Anubias 'Petite' Carpet - Super Glue + Pebbles

[Urban Aquaria]

In my recent aquascape project, i was looking for ways to fill a section of the tank substrate area that is under perpetual shade, this meant that i had to use plants which could tolerate lower light conditions. In addition, i wanted something that could be shifted around easily without messing up the substrate and clouding the water.

I had good experience with Anubias sp. 'Petite' in my other planted tanks as they exhibited nice compact growth in a wide range of tank and light conditions, but so far i have only attached them to wood pieces as accents or to fill small gaps between rocks.

The idea to use them as an actual carpet plant popped up as it was time to harvest a bunch of new plantlets from my existing plants, so i worked out a plan to weigh them down with small pebbles, yet still keeping their rhizomes above the substrate.

I wasn't too keen to use thread or fishing line to manually tie tiny plantlets to tiny pebbles (too much fiddly tying work and eye strain!)... so i used super glue instead.

Here is the method i used:



I split the harvested Anubias sp. 'Petite' plantlets into separate bunches, then prepared a tray of small dark-grey pebbles (around 5-10mm in diameter, from LFS), along with "jelly type" super glue (from Daiso).

The "jelly type" super glue has a thicker viscosity than normal super glue (there is a percentage of resin content in it), so its much easier to use when gluing plantlets to objects.

I have used this glue in my other tanks before and it has been safe for the flora and fauna so far. Though if you happen to keep particularly sensitive fishes or shrimps, it might be a good idea to just try a small amount in a spare tank to test first (and have peace of mind) before using it in your main tanks.



Select the pebble size to match the plantlet size. Trim away longer roots from the plantlet to facilitate easier attachment.

Apply a few tiny drops of super glue, use as little as possible or else the excess could smear out and create an unsightly layer of visible residue.



Find the widest surface area on the plantlet rhizome and attach it to the pebble. Hold them together securely for at least 15-20 seconds.



Repeat the process for all the plantlets, you'll now have a nice selection of Anubias sp. 'Petite' plants that can stay submerged on their own.



Just place them anywhere on your substrate and they will sit on it without floating, use a pair of tweezers to push them slightly into the substrate to hide the pebble bases, but still keeping their rhizomes on top.

As you an see from the photo below, when grouped together the Anubias sp. 'Petite' plants make for a nice carpet of plants.



Note that these plant will naturally grow roots into the substrate over time, so they'll be able to get additional nutrients though the soil and it also helps establish them more securely on the substrate too.

As the plants grow, just harvest more plantlets and glue them on pebbles, then arrange them to gradually create a nice carpet effect.

This is what they look like after further propagation and adding in more plantlets...



Here is what they look like in my current aquascape.



I guess with enough care and patience, it could actually be possible to eventually carpet an entire tank with Anubias sp. 'Petite' too!

[Dodofish]

Very nice. First time I see petite nana as carpet, it really blend in your tank scape very well.

[Urban Aquaria]

Very nice. First time I see petite nana as carpet, it really blend in your tank scape very well.

Thanks!

I was inspired seeing aquascapes with entire wood pieces covered in anubias petite, they reminded me so much like a dense carpet plant... so i got the idea of just planting them on top of the substrate instead. Seems to work well.

[ConcaveLiNkiN]

Nice! Great idea! The small little pebbles looks really cute. Once they get denser, it will look really nice.


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[Xanavi]

Good sharing! May i know how long does it take for the glue to set before you can place them underwater?

[Urban Aquaria]

Good sharing! May i know how long does it take for the glue to set before you can place them underwater?

Just hold the 2 parts together for 15-20 seconds will do, then can immediately put into the water... i've read that moisture and water actually accelerates the curing time of super glue too.

[gid]

very very niceeee!

But i will be concerned that the anubias may float when as they grow bigger. The buoyancy of a bigger cluster may outweigh the weight of the small pebbles.

[Urban Aquaria]

very very niceeee!

