Tropical Fish Forums

[Shai]

I have an absurd amount of baby java ferns growing on my more mature plants. There are so many little plants with so many free-floating roots that it's actually starting to look a bit unsightly.

I'm curious as to what I can do about all these little plants. For the health of the mature ones, should I gently pull the larger baby plants off? If I were to sell or give the baby plants away, how would I go about packaging them if I needed to mail them?

(Anybody want some baby java ferns????)
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[Dusko]

Tell me about it



I was sooo disappointed when my Java Fern did it. It was destroyed.
I cut it completely down and now after approx 2 weeks I can see lots of new leaves coming out
Don't be afraid to cut it down, it will grow back, the only important thing is not to harm the rhizome.



Kind regards, Dusko.
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[Shai]

: ) Well, I don't need to cut it down, the baby plants come off easily enough, leaving the mature leaf intact. I'm just not sure if I ought to do it!

Plus it would seem like such a waste to just throw away all the baby plants.
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[coryfan]

I started burying baby java ferns in the gravel of the front corner of my tank as a sort of pseudo-looking micro sword (or some such carpet plant thing). Wanted to give some shade for the cories in my tank. They probably won't last this way but look good for now.

[Shai]

I've tried doing that with ones that floated off by themselves but find they uproot too easily and just end up stuck to the filter intake. : \
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[unissuh]

I ended up just throwing away all the little ones. Bloody annoying things got all over the tank and started to grow...

I don't know anyone else (that isn't a fish-haver) in the hobby and no store that will take baby java ferns. If I did, it would go to either first.
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Fishing in the Rivers of Light

[nonamethefish]

Not hard at all to ship java ferns. Pull the babies off the parent leaves or simply cut the leaves all off. Then put them in a ziploc bag. If it is small enough, put it in a padded envelope. If you have a lot(not likely with java ferns), use a small box. Send by priority. In mild weather I suspect normal mail would work with stuff like java ferns if you are short of cash.

I find baby java ferns annoying as they never seem to settle anywhere and grow for me so I am always rescueing them during water changes.
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46 gallon bowfront tank
10 gallon planted single species tank
10 gallon tank
plus all kinds of smaller containers

[Shai]

[fishy me]

Do you have any in your 10 g.? Maybe you could put a couple in there.

[Shai]

Tons! Pulled some of the babies from there too. ^^
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