a car door and cannot get it wet. It bled a lot and is not broken. I will try this when It heals and I can put both hands in the water again.
If anyone else tries it, tell us how it works for you!

 

[Mannie Bothans]

Sorry about the low-res huge-size phone shots. Just shoved some root tabs under these, so we'll see what happens.

 

[ValMM]

Okay, I have 3 stems that have just lain on the sand(by themselves) for about 2 weeks. 1 has 2 branches, 1 has 1 branch and a developing root, and 1 has a branch and a bud.
For the floating stems, I have a couple stems with a single bud. But the floating ones are developing a lot more roots.

What do you think?

 

[ValMM]

I've done some trimming of the sunken stems. The branches are growing longer, but the roots haven't done much. The roots on the floating stems are longer, but the branch buds are still very small.

 

[Rainer]

Do they seem to be rooting well?