Anubias Barteri on the Surface:

Anubias Barteri (Anubias barteri) is a rhizome-forming epiphyte native to West and West-Central Africa, where it grows on rocks and wood, emersed and temporarily submerged. Its leathery leaves provide surfaces where biofilm forms and cover for fry and shrimp in the Botanical Method Aquarium and in blackwater and biotope aquariums. Please do not plant the rhizome in the substrate, as this will cause it to rot. Roots are fine to venture down into the substrate and leaf litter as the plant establishes.

Essential Details

• Care Level: Easy
• Growth Habit: Slow growth via rhizomes
• Light: Low
• CO2: Not Necessary
• Propagation: Rhizome division, leaving 2 to 3 leaves per section
• Tint Tolerance: Low to High
• Habitat Location: West and West-Central Africa, including Cameroon and Nigeria
• Optimal For: Betta fish, dwarf shrimp, and West African cichlids such as kribensis, and other species suited to low-light blackwater and biotope aquariums
• Use with Caution: Rinse before introducing; may carry beneficial hitchhiking snails, snail eggs, or duckweed from the grow-out ponds
• Size Range: Mature plants reach 10 to 18 inches tall
• Quantities: 1 count potted A. barteri plant

Anubias Barteri for Planted Aquariums & Blackwater Biotopes

Biofilm colonizes the leaves and rhizome of Anubias Barteri, and that microbial layer becomes a grazing resource for shrimp, snails, and fry, part of what we call supplemental nutrition. Its leaves provide resting surfaces for betta fish and shaded cover for kribensis. We tie or glue the rhizome to wood or rock with thread, clear fishing line, or a small bead of cyanoacrylate gel, and then over a few weeks it will attach on its own via new roots. Covering the rhizome with substrate causes it to rot, so we keep it exposed. The roots that grow from it are free to reach into the substrate or wrap around hardscape to anchor the plant.

Anubias Barteri is considered a low-light plant, which suits the tinted water of a Botanical Method Aquarium. Tint reduces how much light can reach the plant, and light dictates its growth rate, so deeper tint can slow it further. In a darkly tinted aquarium, we affix it higher on the hardscape, closer to the light. CO2 injection is not necessary, but adding it speeds growth. Roots that stay on the hardscape take up nutrients from the water column, so a light dose of liquid fertilizer supports them. Where the roots reach the substrate, a root tab placed beside them does the same. Slow growth leaves algae more time to settle on older leaves, so we check them regularly and remove any leaf that stays covered.

New leaves emerge from growing points along the rhizome. To propagate, we cut the rhizome with clean scissors or a blade, leave two to three leaves on each section, and attach each section to its own piece of hardscape. Each section will fill in slowly. Anubias Barteri also holds up on hardscape that rises above the waterline in a riparium or paludarium. We compost any excess and never release aquarium plants into local waterways.

Beneath the Leaves: Anubias barteri in the Wild

Anubias barteri belongs to Araceae, the aroid family that includes peace lilies and philodendrons. Like its relatives, it flowers on a spadix, a spike of tiny flowers wrapped in a leaf-like spathe. It is also one of the few aquarium plants that can flower fully submerged, so an established plant may open a spathe beneath the waterline.

Where a botanical contributes as it breaks down, an aquatic plant is living and contributes as it grows. So let them grow. Mother Nature leads the way.

Sustainability Note:

Please select a heat/cold pack if necessary. Check your local weather before ordering to avoid any shipment holds or cancellations. All Plants may contain snails or snail eggs. We keep them in all of our aquariums for the benefits they provide. Our blackwater aquarium plants are provided in cooperation with PNW Bettas in adherence to their Shipping and DOA Policies. Your curated selection will arrive in their packaging separate from your botanical, wood & merch orders.