Weird....help!

[Emclenaghan]

I have some sort of sword in my tank. I have had it for a month or two. Not sure of what type, I got it at a grocery store... I know, I know but they always have cool cheap plants at this one!

Anyways, I know if plants aren't getting what they need that they can shoot roots out and that is what this one has done. There are roots coming from the tips of the leaves. I added root tabs and now those root shoots are growing new leaves. The first pic is just a clear pic of a single leaf from the plant that hasn't done this. The second is the weird plant with the shoots at the top.

My questions are: is this normal? Can I separate those leaves from the tips and plant them or are they worthless? And will it hurt the plant if I trim all those ugly root shoots off the leaf tips? I need better lights for sure but haven't gotten back to the "good" fish store to get them. Is there anything else I can do for my plants?

Oh and it's a 55 gallon tank with 2 18" lights, the ones that came with the top fin set up I got from Petsmart.

 

[Batt4Christ]

It's java fern! Easy to grow, and the "little baby plants", as my daughters like to call them, is the primary way these plants reproduce/propagate.

When the new plants start looking like a "real" plant, you can very carefully remove stand plant it.

Java ferns actually like to root on rocks/bog wood. Sometimes they don't handle being fully burried.

 

[Emclenaghan]

I have gravel substrate and I planted them right in front of the bubble wall and they seem to be doing ok . I tried not to plant any of my plants too deep in the gravel because I had read that some plants don't like their roots buried.

So, when I do remove the baby plants and replant them, I have a piece of wood in my tank. Can I just tie the new plant to it with fishing line?

 

[Batt4Christ]

Yep- just use thing cotton or fishing line to tie the new plants to driftwood or rocks. Over time, they will latch on and grow.

As a side nite- there are a few fairly common varieties of these ferns- all that I have encountered are hardy and easy to grow. Some a bit smaller and more "grasslike" through what you have- more "swordlike". One I am considering is one that has hand-like fronds.