FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I was placing my plant order today and saw banana plants on sale for .32 so I decided to get a couple. Are they hardy, easy to grow?

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I had a real hard time getting mine to stay in the gravel but once it rooted in it grew great. I did make the mistake of trying to move it and that was the beginning of its demise. I seem to have a black thumb when it comes to aquarium plants.

Steph

Last edited by doedogg at 26-Oct-2004 10:05

---

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Hi,
This plant is defined as a perennial plant. The "bananas"
are called "root tubercles" and are where the plant stores
its reserve nutrients. It is found in mild currents, or
shallow stagnent water in warm SUNNY places. The roots
are primarely there for anchoring purposes and it draws
most of its nutrients from the water column itself.
The light should be direct (it should not be shaded) and
around 3 watts/gallon. It "perfers" a water temp between
68-77. It propagates by seeds which fall off onto the
water's surface, or from young plants that spring from
separated leaves or their cuttings.

The most frequent causes for failure with this plant are:

Lack of light - it demands intense, direct light
the same as if it were out in the open under direct
sunlight.

Improper planting - The bananas should touch the gravel,
and the roots be buried. If you plant the bananas, then
they rot and the plant dies.

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 26-Oct-2004 12:41

Last edited by FRANK at 29-Oct-2004 14:40

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I actually have a banana plant that lost it's 'bananas' 3 months ago, and it is doing nothing but thriving. The bananas rotted out and the plant totally took off since then. The shoots go all the way up to the surface of my 33 gallon tank and act like lilly pads, which they didn't do before. No bananas, just a bunch of thick roots anchoring it to the bottom. It gets a new shoot every couple of weeks.

I have heard you shouldn't plant the bananas too deep or they die, and I didn't. Maybe it's the tank. All the plants in there rock and roll, no matter the type. No additives, no nothing but natural fish excrement (yum!).

So yeah, in my experience they are great, easy to care for plants.

John

i got mine 2 weeks ago- the dollar price was too hard to pass up. i could not keep it anchored properly in the gravel (every one says not to plant it like a normal plant), so i wedged it in a root crevice on a fake tree trunk. it has since thrived- multiple leaves sprouting every whichway, vibrant green, and all of my fish ignore it.

i have read their lifespan is only about one year- is this true?

Personally, this is one of my favorite plants in my 20 gallon... it was huge, lush, with big leaves that had spreads of 2-4".

Then I reaquascaped to display this plant more prominently and it didn't like that. It lost all it's leaves and tried to shoot up new ones several times.

It wasn't until the tubers started to fall apart that the leaves sprouted again and are starting to thrive. (Just as I was about to give up on it, of course.) Not sure how well it's going to survive, but it's starting to look better... This is what it looked like right after redoing the tank:


Last edited by kitten at 04-Nov-2004 13:34[/font]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~