# Anubia and flowering



## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Wow! I just discovered that anubias can flower. After all my months of reading, how did I miss this? lol

Does anyone have anubias that flower? Does anyone know what needs to be done to get them to flower? They are soooo pretty!


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Congratulations on your bloom! Anubias flowers are also known as a spathe add can occur when the plant is grown below water or above (emersed) in a high humidity enviroment where its roots are always kept moist. All anubias species can flower and have one or multiple blooms at a time. Blooming is a sign of a happy plant getting a good balance of light and nutrients it needs. Durations of blooms seem to vary depending on the conditions the plants are kept in, my pasts ones would last about a week once opened then start to wilt so I'd snip them off.
Many people claim that increasing phosphorus levels in your tank helps induce blooming. If you have 2 *separate *plants bloom at the same time you can move them so the spathe is above water and use a q-tip to pollinate them (a single plant with 2 blooms can't pollinate it self from what I've read). You will get seeds from this that if kept moist/high humidity environment will make new baby anubias! I've only ever sen 1 person talk about pollinating their emersed grown anubias on the web, no mention of aquatic (under water) pollination being successfully attempted though.


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Aqua Aurora said:


> Congratulations on your bloom! Anubias flowers are also known as a spathe add can occur when the plant is grown below water or above (emersed) in a high humidity enviroment where its roots are always kept moist. All anubias species can flower and have one or multiple blooms at a time. Blooming is a sign of a happy plant getting a good balance of light and nutrients it needs. Durations of blooms seem to vary depending on the conditions the plants are kept in, my pasts ones would last about a week once opened then start to wilt so I'd snip them off.
> Many people claim that increasing phosphorus levels in your tank helps induce blooming. If you have 2 *separate *plants bloom at the same time you can move them so the spathe is above water and use a q-tip to pollinate them (a single plant with 2 blooms can't pollinate it self from what I've read). You will get seeds from this that if kept moist/high humidity environment will make new baby anubias! I've only ever sen 1 person talk about pollinating their emersed grown anubias on the web, no mention of aquatic (under water) pollination being successfully attempted though.


Thanks so much! I should have specified above, my discovery was in my online reading, not my tank...I just did quite a trim job a couple weeks ago to remove the leaves with holes, started with different ferts (PPS-Pro) a lil additional potassium...big difference in this tank. I'll order API's phosphate test kit and check it first before I make any changes. I'll get 'em to flower:blueyay:


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Os sorry misread that though you said you had on e just never came across it online before.


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

There is lot I haven't come across yet!...this hobby is endless  omg, I can't get enough sometimes - lol. I just ordered Walstad's book, and have changed my mind on the next project about 4 times this weekend, but think I decided on a shrimp tank...subject to change in the next hour. Just gotta remember I need one outlet for a heater this winter.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Congratulations on the flower. My anubais flowered once about a year ago. Since then jungle vals, Brazilian pennywort, and java moss on hardscape shaded my anubais. So maybe that's why haven't flowered since, maybe. Glad the dry fertilizer is working out for ya.


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Tony2632 said:


> Congratulations on the flower. My anubais flowered once about a year ago. Since then jungle vals, Brazilian pennywort, and java moss on hardscape shaded my anubais. So maybe that's why haven't flowered since, maybe. Glad the dry fertilizer is working out for ya.


oops, flowering was read about online, never knew they could do that. But the way the rest is going, they just may flower..I'm gonna work on that one; I would love flowers in the tank :blueyay:. And thanks so much for your advice on the ferts...the difference in these tanks in just a couple weeks is incredible


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## Lettuce (Jul 12, 2014)

Islandgaliam said:


> There is lot I haven't come across yet!...this hobby is endless




You can say that again. I've always been an animal lover but never really thought about keeping an aquarium. My sister randomly gave me a surprise betta and now I'm excited about setting up a community tank, and a shrimp jar.


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Lettuce said:


> You can say that again. I've always been an animal lover but never really thought about keeping an aquarium. My sister randomly gave me a surprise betta and now I'm excited about setting up a community tank, and a shrimp jar.


Congrats on your community. I've got a community in my 20, but no bettas in this tank. I came home last night and 3 of the honey gouramis were just blowing bubbles like crazy...I can't wait to get home from work and see what they did today - lol.


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

slight hijack but speaking of flowering annubis mine just popped up with this:-D ,can't wait for it to open.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Congrats! Btw I see some green spot algae on your leaves, your tank may need more phosphorus to stop it from spreading (many claim low phosphate levels cause this algae to bloom, I'm not 100% certain myself though, but on the plus side, added phosphates help encourage anubias blooms so you might get it to have a new bloom sooner). You can do a diluted bleach dip of the anuias to kill algae, but green spot is a very hard algae and difficult to get off a leaf once dead without damaging the leaf.
*sigh* I miss having anubias.


