I'm new to live plants in an aquarium and have some java ferns. How do they grow and propagate? I;m pretty sure their roots grow and send off shoots. The real question is about the leaves. It looks like roots are growing off of them. Will these roots grab onto rocks of wood? Can you cut these leaves off and plant them? If you can when should you cut them off?
Can you tell me all about jave ferns?
- Thread starter ksauers
- Start date
I have dozens of plant species, high light and CO2, but this supposedly easy plant has never done all that well until I found out a method I saw on YouTube. Get a thin filter pad (about 1" thick by 3 x 6 or 12") the type that goes in an outside filter that can be reused. (I use and old one for this). Next go to the store and get some cheap clear plastic suction cups 1-2" are fine. Cut holes in the filter pad and insert the small end of the suction cup through the pad, using a small piece of stainless steel wire secure the cup to the pad (this may take a bit of doing until you get it right). Next using thread and a needle sew the java fern rhizomes to the front of the pad (i.e. criss cross the thread over the rhizomes) and stick them to the back glass, high up in bright light. Java ferns do not like to be rooted into substrate, and this method allows their roots to hang in the water. They are basically aquatic epiphytes and will quickly attach to the pad. The pads will look ugly for a time, however the fern pretty quickly covers them. The narrow leaf form looks really nice like this. The nice thing about this method is that you can move the entire "colony" of ferns where ever you want them without disturbing them. Even from tank to tank.
Java fern is a very awesome lower to medium light plant. I've got several large species of the stuff growing from wood and rocks in the tanks I've got. I started them off small. Attached them to the rock or wood with rubber bands or small fishing line. Java fern is not a normal plant based off of a stem or regular root systems like a sword plant. It uses a rhiozome. As it grows it will develop black spots on its body/leaves. From these will grow new plants. The plant gets larger as the rhiozome spreads.
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