• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Anubias ‘Snow white’

M

Miko€

New Member
Joined
1 May 2023
Messages
13
Location
Netherlands
Hello experts,
Does anyone of successfully grow this variety? The lack of green color meant this variety has limited chlorophyll to power itself to survive. The rhizome is green though. I looked around I cannot find a non in-vitro stock. This is sold only in-vitro. Just wondering if this only grows in-vitro for a short time but not really in an aquarium set up.
Miko
IMG_1592.jpeg
 
No personal experience but there's a couple of threads about Anubias snow white and they all seemingly report failure in an aquarium set up.

Are Anubias Snow White a waste of time and money

It seems that everytime somebody mentions Anubias Snow White it is because it is melting. I can't recall anybody being able to grow this, even some of the members that I would regards as semi pro's have no positive results. What are your thoughts on the plant?
www.ukaps.org


www.ukaps.org

Anubias Snow White melted - will they recover ?

As the title says. And I mean completely melted. What could I have done wrong ? They got light, co2 and ferts. Some of them glued to rocks, others are fastened using string. Some get a lot of light and some are in shade. New tank 10 days. Will they recover ? I know not many have much experience...
www.ukaps.org

Hope you have more luck @Miko€
 
Miko€ said:
Hello experts,
Does anyone of successfully grow this variety? The lack of green color meant this variety has limited chlorophyll to power itself to survive. The rhizome is green though. I looked around I cannot find a non in-vitro stock. This is sold only in-vitro. Just wondering if this only grows in-vitro for a short time but not really in an aquarium set up.
Miko
View attachment 211190
Click to expand...
Lots of people selling and buying these but there are never any update pictures or any long term updates. Only once a reliable hobbyist grew these and reported that it survived but turned green like a regular Anubias.
There was some info somewhere that these plants (maybe some and not all) are bleached with alcohol or chloroform or something before selling. No idea if all of them are processed this way or there are genuine natural white variants.
 
Mortis said:
genuine natural white variants
Click to expand...
I don't like these and similar. To me, they look sick and/or artificial. And indeed, most of these white plants suffer from viral disease, or, like you say, are produced completely artificially. I daresay they show lack of understanding and respect for nature, and, in broader terms, are a sign of bad taste.
 
Just why! It’s mad to breed and then try to grow a plant without chlorophyll. Especially under water
 
There is a Green Aqua video with Takayuki Fukada, who presents an aquarium with white Anubis. He says that high lighting and nutrients turn the plant green; I wonder if it can survive long-term in the white form:
White Anubias part starts at 13:18
 
I doubt it. Many competition scapes are grown emersed and flooded for the photo shoot and then torn down.
 
I am going to ask the dumb question, how do they get it to go white. Is it just emersed + lots of light?
 
hax47 said:
There is a Green Aqua video with Takayuki Fukada, who presents an aquarium with white Anubis. He says that high lighting and nutrients turn the plant green; I wonder if it can survive long-term in the white form:
White Anubias part starts at 13:18
Click to expand...
Strange... Though he did not specify which cultivar, I've had a different experience. I have a white/varigated Anubias cultivar, the leaves grow more consistently white when grown in higher light. It tends to revert to green if left in the shade too long. The rhizome has always been green. I've not experimented with different nutrient levels, my tank usually runs rich.

Snow White I've never head of any success but there are other cultivars which grow well underwater.
 
Disaronno said:
Strange... Though he did not specify which cultivar, I've had a different experience. I have a white/varigated Anubias cultivar, the leaves grow more consistently white when grown in higher light. It tends to revert to green if left in the shade too long. The rhizome has always been green. I've not experimented with different nutrient levels, my tank usually runs rich.

Snow White I've never head of any success but there are other cultivars which grow well underwater.
Click to expand...
Would you mind sharing pictures and giving some details of your setup? Co2, light, positioning of successful plants, etc?
 
@Miniandy
IMG_20230930_232814.jpg
I got it as small rhizome just before the first COVID lock down happened. It was not sold as TC, it was already attached to a rock when purchased. The LFS said it was Pinto however the leaves are much smaller than shown in other photos. Could be closer to nana petite origins?

