Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since I was on the forums. I've been trying to grow the plants in my aquarium. So far, only my moss ball and my java ferns have survived. My moss ball is splitting in two, making another moss ball apparently, and one of the java ferns sent out a shoot. I had heard that letting this shoot grow above water would produce a flower, but it has only produced three more offshoots of the first one, each looking like another java fern plant. Is this shoot supposed to be underground? It's gotten to the top of my aquarium. It's been there awhile, and the barbs nibble at the leaves, making the aquarium eternally dirty with at least one small piece of leaf floating around or stuck to the filter. Do I need to plant these offshoots?
java fern rhizomes (the rooty bit at the bottom) should be either tied to rocks or wood with cotton or just wedeged between rocks on in crevices in wood. They need to be attached to something solid basically. The plantlets, which grow from the adult leaves can be left to grow on the adult leaves or removed and attached/wedged somewhere else to get a new plant
So when is a good time to remove the plantlet? Mine is about .5" long. I was thinking when it hits 3 inches. Am I right in that it is getting it's nutrients from the water column?
By "shoot" I mean there is a new stem coming off the plant, with three smaller plants growing on it.
Also, a little off topic but not worth starting a new thread about, my plants (they're all java ferns, except for one moss ball) have algae growing on their leaves. Not stringy algae, just dark green blotchy spots on the leaves. I know it's algae because it comes off when I rub it. I thought plants were supposed to stop algae. How do I get it off (besides rubbing it off every single leaf)?
Plants don't stop algae per say. You can have plants and algae in the same tank when things are not quite right. I do :| When you have plants in your tank and things are" balance" right the plants will out compete the algae so it just simply not able to get the nutrients it needs to grow. This is only to a certain point though I think. Also by "balance" I mean plants need the right amount of nutrients and lighting to grow along with the right amount of CO2. I think I have heard there are something like 17 different nutrients that plants require. If this balance is off too much then the algae will start to thrive. Balance is something I don't have in my tanks and something I really don't understand that much about. I am currently working on that part. I am starting off reducing the amount of time the lights are on.I am also just dosing once a week with fertilizer.
So with that said I am not the best person to try and explain it to you but that is a small and I mean small part of how it goes I think. Just my thoughts I would continue to rub the algae off. Then I would think about what you are doing tank maintenance wise. What kind of Lighting do you have? How long is the lighting on for? Do you use some kind of fertilizer? These are all things that will contribute to the balance of the tank. If you can provide some of these answers then someone can help you try and find the balanced needed. Sorry I am not that person as I can't do it in my own tank yet. :| Best of luck to you and I hope everything works out!
P.S. You said the only plants you have in your tank is Java ferns and moss balls. I don't know anything about moss balls. However I will say this Java ferns are slow growing plants that appreciates dim lighting. I don't know how long you have been running this setup. IMO I would get some kinda plant that does good floating for some shadow for the Java ferns. Some stem plants make great floating plants. Also some are fast growers which may help with algae problem also. As they will pull in the nutrients faster then the Java ferns do. Just another thought.
id prefer to keep the rhyzome on the plant until it falls off on its own. java ferns tends to grow best tied to rocks or something. if buried they tend to grow slower or if floating they also tend to grow slower. rhyzome could grow on anywhere on the plant. from leaves to stems to root
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