Newbie to plants!

dwayne

dwayne

AC Members
Jul 12, 2001
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Boston, MA
I've been contemplating adding some plants to my tank. I recently bought a piece of driftwood (currently soaking to get rid of the color and to water log it). This driftwood will be replacing a resin castle that is the current centerpiece of my tank.

Behind the castle is a small resin cave. I am very heistant to get rid of it, even though it doesn't go with my driftwood, because my rainbow shark spends quite a bit of time in there. You can see the cave on the left side of the picture, near the tiger barbs.
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I am going to get java moss and java ferns, because from what I've read these are very easy to take care of, and I have a black thumb when it comes to non-aquatic plants and I have no reason to assume that I'll have a green thumb with aquatic plants.

Here are my questions:

1. Will I be able to attach java moss to the cave? Maybe with some fishing line? I want to keep the cave, but also camoflauge it! What I was thinking is, since the cave is resin (hard plasticy material), how will the moss stick to it, or root into it? I was thinking if the cave can't be successfully camoflauged in moss, I could take it out and make a cave out of some flat rocks I have used in other tanks in the past... but would prefer to keep it.

2. How do you keep java fern down? Do you pot it, or weigh it down? I'd maybe like to put it along the back of my tank as background ... but I think I read somewhere that it can't be planted, it has to be tied to something?

Thanks in advance for any info!!

~Tara
 
Good plant choices. I use both. I made a cave out of rocks and silicone in one of my tanks. I attached a small piece of java moss to the top and now it is so covered you would never know that there is any rock at all (it can be trimmed of course when it gets too big).

I just used some green cotton thread and tied it down. Eventually the roots will grab on. I did the same with java fern and some drift wood. Tied it down with green thread and the roots will grab hold eventually.

I am not worried about the dye in the thread hurting the fish as water changes will take care of it. And over time the thread will rot away.

Fishing line or nylon thread will also work fine and can be left int he tank or removed once the plants have grabed hold after a couple of weeks.
 
If the resin is somewhat porous, either of the mentioned plants will probably root into it. If it is porous enough, Java moss will cover it and will probably hide the resin eventually.
BTW, Anubia will also probably root into it as well.
I personally have never had a Java Fern rot when planted into the substrate. I have a bunch of it and probably more than 1/2 is into the substrate. Even where I've planted it on driftwood, the roots end up finding their way down into the substrate which, IMO, helps the plant grow better.
To be on the safe side, rather than burying the rhizome, you can use a small rock or stone to hold the roots down and within a few weeks, it will root itself.

Len
 
if none of that works, a friend of mine took some nylon hose and covered one of her caves in it to get moss to root there, and its definitely worked.
 
Thanks everyone!

I looked closely at the cave last night, and it's porus, not as porus as a sponge, but it's not smooth either... so once I find some java moss, I'll tie it to the cave with fishing line! I am going to get a more natural color gravel, and have some stream pebbles (I think that's what they're called) and I think those will hold down the ferns ok.

~Tara
 
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