Growing Anubias (Anubias Barteri)

Mari

Mari

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Plantprofiel: Anubias (Anubias barteri)

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Anubias is one of the most popular aquarium plant species and a favorite for many beginners and more experienced aquarists. It doesn’t require any special care, grows well in low-light aquariums, and has large broad leaves that are appreciated by fish that prefer some extra hiding places. As an added bonus, it also comes in a dwarf version!

Keep reading for more information about Anubias care and how to grow it in your own planted aquarium.

Minimum recommended tank sizeN/A
Care levelEasy
PlacementMid-/background
Temperature71.5-83 °F/22-28 °C
pH6-8
Growing Anubias | Super low light aquarium plant!

Planting

Anubias is a great plant choice for setups without substrate. Like Java fern and contrary to most regular aquarium plants it absorbs nutrients through its leaves, and actually does better when the rhizome and roots are left exposed instead of buried.

To keep your Anubias in place, just tie it to some driftwood or a porous rock type. This step by step guide explains how to do so if you’ve never grown either of these plants. Anubias has very strong roots and should fully attach to its surface within a few weeks. After a while, you may actually find it quite difficult to separate it.

If you don’t want to buy a separate piece of wood/rock or attach the plant yourself, you can also find pre-attached Anubias here.

Care & tankmates

As mentioned earlier, Anubias doesn’t require special care. It can thrive in a wide range of water values and although it will appreciate extras like Co2 and fertilizers, these are not necessary at all.

  • When it comes to lighting, it’s actually best to avoid anything too strong, which can cause yellowing or algae growth. This means Anubias is a great choice for first time plant keepers, low-tech aquariums and setups with dark water or lots of floating plants that subdue the light.
  • After planting your Anubias, there isn’t much else you need to do: just remove any dead leaves and prune where necessary. It will usually grow very slowly, but you should see new leaves appearing every few weeks. If you’re lucky, you may even find a little white flower growing above the surface after a while, as pictured on the right.
  • If you don’t want to go through the hassle of waiting for these flowers and harvesting the seeds to propagate the plant, you can divide the rhizome once it has grown large enough. Both pieces should continue growing if they’re healthy and you can re-plant, sell or give away one of them.
  • Because Anubias is such a hardy plant, it should be able to tolerate a salinity (salt grade) up to at least around 1.005. This makes it a great choice for low-end brackish aquarium setups for fish that prefer brackish water!
  • When it comes to tankmates, Anubias is a very forgiving plant. Almost any fish and invertebrate should work: the broad leaves provide a great hiding place for shy fish and algae eating snails and shrimp will gladly graze on any algae growth that may occur. Even herbivorous fish like goldfish and cichlids that will usually gladly devour any plant matter shouldn’t pose any problems, as they seem to dislike the hardness of the leaves and tend to almost always leave it alone.

Problems with Anubias

Although you shouldn’t have much trouble growing Anubias, there are some commonly occuring problems with this plant you may run into. As mentioned before, it doesn’t appreciate very strong lighting.

If too many leaves seem to be dying, yellowing or constantly getting covered in algae, try moving your Anubias to the shade of another plant or adding some floaters (if your other plants don’t mind subdued lighting).

If the entire plant seems to be dying off in the first few days or weeks after buying, you may have gotten an Anubias that was grown emersed (=above the water surface). Many aquarium plants can be grown both under water and above the surface in swamp-like conditions, but when you switch them from emersed to submersed they may temporarily have some trouble adapting and shed a lot of leaves. Luckily, this problem should usually fix itself! After the initial melt, new leaves should eventually start appearing.

Buying Anubias

Finding Anubias in your local pet- or aquarium store usually shouldn’t be too much of a problem, and you may also come across local aquarists who are willing to trade it for another plant, give it away for shipping cost or sell it for a low price. Anubias barteri and its dwarf cousin Anubias barteri “nana” are the most common varieties.

Other types include Anubias coffeefolia (creeping growth), hastifolia (arrowhead shaped leaves), congensis (very tall) and frazeri (elongated leaves).

You can also buy the more popular Anubias varieties as well as more “obscure” ones online!

If you have any more questions about growing and caring for Anubias or if you want to share your own experiences with this plant, be sure to leave a comment below! 

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22 thoughts on “Growing Anubias (Anubias Barteri)”

  1. I’m a bit embarrassed….I got a bit too much glue on my Anubia’s rhizome and some in the roots while trying to adhere it to a rock. Will it survive?

    Reply
    • Hi Bob,

      Don’t worry! It’s very easy to over-squeeze. Anubias is a pretty hardy plant that should be able to fix itself. If not, then, unfortunately, I wouldn’t try cutting away any pieces, just take it as a lesson for next time!

      Good luck and happy plant-keeping!

