[Hedgie]

I bought some Mayaca from the LFS the other day, but I noticed when planting the stems that several were growing downwards. Some stems have a bend of almost 180 degrees, while others have a loop that ends downwards. I haven't trimmed believing that the stems would shoot towards the light again, but they haven't- they've continued to grow downwards.

What would cause this? I haven't read anything about this being a natural thing for the plant. Would some sort of deficiency cause this?

Attached is a pic.

Please ignore the sick Anubis in the background. I had to move the tank on a 47c day (116F) and the leaves got a bit dried out.

 

[Zapins]

It isn't usual plant growth, but it also isn't that uncommon to see. In many cases when plants grow away from lights it means the light is too intense for them, but the reason it is too intense might be different. So the question is: what type of lighting do you have?

You mentioned that you just got it recently from a LFS. What may have happened is that the plant grew accustomed to the lower light conditions present in most pet stores and when placed in your tank the lighting was too intense for it so it is growing away from the light until it adapts.

As an extra bit of information (and not related to the downwards growth problem) your plant looks like it needs more iron. Mayaca is a good iron indicator, where pale new growth usually means the iron levels are low. So I would add some more iron to help with the color and vigor of the plant.

Even though you said to ignore it - the damage on the anubias looks a lot like the damage my plecos used to do on my anubias.

 

[Hedgie]

Cheers for your response mate,

I'm only lighting it with some T-8's till my brand spanking new 180 gallon is ready to go. It's definitely more powerful than the LFS, but it was growing downwards when I got it. It's probably has something to do with whoever grew it out.

The pic doesn't do it any justice. It does look pale and yellow here, but in the tank its nice and green.

As for the Anubis, there is a bristlenose in the tank. There was some rasping before moving, but the move has made everything much much worse. It looked healthy before the move :Cry: She will get a big trim down when it migrates to the new tank, as right now there is only 1 or 2 healthy leaves.

Since I have people attention. I will have to trim post of the leaves off, and the rhizome is quite long, is it best to cut the rhizome smaller around the healthy leaves and through the rest out? Or can I trim the leaves and nick the rhizome to encourage multiple new growths?

 

[Zapins]

Just pull the leaves clean off the rhizome. The missing leaves will stimulate new leaf growth within a month or two without needing to nick the rhizome as long as the damaged area gets light.

You could also cut the rhizome up, but there is really no need to throw it away. Rhizomes will virtually always sprout leaves and roots, even very small pieces - I once regrew an entire anubias nana from a 1 cm by 1 cm section of rhizome that just floated around the tank for a few weeks. Amazing plants!

I also had bristlenose plecos and they did the same thing. So do clown plecos such a pity, because I really enjoyed watching them. But in my house plants are first - fish are just there to stop people asking why my fishtank has no fish in it.

 

[Ljeto]

I have a similar issue with Rotala Rotundifolia - they are bending and growing donwards, and it's not a pretty sight. I DO have 320 W of T5s with individual reflectors over a 375 L tank, but since I am successfully growing Glosso and Rotala Walichii in this tank, toning down the light is something the more demanding plants would not appreciate. I doubt it's any kind of defficiency, as the stem and leaf structure and color are OK, so my approach is wait and see, till (if) they adapt.