# Care of baby java ferns?



## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Ah, springtime. The mint shoots up to double its purchase height and demands more water, the African violet erupts with blooms, the Japanese bird's nest grows out its leaves till they push against the walls of its corner...

...and the 1.4 gallon aquarium's weensy java fern comes up with _twelve babies_. (Halp.)

So, I started off with a single $4 java fern. Just a small, cheap one, nothing fancy, I got it thinking it'd help a little with tank maintenance and give Felix something to hide behind. A month and a half or so later, it kind of started exploding, because apparently spores + water = baby plants everywhere.

I detached the babies gently from the big leaves when I thought they were big enough and buried their roots in the white sand my tank has as substrate. I even took out a bunch of the big black rocks that were mixed in with the sand so I had more room for them and so the roots wouldn't cook if the rocks held too much heat in the Iowa summer weather. The tank's small but pretty empty decor-wise; I'd love to fill it with plants. (If they grow up and start reproducing like this in turn, though, I'm in trouble.)

*So, my questions...*

Several of the big fern's leaves have come loose or popped off, and I've just held them down with rocks or buried them in the sand 'cause they have babies on them that are too small to detach and plant. *Is that right? *The old plant seems fine, it's growing new leaves and everything. The detached leaves are still green... *will they root if I plant them upright?*

*Is there anything else I should be doing with these things?* Do I need organic potting soil under the sand or something for just ferns? Is it better for the plants/fish?

The tank has a light that's on for the about same amount of time that the sun would be up in the wild, maybe a little longer, and it gets indirect light from a single west window. *Is that too much light for a fern?*

I do a 50% WC every three days--*should I WC less frequently when they reach a certain size?* If so, *what size do they need to reach* before I slow down? I don't want the tank to end up too sterile for them to feed. I'd love if it started cycling. I don't have a test kit or anything to check that though.

I took pictures of what the tank looks like, and a close-up of maybe half the plants, which I put in a big cluster near the front. Felix photo-bombed it, the camera hog. XD He's just about an inch and a half long excluding fins, so he makes a nice size comparison.

I'm probably overthinking this, but I have no experience keeping aquarium plants. Houseplants, potted plants, gardens--that sort of thing, I'm good at keeping. My small bedroom is currently host to nine different things shoved in dirt and one lucky bamboo in a vase of water. But on-land plants have different rules and concerns than tank plants, and the reason my dirt plants are still alive is that I went out and asked questions and did research on them.

If you've read this far... here's a bunny with a fluffy tail.

.(\/)
.('.')
()())o

Thanks!


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## Elvette Emmett (Aug 16, 2013)

Java fern do great when they're attached to driftwood. I've never had an issue with how big the babies are before I pull them off, I've pulled off babies smaller than my pinky nail and they're been fine. Lighting I don't really know, mine live in no light, low light and high. Im not sure how big they grow but mine are no bigger than 5-6 inches


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## fidget (Aug 18, 2013)

Java ferns' rhizomes should be exposed- that's the thick area at the bottom. From what I understand, the roots can be buried but the rest should be exposed. 

Java fern can get big- I have one that's 10" that started as a 4" plant. I think they do best with light and ferts but will grow without much of either.

I have babies in a tank with soil- the roots are planted- it's growing slowly. Mine did best in a tank with gravel where the rhizome was unburied- it rooted itself in the gravel. I didn't do much vacuuming and it grew like crazy. All of my tanks have daylight spectrum bulbs that are on for 10 hours and none have any problems- but they can grow in low light too as far as I know.

As far as planted tanks go and cycling- it's up to you. Personally, I plant my tanks because I don't want to do as much maintenance and they're all cycled for the same reason. A 1.4 gal tank might be hard to do that with because it's small. The plant to fish ratio should be high. But, I don't know how hard it would be because my smallest tank is 5 gal. 

It looks like you have a filter. Are you rinsing out the tank every time you change the water? If not, it's starting to cycle on it's own, as long as you're putting dechlorinated water in it. You can always buy a bottle of Tetra Safe Start to speed up the process. 