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

Aqua Aurora said:


> Congrats! Btw I see some green spot algae on your leaves, your tank may need more phosphorus to stop it from spreading (many claim low phosphate levels cause this algae to bloom, I'm not 100% certain myself though, but on the plus side, added phosphates help encourage anubias blooms so you might get it to have a new bloom sooner). You can do a diluted bleach dip of the anuias to kill algae, but green spot is a very hard algae and difficult to get off a leaf once dead without damaging the leaf.
> *sigh* I miss having anubias.


I've only just replanted the annubis and sword back into the tank ,they've been outside in a bucket of water for the last couple of weeks ,my fish got a dose of finrot and the treatment i use can kill plants so i removed them this time,(didn't know that the first time i used the medication and left the plants in:|), I forgot to do my fertilizer and supplement routine while they were outside which could explain the algae ,hopefully get back into routine and it fixes it!


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Darius359au said:


> slight hijack but speaking of flowering annubis mine just popped up with this:-D ,can't wait for it to open.


I just saw this, haven't been online for a bit. How cool and exciting! Do you have any updated photos?


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

@islandgaliam no nothing yet ,it's gotten taller and the bud longer but hasn't popped yet


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Darius359au said:


> @islandgaliam no nothing yet ,it's gotten taller and the bud longer but hasn't popped yet


ok, looking forward to the popped pic


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## Linsey195 (Oct 22, 2014)

My anubias has only flowered once in five years, the flower itself came out above the water level. However it never actually had a flower only seeds. Neither my bf or I knew whether or not to spray it an keep it moist or not. We are hoping it will bloom again.


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

Turned on the tank light to feed Bernard this morning and we have poppage :-D



closer look



Bernard going "whatcha doin?" :-D (you can see his dorsal fin is still stumpy from the finrot but it's growing back quite nicely now!)


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Linsey195 said:


> My anubias has only flowered once in five years, the flower itself came out above the water level. However it never actually had a flower only seeds. Neither my bf or I knew whether or not to spray it an keep it moist or not. We are hoping it will bloom again.


Anubias flowers are spaths (so are peace lilies, crypts, and a few other plant species) and not a real petal like flower. I've never kept emersed anubias (above water) but I'd suspect a gentle misting (unless you live somewhere with 80%+ humidity in that room) would have helped it last a little longer.
You can help encourage anubias blooms with increased phosphates in their water.



Darius359au said:


> Turned on the tank light to feed Bernard this morning and we have poppage :-D
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Congratz on your bloom!


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## Linsey195 (Oct 22, 2014)

Ok, we will try that  thanks


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

And tada...one fully open Anubias flower:-D ,and it really does look like a mini lillie ,(didn't know about the spath thing @aqua arora but it explains why they look the same thanks.)


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Darius359au said:


> And tada...one fully open Anubias flower:-D ,and it really does look like a mini lillie ,(didn't know about the spath thing @aqua arora but it explains why they look the same thanks.)


Wow..it's gorgeous! Great pics too  What are you using for ferts? lights? do you add additional potassium? I read a while back where one of these ferts help them flower


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Darius359au said:


> Turned on the tank light to feed Bernard this morning and we have poppage :-D
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Bernard looks so proud of the flower...too cute!


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

@islandgaliam ,not sure about the light in the tank other than it is ok for low to medium light plants,(tanks a blue planet classic 20 litre) ,ferts are daily .5ml of Flourish excel(carbon) and iron with a weekly dose of .4ml flourish!


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

and a new development in the anubias flower saga, not sure what it's doing here ,possibly seeding?


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Sorry that's not seeding, the 'bloom' is dne so its starting to rot, that's fungus, possibly feeding on the sugars in the plant (same stuff grows on freshly added driftwood). It won't go to seed unless propagated with another bloom from a separate plant (one plant with 2 blooms won't work) and I've only known of propagation being successful when the spath is emersed (above water). I'd suggest cutting that off at the base (close to rhizome) and removing it from the aquarium now.


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## Darius359au (Apr 12, 2014)

@aqua aurora thanks wasn't about it ,I did think fungus at the start but the way it was just on the flower and so evenly spread i thought it might be something to do with it! ,thats fine though it's water change day anyways so a little gardening is in order:-D


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## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

That's very cool. I only had an anubias bloom once for me. <sigh>


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