Giant Annubia too big

"Dick" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:32:28 +0100, "Iain Miller"
wrote:

Since I have loads of roots hanging from the middle, I expect I
will bury the stem and as many roots as I can.

Don't bury the stem - just bury the roots a bit. Just weight the thing
down
using plant weights or tie it to a log or a rock with either thread or
fishing line till it grabs hold of the rock/log of its own accord.

What does the rock/log do? Why do the roots grab them?
What would happen if I just pushed stem and roots into sand?
Your instructions are different than any other plant I have, but this
plant is different from any other.

My Annubias are all growing on either rocks or logs or just sitting loosely
at the bottom of the tank (weighted down with plant weights). They seem to
like it better than being planted & the roots work their way down into the
sand anyway. If you tie the thing to a rock or a log (or even just use
weights to sit the plant on top of it) within a couple of weeks the plant
will attach itself with its roots.

When I look at the whole plant it is eye catching. It occupies 1/3 of
the tank area, but lots of space for the fish to swim around. My
Siamese Algae Eaters like to rest on the large leaves. My Clown Loach
has a cave mouth under a lower leaf. When I think of dividing I
imagine a very strange plant. I know I will have to do something, but
I fear the results are going to be less than satisfying. I sure will
be upsetting myself and my critters, but don't see any other option.

It probably will lookl a bit strange for a week or two but it'll fill in the
gap pretty quickly

What will happen if I do nothing? When the leaves reach the water top
what will happen? Oh woe is me. I hate making decisions!

Nothing will happen except that the plant will just get more & more dense &
the quality of the leaves you get will diminish in - it will just start to
look big & old if that makes sense.

If its of any consolation I waas similarly nervous when I started curring my
Annubias but I got over that pretty quickly (!)

rgds

I.

dick

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 13:55:02 +0100, "Iain Miller"
wrote:


"Dick" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:32:28 +0100, "Iain Miller"
wrote:

Since I have loads of roots hanging from the middle, I expect I
will bury the stem and as many roots as I can.

Don't bury the stem - just bury the roots a bit. Just weight the thing
down
using plant weights or tie it to a log or a rock with either thread or
fishing line till it grabs hold of the rock/log of its own accord.

What does the rock/log do? Why do the roots grab them?
What would happen if I just pushed stem and roots into sand?
Your instructions are different than any other plant I have, but this
plant is different from any other.

My Annubias are all growing on either rocks or logs or just sitting loosely
at the bottom of the tank (weighted down with plant weights). They seem to
like it better than being planted & the roots work their way down into the
sand anyway. If you tie the thing to a rock or a log (or even just use
weights to sit the plant on top of it) within a couple of weeks the plant
will attach itself with its roots.

When I look at the whole plant it is eye catching. It occupies 1/3 of
the tank area, but lots of space for the fish to swim around. My
Siamese Algae Eaters like to rest on the large leaves. My Clown Loach
has a cave mouth under a lower leaf. When I think of dividing I
imagine a very strange plant. I know I will have to do something, but
I fear the results are going to be less than satisfying. I sure will
be upsetting myself and my critters, but don't see any other option.

It probably will lookl a bit strange for a week or two but it'll fill in the
gap pretty quickly

What will happen if I do nothing? When the leaves reach the water top
what will happen? Oh woe is me. I hate making decisions!

Nothing will happen except that the plant will just get more & more dense &
the quality of the leaves you get will diminish in - it will just start to
look big & old if that makes sense.

If its of any consolation I waas similarly nervous when I started curring my
Annubias but I got over that pretty quickly (!)

rgds

I.

dick


Thanks for the words of encouragement. I may have missed it, but did
you make a suggestion of whether it is best to use the top or the
bottom half. The bottom is secure whereas the top has the newest
leaves. Any suggestion which to keep? How much of the top need I
keep to be sure it will survive. (I am thinking that I will keep a
minimum so there will be more room for growth, but don't want to keep
too little and risk failure.)

The whole plant looks like a tree. I just can't imagine how it will
look with only half present. It has never grown fast in my low light
tank, so it is also hard to imagine the damage of cutting being
overcome in less than 6 months.

My 75 gallon has an intermediately large annubia. In 18 months it is
half the size of the one in my 10 gallon tank and does not have the
tree appearance. All my tanks are heavily planted so I would risk
upsetting two tanks to make an exchange.

When I can get myself to take the plunge, I will have to throw part of
the plant away. :-(

Thanks for your continued interest Lain.

dick