Anubias can survive and some even thrive and flower under water forever. Anubias is also very heat and water parameter resistant and therefore a nice edition to Discus aquariums. On top of that fish don’t usually predate on the leaf’s or rhizome, enabling cichlid keepers to have a planted aquarium as well. If that is not enough, Anubias love to grow on aquarium décor and accessories, making them great addition to aquariums that are bare bottom or house fish that love to dig.
Anubias species interbreed extremely easy and every breeder tend to have their own hybrids on their farm and use a name they think might suit their hybrid the best. So please understand that some of the species specific information might not represent your plant 100%
With that in mind this is what I know of this species.
Description
Anubias hastifolia
Leafs are 9 to 67cm
Width to length ratio = 1-2.5
Leaf type 3. Arrow with ear-like base
Rumoured to fail to survive to adulthood in submerged environment, but my experience with this hybrid is that it does survive, especialy if CO2 is added.
Placement
Anubias is an epiphyte (plant that don’t need to be planted in substrate) and therefore will prefer to be attaching to décor. Use cotton thread as it dissolve naturally after a while.
You can plant the roots in substrate but ensure that the rhizome is NOT BURIED as this can easily lead to rot.
Adjustment.
The great news is Anubias does not go through an emersed to submerged stage IE. They don’t throw of their old leafs for new leafs when submerged in your aquarium, the existing leafs adjust to the new environment. But as with all golden moments there must be a thorn somewhere and Anubias thorn is GROWTH, Anubias is a slow grower but if you give it a good environment you can expect a new leaf every 2 to 3 week.
Lighting.
Anubias prefer lower lighting conditions, but to speed up growth more lighting is needed. BUT and this is important, they hate high lightening conditions. You will notice leaf deformation if lighting is too intense.
CO2
CO2 will help with growth BUT excessive ORGANIC material with over feeding of nutrients, can lead to holes in the leafs. If your leaf form is arrow shaped then I would recommend CO2 for optimum health.
Notes