|
|
Post by parker002 on Jan 19, 2011 17:14:00 GMT -5
I bought a java fern as part of my "fake to real" plant conversion. It ended up having 3 separate rhizomes that I was able to easily separate by hand. I "attached" them to a piece of african mopani wood using a rubber band.
Question #1 - Mopani wood is pretty hard/dense. Will java fern actually grow on it?
Question #2 - How long does it take for the java fern to "take hold"? I don't want to leave the rubber bands on for too long.
|
|
|
|
Post by Suzie Q (Lori) on Jan 19, 2011 20:05:08 GMT -5
Those questions I cant answer. Mine are rooted in my substrate. Sorry  |
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Jan 20, 2011 12:01:19 GMT -5
I have had Java Ferns take hold of Malaysian Driftwood (I cannot speak specifically for Mopani).
I have had times where the plant never took complete hold and I had to keep the rubber band on indefinitely (maybe I was doing something wrong?)
Carl
|
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Jan 20, 2011 14:30:20 GMT -5
Hmmm...I may move mine to the substrate then. Especially if I have gaps to fill because my anacharis died. |
|
|
|
Post by babygeige on Jan 23, 2011 13:00:18 GMT -5
I have better luck attaching java fern to rocks like slate that wood. I put some on a piece of wood in July when I started my 50 gallon and it's still just hanging to the wood by the thread I used to tie it there. I don't know why it won't stick! It's frustrating. I have some in the gravel and some on slate and they're both thriving.
|
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Jan 23, 2011 22:00:36 GMT -5
I have tied mine to the wood with cotton thread, we'll see where it goes from there.
|
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Mar 6, 2011 14:25:06 GMT -5
As an update, I removed the thread a while back because I didn't like the look of it and instead just found a notch in the wood to stick the rhizome into. My fern is firmly rooted to the wood now and would suffer damage in order for me to remove it.  |
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Mar 13, 2011 13:28:16 GMT -5
Sorry to come in so late on this thread but I have to second that sometimes it's so super easy to get java fern to stick to some things and others, not so much. I have definitely noticed the same thing as babygeige where it likes to stick to rock pretty easily. I have definitely found that it refuses to stick to plastic, even roughed surfaced plastic. I took mine and buried the lower roots in the gravel but left the rhizome above the gravel. Now the roots have hooked together a little ball of gravel at the root ball of each plant and they keep themselves pretty well anchored and won't float off from where you put them but I can still move them around to different places in the tank for cleaning and just to change around the tank a little if I want. I also put java fern bunches in my 1 gallon beta tanks and they love it!
|
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Mar 13, 2011 14:29:16 GMT -5
Yeah, my bunch rooted to the wood after about 2 weeks. My daughter's never did and I ended up just threading it to a small piece of slate so it would stay put.
I've got "starter" rhizomes (broken pieces about 1/4 inch long) that I'm experimenting with now. The trick with Mopani I think is finding a spot that's softer. The wood is so hard and dense, you have to look for scratches, nooks, or other spots where the fern can actually attach.
|
|
|
|
Post by angelminx on Apr 25, 2015 23:25:41 GMT -5
When Petco had their 3-day sale recently, along with fish, I picked up some java fern. I tried them once before, but they just got all dark brown and "dead-looking" in patches and I never really got them to settle in. The ones they had at Petco (last time I got them mail-order) mostly looked kind of the same, but there were a couple that looked nice, so I decided to try again. I have a piece of wood that my Anubias afzelli didn't want to stick to (the other one wouldn't stick to the rock I had either) that had a couple of other Anubias ( Barteri and Coffeefolia) lightly sticking to it. I removed them (moving them to the 55G--see South American Community blog) a short while ago, and have attached the java fern to it. I've had that piece of wood (actually "grapevine") longer than I can remember, and over the years various plecos have really done a number on it  , so that it is just a shade of its former self. It used to vary in width from ~ 2 to 3 inches. So far so good..still green. I'll have to wait a bit to see if it decides to take hold or not. Here are a couple pics of both the fern, and the Afzelli:    In the 1st shot you can see what the piece of wood looks like now (I mentioned a piece breaking off in the aforementioned blog); part of the fern just shows up on the right side of the middle photo. I decided to just stick the Afzelli "into" the substate. |
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Apr 28, 2015 12:57:33 GMT -5
LOL It's funny reading this old thread. My Java Fern is obnoxiously healthy now. It has taken over pretty much every inch of both tanks, including growing all over the crypts, which themselves are out of control.  |
|
|
|
Post by angelminx on Apr 28, 2015 23:42:59 GMT -5
I hope mine does half as good ! |
|
, so that it is just a shade of its former self. It used to vary in width from ~ 2 to 3 inches. 
