What is this plant and what's on it?

java lace fern, mine has those too. not sure why though. mine is growing plantlets and doing well otherwise though. Also I am pretty sure they aren't supposed to be planted fully in the gravel or their rhyzome will rot. I have stuck mine to driftwood or onto fake decorations with fishing line or sewing thread and they have much improved since.

It's lace java fern (aka windelov's fern). You want to tie it to a rock or driftwood. It will likely die if planted in the substrate like that...the roots need to be in the water column proper to draw nutrients.

webcricket said:

It's lace java fern (aka windelov's fern). You want to tie it to a rock or driftwood. It will likely die if planted in the substrate like that...the roots need to be in the water column proper to draw nutrients.

Click to expand...

The roots of the java fern are mainly used for attaching to things, not absorbing nutrients. Nutrients are absorbed through the leaves. The roots may be buried, just as long as the rhizome is not. The rhizome is the horizontal bar that the roots come out of. If this is buried, it does not get proper water circulation and causes the plant to die.

Oh, those little black dots on the underside of the leaves are called sporangia and, as said before, they are another way the java fern propagates and produces plantlets.

http://www.plantedtank.net/plantpro...-java-fern-Microsorum-pteropus-Windelov/1007/