Hey guys. i'm new to this site, current owner of 12 gal 1 goldie (comet), 5 white cloud minnows and 6 gal, 2 babies - fantail, and black moor.

I'm interested in putting a small plant in my 6gal tank. i've heard good things about anubias, and after reading numerous articles and sites about plants, im still a bit lost!

ok, so guys who can help asap it will b v appreciated!!

first off, i dont know where to get plants like this from. i have a pets at home (not good!) and a garden centre with a big aquarium section near me, should i go there?

also i have read things like this:

"Easy to grow low light plant. Do not put the rhizome in the substrate when planting. As with all Anubias sp. it is prone to algae due to slow growth, and is usually left alone by herbivorous fish"

what does that mean???

please help, i dont really know what to do! lol. i just want to know what to do with the plant once ive got it to make it ok in my tank!

cheers

ps, read the pinned thread on disinfecting and when u say bleach do mean ordinary household bleach?? will that do?

the rhizome is the horizontal knobby stem from which the actual roots sprout from. Nver bury an anubias' rhizome, its more recommendable to tie it to a rock or piece of cured driftwood with cotton thread instead.
If I might make a suggestion, I think you'd be better off purchasing a red dwarf lotus if the garden center has them. You just plunk them into the tank and allow it to settle on top of the gravel. it'll sprout on its own and it doesnt need much light to thrive. standard aquarium fluorescents will do the job

cool will look into it, cheers

Sorry to interrupt.....Man Yu do u know where I can find a picture of this red dwarf lotus? Have looked but no luck. Was thinking of trying it myself!

Cheers!

here's a pic of awrieger's tank. The plant in the middle is the red dwarf lotus

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...pic=44082&st=20

Thanks. didnt mean to hijack the post.

I noticed alot of the plants like to have 7.5 ph....mine is around 8 but steady. Do you think that is enough to cause plants problems?

Thats a beautiful plant btw. Ive never seen one here in the UK and I spend LOADS of time in aquatic centres.

Cheers again!

Don't worry, katmad had already purchased her anubias two weeks ago and she had left this thread free, I think. My lotus hasn't really been too fussy about the water condition from our tap which is quite hard and thus correspondingly falls on the alkaline side. Awrieger provided her tank with high light levels and CO2 supplementation so her lotus grew to such a nice specimen. If you don't go to such lengths they will still thrive, however, just with slightly smaller leaves. If the lighting's not strong enough to their liking (if it doesn't penetrate the water well enough) they will grow surface-floating lily pads, afterwards then they might bloom.

hey yeh ive got it sorted now so feel free to hijack!

(ps anubias is doing well, very green and lovely, fish try to munch on it but its leaves r too thick i think.)

thanks for the help tho guys.

i will still look into getting a red dwarf lotus, as they look really good. I'll wait a while tho, i like to introduce things very slowly so as not to shock my babies.

katmad - I posted a reply to your fertilizer question.

Thanks guys!!