my first live plants

[cichlidbuddy]

i bought 2 chunks of java fern today. i put it in my 10g with a betta, some neons and a bamboo shrimp. the lady at the store gave me some floaty plant for free. will the java fern grow quickly? is there anything special i should do for it? my lights are on a timer with about 16 hours on. i have an AC30 and a triangle sponge filter on the tank. also bought seachem flourish, but not really sure if i should use it.

 

[ThePBM]

16 hours is too long, it's stressing your fish and more than your plants need. what kind of lighting is it? java fern is said to be quite easy to grow, and the only pointer in growing it successfully is that you don't treat it like other plants. it's a fern, and needs its rhizomes above the surface of your substrate, so only the lower roots should be buried. it would also be fine without flourish, and you should maybe see if flourish will hurt your shrimp before using it.

 

[cichlidbuddy]

in tropical areas the sun is up at 530 and down at 830. my lights are only an hour longer than that. i dont see any actions indicating stress in any way.

i guess i need to un-bury the fern then, not sure if i buried the rhizones.

i was wondering about the flourish. doesnt say anything about ill effects on fish or inverts.

thanks for the help

 

[Fish Etc]

Try to tie the java fern in to a piece of driftwood or some rocks, stone etc..

You can dose flourish without any problem, just follow the recommend dosage and you can also try the seachem excel.

Jave Fern are slow grower plants