java fern Qs

[bra_van_drakh]

i've been keeping a handfull of java fern in my 20 gal long tank for 6months now, and the old leaves started to fall after it 'gave birth' to plenty of new shoots. . .since the hole in my log is alredy full, i was thinking of putting it on the gravel, is it possible ??? my lfs said that it cant be done [i thought that he just wanted me to buy his nice looking log with ferns on t]

another Q. . ..my spatterdog came in with large leaves, but after the old ones died off, it left the plant with small leaves, same as my fern, lace java fern, and my syngonium. . ..does the tank size applies to it as it is for fish ???

 

[black hills tj]

I don't think that you can grow java ferns in the substrate. You could attach it to decorations or other sections of your log if you wanted. I have a pretty good sized narrow leaf java fern attached to a rock in my tank.

 

[Sicklid]

I tie several babies to chunks of flat lava rock once they start their own rhizomes, and they grow into huge bunching ferns that I lay right on the substrate... I will post pics if ya want.

 

[QTOFFER]

Once the baby fern has a rhizome, you can partially bury it in the substrate. The little brown roots will attach themselves to pieces of gravel over time.

I haven't had too much success partially burying leaves that had sprouted babies - they float upward because there's nothing growing downward to anchor them. I have been successful wedging sprouting leaves into cracks in rocks and driftwood.

 

[bra_van_drakh]

want to, some picts would be great^^. ..

i've ran out of holes on my log for the java fern and its sprouts.. .the sprouts've been growing well till now [besides its small leaves]
so is it okay to bury the grown ones too on the gravel ???

i wanted to tie them to my log, but it's gonna difficult since it's half crescent shaped and buried 3" down to the gravel, and i dont want to put it out of the tank coz it'll bring catastrophy to the entire tank T _ T'
besides, i'm moving to aussie next month and dont wanna make my brother difficult later on taking care of my tank, so i just wanna get a quite quick way to add some greenies to my tank.. .i thought tieing the fern to a decoration would take quite some time and also not 100% successful. . .

thX all^^

 

[black hills tj]

I use low strength monofilament fishing line. Doesn't take long, and as far as my java ferns go it has worked great. You can't see it(go with lo-vis clear), and once you can see that the plant has taken hold of the object you just give it a quick snip and pull it out.

 

[Sicklid]

Here is a photo of my tank full of Java Fern growing on the rocks and substrate... Victorian cichlids love to eat my Watermelon swords which is why they are uprooted and floating!

All of the ferns (and more I have given away) were grown from one three-leafed rhizome over one year. The four across the front are resting on the substrate tied to the lava rock, the rest are just jammed in the crevices.

Don't know why the photo looks so bad, but click on it to see the real thing.

 

[theotheragentm]

I think the forums is using some sort of PHP package to reduce the quality of the the thumbnails on this forum to provide lower bandwidth costs and faster load times. Personally I think the idea stinks as a thumbnail is supposed to give an indication of what a larger image looks like so you can know whether you want to see it. Still, it's not my bill to pay, so whatever keeps this forum going...

 

[bra_van_drakh]

owkay. . .that's just incredibly great tank u have^^. . .all of the ferns look so fresh n large .. .thX for sharing that

are those 4 on the front just sitting there above the sand or buried ??? so is it okay just to bury the rhizomes under the gravel if they didn't float back ???

 

[fish 'n' fries]

If you plant the rhizome under the substrate it'll rot. However, I have several rhizome plants (java fern, anubias, bolbitis) "planted" in the substrate by their roots. I've done this with Eco, gravel and sand. I'm able to anchor just the roots in the substrate and keep the rhizome above the substrate. If you have enough roots on the java fern you could do this.

 

[Sicklid]

owkay. . .that's just incredibly great tank u have^^. . .all of the ferns look so fresh n large .. .thX for sharing that

are those 4 on the front just sitting there above the sand or buried ??? so is it okay just to bury the rhizomes under the gravel if they didn't float back ???

Hey Bra, thanks for the compliments! I use dark brown cotton thread and tie several baby plantlets to a flat rock, preferably with some "rough tooth" to it so the thread wont slide around. The brown blends in with all the roots, and The rock is invisible once everyone grows out. All plants were grown from one rhizome in a tank with co2. The tank you see here is low tech with no co2. The original tank was a 2.5 gallon, they got huge! I had to transfer them to the 55.

The rock also acts as a weight to keep the ferns in place. The rock is just sitting on the sand with the rhizomes safely above.

The ones sitting on the boulders are also on small rocks, it really makes it easy to move and clean around them and to change the aquascape... If you want some babies, I am going to be clipping some off soon that already have roots. PM me...

 

[bra_van_drakh]

cant wait to see this little babies^^. . ..

so, if i could plant the roots down under by keeping the rhizomes up above the gravel. . .but i'll try to do it like that, tieing them to a small stone. . .thX sow much Sicklid^^