plant ID for newbie

[cowfish7]

Just starting to plant my tank(s).
Want low light, no fert/CO2 for my shrimp and shrimp/fish tanks.
Picked these up from petco - the first looks like java fern...hopefully narrow leaf java, tied onto coco husk?
The other thing, I have never seen before, is a bendable stick with moss (I think it is tied on). Really cannot figure out what the bendable thingy is, of course my main question is safety for shrimps , and if it actually lasts.
I took the photo of these in a holding bucket I have. Also need to know best way to clean them before adding to shrimp tank.

 

[Krissycakes]

The first plant is java fern but not sure what type or what its tied to. And the bendable stick has java moss on it most likely. Hope it grows in your tank

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[Brian_Nano12g]

As mentioned, java fern and java moss. I'm pretty sure that's not narrow leaf java fern. It's the regular variety.

I'd just rinse it well with tap water prior to placing it in your tank. You can dip it in some dechlorinized water after.

 

[cowfish7]

Well I guess regular java fern is cool, too. Just thought the narrow leaf one would be better for the 'small' 10 gal size.
I am interested in making more of it and spreading it around.
The roots take up the full length of the coco husk now. Is it OK to cut off a few stems from the ends and plant elsewhere ? I would try to pry off the roots from the coco husk. Is there a minimum size cutting I should take?

Hopefully smooth river rocks are OK for replanting, since that is all I have. I was actually going to tie them to small clay pots lying sideways, but the pots made the water cloudy in my test tank.

I assume the parent plant would then fill in after I remove the stems from the ends?

 

[Krissycakes]

Java fern grows kinda slow, you can break off some rhizome with at least two leaves. (I have a single leaf without a rhizome that has two leaflets on them, only today after a month did it release the leaflets. I think its done growing now, but will keep it to see if it does die.)

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[Fishfur]

Java fern grows so slowly, especially in a low tech tank, that I would not cut the rhizomes. Instead, wait awhile, you will get plantlets growing on the leap tips. Any leaf that breaks off can be left to float and is likely to produce a plantlet or two before it dies. It won't grow roots or rhizome, but the plantlets will have roots and tiny rhizomes.

You can tie the new plantlets onto anything, rocks, wood, whatever, using thread or fishing line. The bendable thing may be plastic, but the moss should be ok. Moss will slowly attach itself to substrate, rock and wood, so you can pull some moss off the stick and tie it to whatever you like as well. It will take some time, but if it grows, which it should, it's faster than the ferns. You can, with time, get nice big mossy rocks or wood pieces that shrimp will adore.