But i will be concerned that the anubias may float when as they grow bigger. The buoyancy of a bigger cluster may outweigh the weight of the small pebbles.

Interestingly i found that the larger the cluster the heavier it tends to be (probably due to weight of the larger rhizome) and its much easier to sink. Could also be because Anubias sp. 'Petite' leaves are small compared to the rhizome.

There were some of the larger bunches with 20-25 leaves in there which i didn't actually need to attach with pebbles and they already sink automatically, but i still glued on a pebble as a base to help keep them sitting upright and prevent them from rolling around the substrate.

I guess if any of them do start to float, just super glue another pebble to the base and it'll sink again.

[mukyo]

maybe they will float mid water?
that would be freakishly cool

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[bennyc]

Thanks for sharing.

Imitation is the best form of flattery. So urban bro, I will "copy" this for my next scape! haha

[erwinx]

yup i want to copy this as well to fill up shaded areas! i guess this can also be done with larger Anubias varieties, but with larger pebbles?

[Urban Aquaria]

maybe they will float mid water?
that would be freakishly cool

Yeah, i guess if you can find the precise weight of pebble to achieve perfect buoyancy equilibrium on a plantlet, it could also just float around in mid-water on its own.

Thanks for sharing.

Imitation is the best form of flattery. So urban bro, I will "copy" this for my next scape! haha

Glad to share the method... it'll definitely be cool to see interesting scaping ideas spring from it too.

yup i want to copy this as well to fill up shaded areas! i guess this can also be done with larger Anubias varieties, but with larger pebbles?

Yup, just attach heavier (or more) pebbles to the larger Anubias plants to make them sink.

To figure out the weight of pebble to use, i just temporarily wedge it in between the roots or leaves of the plantlet, then see if it sinks.

[mukyo]

Just curious. Ever try to use with other? Ferns? Moss?
If possible would really want to stay away from tying with string, i hate the shifting part

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[Urban Aquaria]

Just curious. Ever try to use with other? Ferns? Moss?
If possible would really want to stay away from tying with string, i hate the shifting part

I've used the method with Java fern before, works the same, just glue enough pebbles across the rhizome so that it sinks.

Moss is more tricky though, they have very fine stems/leaves so you'll need to glue them very carefully and evenly in clumps. Main issue is the exposed cured glue residue will usually be visible for a while and some of the glued moss will tend to die off too (until more moss grows over and replaces them).

[milk_vanilla]

Always a good stuff to learn, Urban. I'm not anubias fans, but could be useful on my future scape

[erwinx]

Couldn't find the same size dark coloured pebbles in your photo (only have light coloured ones at C328/Seaview), so got a bag of larger 3cm black flat pebbles from Seaview. Wish I could find the 1cm black pebbles that you got

Got a tub of Anubias petite and a much cheaper tub of normal Anubias Barteri (Petite more than expensive, so try 1 tub of each first).

I'm using regular superglue, no problems with the gluing. You can use a toothpick to apply and manipulate the superglue rather than straight from the tube (tip from my plastic modelling days...)

Anyone know if Teo's has Anubias Petite or any other cheap source? (1 small tub for $7 at LFS quite expensive if I want to start a carpet in the shaded parts of my tank)

[Urban Aquaria]

Just for reference, the pebbles i used were bought from Mainland Tropical... you can find more discussions about the pebbles in this thread:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...smooth-pebbles

[David]

Well done UA.....sooooo....can I start troubling you to glue plants for me?.....HAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!!!!!

[Urban Aquaria]

Well done UA.....sooooo....can I start troubling you to glue plants for me?.....HAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!!!!!

Sure... but after i glue the plants they might "disappear" into my tanks and you might never get them back.

[felix_fx2]

I'm using regular superglue, no problems with the gluing. You can use a toothpick to apply and manipulate the superglue rather than straight from the tube (tip from my plastic modelling days...)

so the glue no white white?
nana still ok, if softer plants would have been afffected already.