# help! 5 gal suggestions and questions about Anubias



## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Don't plant either plant in substrate but tie / glue them to driftwood / stones. Otherwise, they should recover in time. Your LFS gave you a good recommendation.

Mosses are very popular in smaller tanks with lower light: they do better on driftwood also.

v3


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## MadJackal55 (Jun 26, 2014)

I didn't bury them, they've been tied to driftwood or anchored by rocks. Are there any mosses in particular you' recommend? I'd love to try flame moss, it just looks so cool but I wasn't sure about size/light/etc with such a small tank


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Sometimes if you tie anubias to tight to something it can damage the rhizome and cause it to die. I've grown anubias emersed and they don't shed their leaves once submerged. When keeping anubias I like to give the plant shade from direct light or else it gets algae on it. I usually use duck weed or a floating plant of some type. Anubias can survive with almost no light at all. They just grow really slow. I have a tank full of anubias and they only sprout one new leaf a month.


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

I've had great success with crypt wendtii in all of my tanks. Some of them have LED lighting and my 5.5 has just the stock flourescent lighting that came with the tank. It grows a little differently depending on the light - a little taller here, a little bushier there - but it certainly grows well everywhere. I don't even dose anything in either my 5.5 or my 5g Spec V and have great growth in both those tanks.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Having a soft rhizome on an anubias is a strong indication of a disease called "rhizome rot" Its good to cut off the bad part but if you are still seeing melting/lost leaves inspect the rhizome again carefully. 
Is there any discoloration in the rhizome (parts of it darker green than others)? On the cut side(s) is there a browner discoloration surrounded by a more tan inner part? Give it a good sniff, does it smell like rot or garbage at all? Carefully feel over the whole rhizome, are there any other soft spots, either whole way through/around or just a small soft top layer you can rub or wash off without much effort? Are there a lack of roots or old pre-exsisting roots melting/breaking/falling off?
Do not keep this anubias with other anubias plants until you can inspect it and answer "No" to all my above questions. If any are "yes" you probably have the disease (if several are "yes" remove 'probably' from previous statement and consider it a 'definitely'), it is spreadable to other anubias. Cut off past any bad/discolored/soft spots and into the healthy anubias to remove diseased area. Dip the cut parts in bleach or peroxide (then rinse thoroughly after) to ensure disease is not spread through cutting tool. Than keep an eye on it for a few days/week to make sure the soft/discoloration does not form on the remaining anubias. Toss cut pieces out.

For the java fern, don't worry about dark root color, they've always been black/very dark brown for me and grow fine, as long as the rhizome (thin horizontal piece roots and leaves grow out of) is not black, it should be a medium to dark green-ish color. If the fern rhizome is black its most likely damaged or has a dead spot that needs cut off.
As mentioned above, for both plants do not put rhizome in substrate, it will kill the plant.


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