In article .com,
PiperJason wrote:
Thanks for the input about the lighting. Now what about the growing the
Java Fern on the gravel? Possible? Not possible?


It will sit on top of it and grow if that's what you mean. The
moss will "stick" to stuff, but since gracel is made up of
lots of tiny rocks every time it's disturbed it'll lose
those anchoring points.

You can grow it on a rock or a small piece of wood. Or even
a tiny flowrpot and it'll stick reasonablky well to it.

--
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Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

"PiperJason" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the input about the lighting. Now what about the growing the
Java Fern on the gravel? Possible? Not possible?

I have a fair amount of Java Fern in all my tanks.
The driftwood-attached plants make a lot of babies.
I don't get around to do something with the babies
quickly, so they just float around and grow on their
own until they're big enough to draw my attention.

I guess what I'm saying is unless you need to
have your Java Fern in one place, just let the
babies go wherever they will. But rather
than trying to grow them in gravel (which I
don't think will work), you could get some
small ornaments, like the little Roman corner
walls Petsmart sells, and tie the plants to
those.

For tying I use polyester thread you can
find anyplace that sells sewing thread.

Gail

My Java Fern won't attach to my driftwood either but attaches very well
to rocks, particularly sandstone which is very porous. It can be tied to
the stones with thread or monofiliment but it will attach just as well
by just setting the rock on top of some of the hair roots - NOT the
rhizome. Having them on rocks also makes them easy to rearrange as
needed. As they get large I just add another rock along side and they
eventually creep over and cover it. I would be very careful dosing a
tank that small with fertilizers.

I've had great success in growing java moss with no artificial light in
a 5 gal guppy tank. It only got some filtered sunlight at certain times
of day. It was the only plant in the tank, it was growing fast, and it
had a bright green colour. Basically the lower 1/3 of the tank was all
java moss. Now I grow java moss in a heavy planted 20 gal tank. It
still grows fast, and creeps along the ground, but the colour is a much
darker green. I use pebbles to hold the moss down, and from there it
spreads around the gravel. It takes it awhile to attach, so its best
not to disturb the substrate at all. I use the same approach with a
java fern. I bured some roots in the gravel (but not the rhizome), and
just left it alone. It then started to attach to a nearby pebble and
gravel. (I have small pebbles scattered everywhere around the plants).
This particular fern started as a tiny plant that came entangled in
java moss. It was awhile before I found it and realized what it was. So
far it grows nicely, growing new leaves. The trick is not to disturb
these plants, which is hard to do in a small tank.

Bottom posted.
Gail Futoran wrote:
"PiperJason" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the input about the lighting. Now what about the growing
the Java Fern on the gravel? Possible? Not possible?

I have a fair amount of Java Fern in all my tanks.
The driftwood-attached plants make a lot of babies.
I don't get around to do something with the babies
quickly, so they just float around and grow on their
own until they're big enough to draw my attention.

I guess what I'm saying is unless you need to
have your Java Fern in one place, just let the
babies go wherever they will. But rather
than trying to grow them in gravel (which I
don't think will work), you could get some
small ornaments, like the little Roman corner
walls Petsmart sells, and tie the plants to
those.

For tying I use polyester thread you can
find anyplace that sells sewing thread.

Gail

You can also use lead fishing weights (i.e. in the form of a flexible thick
rod - not fishing rod) and bend them around one or more areas of the plant
(i.e. branches, leaves and/or roots - probably not the rhizome though) to
hold it down and if you hide the weights it looks great. Good luck and
later!

On 2006-02-09, PiperJason wrote:

To top off my frustration, I have algae on all sides of the tank. I
only feed the fish a bit in the morning and at night, and he eats all I
give him in under a minute... Any advice is greatly apprechiated.


I have java moss and java fern in my 1G betta tank. I also have pothos
and bamboo growing out of if. The lighting is natural sunlight through
the windows and the room light in the evenings. I never change the water.
Just add more water when it evaporates. The java moss grows out of
control and the fern reproduces amazingly well. I couldn't get either
plant to grow in my "plant" tanks.


--
"I have to decide between two equally frightening options.
If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman

In article , js1 wrote:
On 2006-02-09, PiperJason wrote:

To top off my frustration, I have algae on all sides of the tank. I
only feed the fish a bit in the morning and at night, and he eats all I
give him in under a minute... Any advice is greatly apprechiated.


I have java moss and java fern in my 1G betta tank. I also have pothos
and bamboo growing out of if. The lighting is natural sunlight through
the windows and the room light in the evenings. I never change the water.
Just add more water when it evaporates. The java moss grows out of
control and the fern reproduces amazingly well. I couldn't get either
plant to grow in my "plant" tanks.

Rule 1 of algae control: any tanks that is 50% java moss will
never have any algae.

I've tried many things for as low as maintenance betta "jars"
and after playing with many a shoot, stalk, clump and who knows what
else, moss of any kind is the inevitabe winner. To the point where
one can assert that the recipe to keen any non annual killi in perpetuity
is to simply fill a 20, half fill it with java moss and let it get some
light; feeding is actually optional if you don't mind small numbers of fish -
the more food you add the more fry you get to scoop out.

Nah, moss is the single most usefull aquarium plant IMO. When I was
having trouble growing nothing but crypts and having some algae problem
Tom Barr told me to "add fast growing plants and fertilize" and I tried
many things. Stem plants were ok, but moss and flaoting plants worked,
each by themselves and togteher.

Water lettuce turns out to be a relly nice covering btw, it dwarfs and makes
1" plants. I have scads of them and should post a pic. Soon..





--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net