I leave it in the tank middle where it's not too shaded. It has gone through some ups and downs (mostly algae and ahem over done algae treatments). Most common algae problems is green dust and some kind of black algae that is strongly attached to leaf edges. However these usually happen if the nutrients are too lean (particularly NO3) IME.

I should clarify, the leaves keep their whiteness and marbling, does not progressively turn green over time. What I meant previously, if you leave the plant in the shade too long, the new leaves that are produced are likely to be green(er).

Tank parameters:
NO3: 20-40ppm
PO4: 4ppm (has run awhile at 8ppm without problems)
K: 25-30ppm
Fe: 0.25-0.5ppm
GH: 4-6d
KH: 1-2d
Temp: 75F (23.8C)
pH: ? (haven't measured, no pH pen and API test can't read below 6.4)
CO2: Yes
Lighting: DIY 120W fixture using Bridgelux Thrive 5000K at 70W. Distance to water surface maybe 12 inches.
Tank size: was 40 gallon breeder, now 60 gallon breeder
Substrate: Safe-T-Sorb (inert clay, not sold for aquariums)
 
Last edited:
Looks like Pinto with a high level of white variegation. The variegation is caused by genetic variation - parts of your plant will have the gene(s) for colouration broken/inactivated - those are the white parts. You can grow this plant. The greener parts will gradually outgrow the less green parts, which you can fresh up with by pruning to stimulate new growth from the rhizome. For me the Pinto leaves were larger than what yours are (although it's hard to tell necessarily from the photo). Enjoy your plant!
 
I'll let you know in a couple of weeks but I suspect they won't last long term in a tank, in fact one didn't even make it to me in the post and arrived as mush!

My interest was piqued when telling someone else they wouldn't last in a tank so I thought I'd try again myself to be certain by placing them all at different levels of light / shade and substrate.

Most of them have made it nearly two weeks in my tank but look weak and sickly with only a few of them throwing off tiny new leaves - though it could of course just be this tank which I've been struggling a bit with as it is, albeit it seems to be coming round now.

Worst case scenario is my Ramshorns have some extra food!

I think any of the other varieties, including pinto, would be better both in suitability and aesthetically speaking.

Edit: I should add that I also did my usual in vitro trick, for a handful of them, of clearing the gel and placing in suitable pot next to the window to give them time to adjust - needless to say this trick didn't work for these and they turned to mush in days with water becoming hazy, something that I don't usually see with most in Vitro plants.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20231002_084344_Gallery.jpg
    Screenshot_20231002_084344_Gallery.jpg
    513.6 KB · Views: 87
  • 20231001_150509.jpg
    20231001_150509.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 79
Last edited:
Miko€ said:
Hello experts,
Does anyone of successfully grow this variety? The lack of green color meant this variety has limited chlorophyll to power itself to survive. The rhizome is green though. I looked around I cannot find a non in-vitro stock. This is sold only in-vitro. Just wondering if this only grows in-vitro for a short time but not really in an aquarium set up.
Miko
View attachment 211190
Click to expand...
I’m going to buck the trend on here and say that looks really nice. It would look great in my aquarium. I’ll be trying to source one soon. ;)
 
Aqua sobriquet said:
I’m going to buck the trend on here and say that looks really nice. It would look great in my aquarium. I’ll be trying to source one soon. ;)
Click to expand...
Good luck, you may need it!

To be honest if they thrived, grew well and looked healthy then I'd be inclined to agree with you, however I suspect that even if they can last long term they will do so looking a little worse for the wear.
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Agreed. I'm not a <"fan of variegation personally">, but having some more chlorophyll is going to make things more tenable <"Anubias barteri var. nana ’Pinto’ - Tropica Aquarium Plants">.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
Indeed, I'm a bit of a house plant fan and if you get a mutation in a varigated variety to all white, no chlorophyll, it almost certainly will not end well.

Varigated house plants are themselves difficult enough, let alone all white mutations, and notwithstanding the obvious issues with light, the fact this is also the case for plants that have no CO2 limitation speaks volumes.

I will update with what I believe will be an expected, somewhat inevitable, failure. At best I imagine some may revert enough to survive, though it will be interesting to see if some do better than others [initial observations seem to indicate that they actually do better (in general overall healthy appearance) shaded, much like their more colourful counterparts] - this could I suppose be part of their long term issue - slow growing don't like light but have higher light requirements!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top