More plants = more hiding places + cleaner water = happier fish.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Thanks, Elvette and Fidget 



fidget said:


> Java ferns' rhizomes should be exposed- that's the thick area at the bottom. From what I understand, the roots can be buried but the rest should be exposed.
> 
> Java fern can get big- I have one that's 10" that started as a 4" plant. I think they do best with light and ferts but will grow without much of either.
> 
> ...


First off, I really like your username.

I do have a filter--it's the one that came with the tank and it's really gentle, my fish likes it--but it doesn't do a whole lot. Its design is the kind that relies on gravity to push the water through, so it'll catch big pieces of algae, food I've missed, whatever, and it aerates the tank a bit.

I never do 100% water changes, with the idea of whatever bacteria I might have and my plants in mind and because Felix freaks out if I cup him. (Also, it's a pain.) Since I don't have a test kit for the tank water, I don't know what it's doing. I haven't put a whole lot of effort towards cycling because of how small it is, but I've heard it's possible to do so even with little tanks. I just rely on my regular water changes and water conditioner. (Currently Top Fin; I'll switch to Prime when I run out because lots of people here like it.)

How do you tell where the rhizome is on a baby plant? They don't exactly have much to them yet. Also, it's ridiculously difficult to keep them planted. Will they be okay as they are in my picture until they have a decent enough root structure, or should I try to shift them around a bit next water change so they're shallower?

I hope to eventually get a slightly larger tank for Felix, maybe three gallons. He's such an active little fish that I hate to keep him cooped up too much, and it would be nice to get him a snail and some nice decor and so on, and cycle it. But that won't come for a while, at least until I can find decent, cheap stuff, because I'm sixteen and don't have much for cash. Once a week I run into maybe ten, twenty bucks because of babysitting jobs and freelance web maintenance work, but I don't have a driver's license or else I'd be working at PetSmart. <<childhood dream job was to work in the fish department

Next year. _Next year._

If I had a ton of money to blow on tanks, he'd be living in, like, a densely planted, fully cycled 10g tank with some cory cats and a couple snails... a penthouse of a tank. That fish would be spoiled rotten.

Ah, well. I'm rambling again.


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## fidget (Aug 18, 2013)

Ok, first off- tyvm. 
Secondly, a biological filter is all your fish really needs. It doesn't have to be fancy or take big chucks of anything out of the water- you can do that manually fyi.  Get a turkey baster from the dollar store (wash it) and use it to suck up poo and food bits every week or two otherwise your filter will be basically useless because the bacteria collected on the sponge of your filter won't be enough to keep up with the decomposition of excess food/waste.

The rhizome is the thick part at the bottom of the leaf- basically the part that the root is attached to. It is super hard to keep them down lol. I leave them on the pappa leaf they're attached to and bury that- or put a gravel rock or two on top of the root. Java fern roots don't need to be buried- they can get nutrients out of the water column. 

Also, check out this forums classifieds section as well as FB- anything titled RAOK= Random Act of Kindness, people will send you stuff for postage or free.


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## tlatch89 (Apr 26, 2013)

The rhizomes need some light and can't be buried in the sand. I find they grow well in high light, although you may have to clean off some algae if you don't have co2.

50% every 3 days sounds a bit high, but since it's a 1.5g I guess it's no hurting anything.

Good luck - they should grow quickly!


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

tlatch89 said:


> The rhizomes need some light and can't be buried in the sand. I find they grow well in high light, although you may have to clean off some algae if you don't have co2.
> 
> 50% every 3 days sounds a bit high, but since it's a 1.5g I guess it's no hurting anything.
> 
> Good luck - they should grow quickly!


Thanks!

It might be a bit high, but this way I don't have to feel guilty if I have to postpone WCs for a day every so often because I know it's reasonably clean.

So if they can't be buried in sand, can I maybe loosely tie them to a thread or a single segment of yarn or something, and weigh them down with rocks? I'd rather not use wire in the tank for fear that my active little fish would stir things up and expose the sharp ends.

And off-topic: is there a difference between house-plant philodendrons and the ones people put in aquariums? Could one take a philodendron clipping, root it in water until any fertilizers have been flushed out (or is that not a problem?), and use it in a tank? My family has tons of houseplants, many of which root in water, but I'm not sure if any are safe for the tank.

Thanks for reading and answering my zillion questions, guys.


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