Java Fern in substrate???

The risk of rot is real and valid, but gravel is small rock and the holdfasts ("roots", which they are not quite) will attach perfectly well if you have a technique for holding it in place without burying the rhizome (I use hairpins) and if there are no fish in the tank which will disturb it while it develops the holdfasts. It can be used as a non-rock, non-wood plant, but it is a very slow process and very much dependent on the patience of the hobbyist and the nature of the tank inhabitants.
 
I have grown java fern in gravel and have had good luck. I started with 2 small plants 10 years ago and I throw some out regularly because it reproduces often. It seems fine for me. Maybe what I have is something different? I would post a pic, but I have not figured out how to do that yet.
 
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Well it depends on how laiden your gravel is with silt and mulm. If your gravel is clean and the fern is not buried too deep, then it may be OK, but over time most peoples gravel becomes muck, and while plants that have real roots love it, it is the death for ferns. Rhizomes can rot even above gravel if they get covered in muck.
 
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