Anubias barteri var. coffeifolia

Anubias barteri

A variety of:Anubias

A form of Anubias barteri with a bumpy leaf surface: ridges rise between the veins, giving the leaf the look of a coffee-plant leaf — hence the name var. coffeifolia, sold under the name 'Coffeefolia'.

Light: low
Difficulty: very easy
Height: 3 – 40 cm (1.2 – 16 in)
Temperature: 12 – 30 °C (54 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: rhizome
Growth rate: slow
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: low – high
pH: 5 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 21 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: on stone and wood +5 on stone and wood, cichlid-proof, midground, background, foreground, nano tank
Propagation: rhizome division, division +1 rhizome division, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Young leaves are orange-brown, darkening to deep green over time; the leaf stalks start out brownish-red. Between the side veins the blade is strongly domed — this texture is what recalls the leaf of the coffee plant (Coffea). Height 10–25 cm, plant width 10–30 cm — more compact than var. barteri and var. caladiifolia.

Keeping

Just as easy to keep as the species, but underwater it grows noticeably slower than most related forms. Light from dim to bright, CO₂ 5–40 mg/l, temperature 22–26 °C.

Placement

Tie the creeping stem to a stone or a piece of wood, where it roots in on its own over time; do not plant it in the substrate. Mid- and foreground, and it copes well with cichlids; in the damp shade of a paludarium it is decorative above water too.

Trade names

It has long been sold under the names 'Coffeefolia' and 'Coffeifolia'. As a botanical variety (var. coffeifolia) it was only described in 2010; its exact place of origin in the wild is not known.

Water conditions match

The water suits 1034 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Spined Loach Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Anubias lanceolata N. E. Brown, Anubias minima Chevalier
Family: Araceae
Conservation status: LC