Anubias which is best for background

[Bev C]

 wondering which Anubias is best for the background   and midground for 10 gallon i want  both  skinny and fat  leaves for my shrimp tank   ,, the guppy grass and java moss I have in  now is not doing well  doing ..  and Java fern does not do well for me either i thought anubias and crypts might work well for  the shrimp … thanks for any advice … 

 I was  looking at the Anubias Gracilis & Anubias Coffeefolia  and the regular Anubias Barteri 

 

 

 

Edited May 26 by Bev C

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Mmiller2001

[Mmiller2001]

I like Barteri for background and Nana for mid ground. They have similar leaves though. Mix them together for a perfect full looking single plant.

[Ninjoma]

For background: hastifolia, caladiifolia 

For midground: barteri, coffeefolia, congensis, nana

[redfish]

I’m a fan of whatever I can keep alive 🤣 .  Barteri tends to do okay for me.  I’m adding some to my shrimp tank soon.

[nabokovfan87]

I vote smaller species for a wall affect.  If you use something bigger, it can lead to crowding.  Pecktec has a ton of videos on his tanks, I'll post the most recent one which shows a lot of his setups and the anubias wall affect.
 

 

[Odd Duck]

Barteri can get quite large and would make a good background.  Hastifolia has a nice, different leaf shape but likely gets too tall for a 10 gallon, mine is at least 18” tall.  Nana is a good mid ground for a 10 G.  Nana petite is a good foreground.  A. minima would give a nice leaf shape difference with narrower leaves, same with congensis mini that is roughly the same height as nana but narrow leaves instead of more rounded leaves.

If you put barteri in the back, nana in midground, and nana petite in foreground, it will look like a sweep of the same plant getting bigger in back like it’s new, low growth starting at the front edge.  If you reverse that and use your tallest barteri at the front (but kept not too dense), then still nana at mids, and put little nana petite on a steep slope all the way in back, then you can use forced perspective to make it look like your tank is much deeper front to back.  Aquascaping trick that fools your eye.

There’s at least a couple Josh Sims videos floating around where he talks about using finer stuff at the back to make it look more distant.  Here’s one where you see the effect a bit but I can’t find the video where he talks about the perspective thing more.  I’m pretty sure it was a Green Aqua video, too.

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 5/28/2023 at 5:15 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I vote smaller species for a wall affect.  If you use something bigger, it can lead to crowding.  Pecktec has a ton of videos on his tanks, I'll post the most recent one which shows a lot of his setups and the anubias wall affect.
 

 

That’s my ideal living room! 😂

My vote goes for Barteri at the back and Nana at the front. Makes for a nice ‘forest’ effect. 

[FLFishChik]

This is an Anubias Barteri in my 29g tank. It is a monster! Had become my centerpiece plant.

[Bev C]

 Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice  @nabokovfan87 and @Odd Duck thanks for the videos beautiful tanks ,,, My dream tanks LOL ! I follow Pecktec on YouTube with Corey and Bentley @redfish I agree any plants alive is a good one I kill a few some of the easy plants hate me ,,,,, but I have not killed a crypt, sword or anubias yet (except 1 had rot when I got it in the mail, and it was replaces by store owner) @FLFishChik Wow that is a big one ,,,, but pretty 

This is getting so hard to decide when I go shopping I see everything I want for the 10, 20  & 55 gallons ... LOL, it took me 2 days to decide  ! 

I already have some Nana barteri anubias and some nano petite in my bigger tank … I think I will move them in my 10 gallon and add some Anubias Nana Wrinkle Leaf with it.

  It says the Nana  barteri  anubias will be a little taller so that can go in the back, and it has a smooth leaf and I can put the wrinkle leaf midground I also got Anubias Nana Bonsai to go midground with the wrinkle and foreground with the nano petite I have two small dragon stone rocks towards the front ,,, 

Then also ordered  Anubias Gracilis  (really fell in love with the leaf) & Anubias Coffeefolia for my bigger tank to cover a large ACO sponge filter and replace where the 2  Nana barteri anubias that I will move to the 10 gallon 

 

 Hope all that made sense ... Thanks everyone Happy Holidays  

Edited May 29 by Bev C

[Odd Duck]

Made sense to me and sounds like a good plan!

[Bev C]

Thanks Old Duck  i appreciate all the help … 

[Lennie]

On 5/29/2023 at 6:59 PM, Bev C said:

I already have some Nana barteri anubias and some nano petite in my bigger tank

You can always multiply them! Propagating anubias is very easy. Also would save you some money 🙂 

[anewbie]

For a 10 i would avoid the larger anubias - but i would get something with a bit of change in tone - a couple include golden nana (lime green) and pinto (dark green mixed with white); another anubia that is larger than nana but not super large like bateri is afzelii anubia which has a different leaf shape than others mentioned. I do like coffee but it is a large plant like bateri and even a 29 is probably a bit small for those two over long term.

Edited Wednesday at 07:47 PM by anewbie

[Odd Duck]

I don’t know why, but I always forget about A. afzelii.  That’s a great suggestion from @anewbie for size for a 10 G and a different leaf shape.  And I can’t believe I didn’t mention A. nana ‘Golden’ since it’s one of my favorites for leaf color contrast, another great suggestion from @anewbie.  A. barteri ‘Dark Angel’ is also great for color contrast since it’s darker than typical Anubias and has the small size of nana petite.  @Bev C, now you have enough suggestions for a couple 10 G tanks.  😃