Cutting Anubias

Anubias is easily my most favorite aquarium plant. There are tons of varieties in many different sizes. Anubias grows in light, in shade, good water, bad water. Nothing really eats it and you don't even need to have substrate for it!

Anubias is not meant to be planted in the substrate. In fact doing so can kill the plant. Anubias is easily attached to rocks, wood or ornaments with fishing line, thread or glue. I'm going to show you how I cut up my anubias and glue it to rocks - what fun!

1. Anubias plant

2. Crazy Glue

3. Exacto knife or sharp scissors

4. Rocks (or wood or whatever you are going to attach the plant to)

Often Anubias grows crazy roots from the rhizome after they have been in your tank for a while (you may not have crazy roots like this on one you just purchased). These roots can make it a bit challenging to get glue on the rhizome without making a mess. The solution? Cut them off!

Anubias are very hardy and the roots will grow back so go ahead and cut those suckers off :)

Well now that the roots are out of the way I want to make this one plant into 2 plants. Find a section of the rhizome that doesn't have anything growing out of it and cut it all the way through. Now you have 2 plants - easy peasy!

Here is a little trick to get your anubias looking fuller. On the exposed rhizome simply make little notches with your knife or scissors. Don't cut the rhizome all the way through like in the previous step, just a little less then halfway is plenty. Every place you put a notch will encourage new growth. In time you will be able to harvest this growth as new plants, or leave it so the plant looks nice and full.

Take your anubias and a rock (or whatever you're attaching it to). Apply a thin glob of glue to the rock (or the rhizome it really doesn't matter) hold the rhizome and the rock together for a few seconds. Most likely you will get glue on your fingers yay!

I prefer my anubias to be slightly dry when doing this however it doesn't really need to be.

Thats it! now all you need to do is place the rock back in your tank and wait for new growth! Anubias can be a little slow to fill in - depending on your tank set up it may be a few months before you're ready to split these again. Don't be afraid to be rough with anubias - it can take it! And if you find yourself with a piece of rhizome with no leaves on it, just make some notches and toss it back in the tank.