View Full Version : How hardy is java fern?
bozco
03-06-2004, 12:51 AM
I started my planted 33gal after christmas. Plants went in before fish. I was told to start with easy plants like java fern and hornwort. I skipped the hornwort and went for hygrophila and penyywort instead, and did the java fern. Then I was sold some red combamba as hornwort. The person at the store thought it was hornwort but I checked my book and it was red combamba. Not sure I'm spelling that right) so I read about this, and was told by so many people to stay away from it until I knew how to take care of plants. So here is what happened. My java fern died instantly and my red combamba just kept growing. It even bloomed! So the plant that was supposed to be bombproof is dead and the combamba needed to be cut back because it was growing as fast as the hygrophila. And yes I'm sure its not hornwort because I took some to check with the combamba at another store.
So is java fern really that hardy? It doesn't seem to do very well in my tank. I tied it to my driftwood like I was told. I have one 'fish bulb' and one plant buld on my canopy and everything does well but the java fern.
dethjam316
03-06-2004, 12:56 AM
people always say so, but you know what, i've had the same experience. my java fern sucks. they look wonderfully bright and green until they get about 2 inches in size then they darken up and get kinda crispy...that's the only way i can describe it. i have them in a tank that gets about 1.5w/g (well 2w on one side, and 1w on the other haha), and my vals and other plants are bright and robust...but the java fern is a bust for me. must be something in our water.
pinballqueen
03-06-2004, 12:57 AM
Strange.. I can't seem to kill my java fern... when one leaf dies, there are fifty billion plantlets on another, and it has taken over my tank... not that I mind, I think it's kinda cool.
Maybe you just didn't get healthy plants?
Editing to say that just like a land fern, it gets brownish edges when the leaves are full grown... but it doesn't look bad to me, just a coloration of the plant.
I mean its dying as in it has holes in the leaves, huge chunks missing like someone came and took a bite. I don't have fish that big, and it started to die before the fish. I dunno. Well I impress people with the difficult plants, maybe I'm just some kind of backwards lucky.
pinballqueen
03-06-2004, 1:22 AM
Hmmm... noticing holes?
Have you looked at the back of the leaves to see if you have plantlets? One of mine acts like that occasionally--gets big cuts in the leaves like my cons have been picking at it... but if I look at the back of the leaf, 9 times out of 10, there is a plantlet hanging on where the leaf is ripped.
Just a thought :)
dethjam316
03-06-2004, 1:25 AM
mine just sucks. no holes. it just turns brown and dies...has a million babies that grow and die shortly after too.
Nope, no bitty plants. They just die.
happychem
03-08-2004, 4:53 PM
Got the same problem here. Java fern was the first thing I tried, having only incandecent lights (a mistake I won't repeat). Can't get the durn things to look nice. Some leaves look ok, but others have lots of black and some are going transparent at the tips. Gaah! When I got them from the LFS they started putting off plantlets on the leaf tips. Apparently they do that when stressed, which my tank was then. Ah well, at least they aren't really dieing so much as just not appearing to flourish.
But hey, if you got cabomba workin' for you, good show. It was either on the Krib or Karen Randall who said something along the lines of everyone being able to find something that will grow for them, and hey, you got a tough one to work, cheers.
Captain Hook
03-08-2004, 5:09 PM
Just a thought...did you bury the rhizome of the plant? There is a thick section at the bottom that must not be buried in gravel. The rhizome is just above the roots. For these kinds of plants (java fern, bolbitis, and anubias) you can bury their roots but not the rhizome.
happychem
03-08-2004, 5:24 PM
mine's tied to a rock
Nope, I was told not to and instead of putting them in the gravel I attached them to the driftwood. The combomba has just reciently been ripped apart by my swordtails :( so I gave the swordtails to my teacher's kid. I didn't really want them anymore anyways and that red combomba was the last straw. I will need to buy some more now and start again.
fishfrenze
03-11-2004, 6:08 PM
could be one of those fluke things... every one says Elodea is practically impossible to kill. Well I've killed it the two times I've tried it in my 30 gallon, but everything else is great. However, in my 72 gallon, the elodea grows like crazy and I'm constantly throwing the stuff away. Its weird how different tanks, kept by the same person, can have totally different results. My java fern took awhile to take off, but once it did, it grew like CRAZY! Stick with what works!!
mogurnda
03-11-2004, 11:46 PM
I've always had great luck with java fern. Can't kill it. All sorts of water conditions, lighting, whatever. It's in my Tanganyikan tank, where it routinely gets buried and still thrives. I also have always had significant nitrate and phosphate, either accidentally via liberal feeding, or added as a fert. Is your water too clean?
I doubt the water is too clean. Set the tank up in December but only found a way to change the water two weeks ago. So no, not clean water.
I have Java fern tied to driftwood. Some of the leaves are green and healthy, but others are brown with lots of little holes in them. I also have a lot of snails that crawl on the leaves.
Two questions:
- Should I prune the brown leaves?
- Are the snails eating the plants, and if so, should I try to keep them off the leaves?
Thanks.
I have Java fern tied to driftwood. Some of the leaves are green and healthy, but others are brown with lots of little holes in them. I also have a lot of snails that crawl on the leaves.
Two questions:
- Should I prune the brown leaves?
- Are the snails eating the plants, and if so, should I try to keep them off the leaves?
Thanks.
Hound
04-25-2004, 11:24 AM
In my tank I used to have a golden mystery snail. For a few weeks he ignored plants. Then he started nibbling on the asian ambulia. Then he at half my java fern while I was at work. Now the snail is a resident in my quarantine tank. Pretty much lost the asian amublia (didn't think that was possible), but the java fern is still going.
Leopardess
04-25-2004, 11:53 AM
That's really weird. I can't kill mine if I try. I've left it in bowls, water change buckets, tanks with 1wpg....I have so much of it in my 55g that it would take up almost half the tank. All from six leaves when I started.
Maybe its the plant that you got?
I know it can be frustrating. I can't my egeria najas to grow no matter what I try, when the anachris in that tank (and everything else) grows very fast.
Well add me to the list of cant get java fern to grow. I have it 2 different tanks. Every plant I have grows like crazy but the java fern. I have 2 tied to rocks and 1 to driftwood.The plants looked healthy when I purchased them.
every leaf of my three jave ferns have babies attached to them , and to be honest it looks messy. but yea some of mine do good, and some get like, cracky and fall apart and some look like in the xmen movie where the girl touches that kid and his skin gets all that black veins, wierd
Hound,
It sounds like the snails (of which there are dozens) might be eating the leaves of the Java fern, so I should try to get of them.