      Reply
  2. Hello and thanks for this article! I’m new to this hobby and I’m thinking of making a tankfor aquatic plants only. Thing is I have no experience with fully submerged plants. So I’d like to ask, will I still need to aerate or filter the water like a fish tank if all my tank will have are aquatic plants like anubias?

    Reply
    • Hello! If it’s a plant only tank then you don’t necessarily need a filter. I recommend having a look at my article on setting up a planted bowl here, which contains info about fishless planted setups. Then, I recommend choosing plants that are very easy and beginner-proof like the ones from the easy aquarium plant list.

      Hope that helps! If you have any more comments, feel free to ask!

      Reply
  3. Hello. I have two anubias barteri plants. When i bought them last week, they seemed in well shape, but i left my aquarium for 5 days and today when i see it there are several wounds in their leaves like my fish eat it. The last time i gave fish pellet was 5 days ago. Is this because my fish hungry and ate some leaves or there are some fish that will ate plants as their diet? And what should i do? (I have 2 silver dollar, 1 bala shark. They are big already. I have cory catfish, rainbowfish, and some swordtails)

    Reply
    • Silver dollars are notorious for eating plants so those are probably the culprit.

      I see some things in your comment that concern me a little – why has it been 5 days since you last fed your fish? Also, silver dollars are group fish that need to be kept with at least five. A group that size does require an aquarium of at least around 80 gallons (if not more). Additionally, they might end up eating your smaller fish. The same thing goes for bala sharks, except they need a MUCH larger tank: 200 gallons or more. Unless your tank is 200+ gallons you’ll definitely need to rehome at least the bala shark and possibly also the silver dollars. If your tank is sufficient in size to house these fish you can expand their groups and rehome your smaller fish. Whatever the situation, you need to take action because your current stock is far from ideal!

      Good luck.

      Reply
  4. I would like to add that this is one of the toughest plants you can get. I keep apple snails (P. maculata) and they cheerfully chew away at everything from java fern to tree bark, but the anubias remained relatively untouched. Once the snails got larger, however, they were able to stomach the tough leaves, and would mow down any tender new growth immediately, so I have temporarily moved it to a different aquarium to grow out a bit. This plant does grow slowly, but steadily!

    Reply
  5. I just got my 1st Anubias plant today. I am so happy I found your blog Mari. I will follow and hope mine grows correctly.

    Thanks for being here 🙂

    Reply
  6. i’m working on a riparium, and i plan to gro many plants emersed, Anubias barteri sounds fun but how big does it grow emersed, is the size the same as submersed? bigger? smaller?

    Reply
  7. Hi! I ordered an anubias nana online and when I received it, all the leaves were rotted/ melted. I rinsed it with water and am left with only roots, which dont look so great but some are still green closer to where there were leaves. They are also quite small. Can they recover from this? Or will they just finish rotting if i place them in water? Right now i placed them in water with a little bit of liquid fertilizer (with potassium & iron for freshwater plant)

    Reply
    • Oh dear, sorry to hear you didn’t receive the plant in great condition, I hate when that happens. I’m not 100% sure, but I THINK that if the rhizome is still intact they can still recover. Try tying it to some lava rock or a coarse wood type and leaving them alone for a bit while resuming your regular aquarium maintenance and plant feeding schedule. If the actual rhizome is rotting then the chances of it surviving are unfortunately a lot more limited.

      Good luck!

      Reply
  8. I love this plant but in my low light tank it is SLOW growing indeed. It still can get algae growth as well. One developed a rhizome rot that destroyed 3/4 of the plant. Yet, I find them tough once established and recommend them highly especially if you are trying plants for the first time. I also love this blog, well done!

    Gregg

    Reply
  9. I agree about the blog, well done! My anubias of A nana. and one not ID are SLOW growing indeed. Even in my low light tank they do get a lot of algae growth as well. One also had a rhizome rot away by 3/4. That may have been it not acclimating to my water. I do though recommend this plant, especially to those seeking to rid themselves of plastic.

    Gregg

    Reply
  10. I got a Anubias nana last week and left it to float in my tank for 3 days, when i was due to do a W.C i took it out and all the leaves fell off and the Rhizone felt abit squidgy! Today ive just bought a Anubias Barteri var Barteri and attached it to some bogwood on an angle so the leaves are facing horizontally, the roots and in the cracks in the wood. Ive already noticed the leaves are going abit pale in places. Is this normal, and have i planted it correctly. Many thanks.

    Reply
    • Sorry to hear you’re not having much success with Anubias! It does sound like you planted it correctly, if there was any issue you wouldn’t see the leaves pale as quickly. I would definitely give it some more time!

      Reply
  11. I like your blog, you have very intelligent things to say about most of this stuff, not generic basic information, it’s pretty much all well informed educated content. Good Work.

    Reply

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