Java fern growth question

[labnjab]

I've had some Java ferns in my community tank for 6 months or so, and split some of them up at some point to the goldfish tank. The ones in the community tank don't seem to be growing much. They are very healthy and very green, but the don't grow much. There are several hundred small ones growing from the roots, but they never seem to grow much more then half an inch. Is there any way to get the smaller ones to grow larger? They seem to be growing taller in the goldfish tank, although not growing very fast. Water parameters are identical in each tank other then temp. 78 in community and 74 in goldfish. Nitrate is always no more then 10-15 in each. I don't dose any fertilizers. Thank you for any tips.http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/jabsgirlforever/100_0180.jpg

[Wild Turkey]

ferns are pretty easy to grow, but what kind of lights are you using, dimensions of the tank(standard 55?), how long established?

[Lady Hobbs]

I have had the slowest growing anubias and ferns known to man! Gads! I will die of old age before my fern will get 4 inches high, I swear. I have finally.......finally.........gotten some new leaves on the fern but I've had it a year. My anubias is smaller than it was when I bought it! All the months of brown diatoms didn't help them any.

[labnjab]

Tanks a standard 55, with 2x40 watts t-12 GE plant/aquarium bulbs and the tank has been running since early summer. I've been running the lights roughly 8 hrs a day. They look healthy, they just don't grow as fast as I would have thought they would

[Fishalicious]

I have had the slowest growing anubias and ferns known to man! Gads! I will die of old age before my fern will get 4 inches high, I swear. I have finally.......finally.........gotten some new leaves on the fern but I've had it a year. My anubias is smaller than it was when I bought it! All the months of brown diatoms didn't help them any.

:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange: That was funny!!!! LOL

8 Hours is not a lot... most plants like a good 10-12 hours... java fern can grow quite slow but once it get's going it grows in nice and thick and lush

[labnjab]

I've been reducing the photoperiod, Theres not many plants in the tank and I've had a non stop fight with diatoms. Mainly on the glass, but I gotta scrape it every few days

[karbomb]

does the tank get any outside light? and are the plant/aquarium bulbs incandescent or flouresent?

[labnjab]

They are fluorescent and there is a window near it (its on the north side of the building), but it has blinds and curtains closed closed 24/7. Maybe I just have a set of ferns from the same place Lady Hobbs got hers, lol. I'll probably retire before they grow

[invadertoast]

My java ferns are weird, the ones in my 23 are like 8 months old and have not grown one bit, but they sprout baby plants all the time, which grow slowly. One of the ferns in my betta tank completely doubled in size over the past month, during which time I was away from home for 3 weeks and it didn't get as long a photoperiod as it does when I'm home. This one never sprouts baby plants... maybe I'll move the ones from my 23 into my betta tank and grow them out some!

[Algenco]

mine did very well I thought in a 55 w/ 2 40w GE 9325, they really took off when I went to 130w, eventually reaching 12-16" in height .

Hobbs, if the fern you talking about are the ones I sent you, they came from the monster plants

[Lady Hobbs]

These I bought. I like to do things different, ya know. Buy plants 6 inches and after a year they are 1 inch. LOL

[korith]

These I bought. I like to do things different, ya know. Buy plants 6 inches and after a year they are 1 inch. LOL

Saves you the trouble of having to trim them.:hmm3grin2orange:

[labnjab]

These I bought. I like to do things different, ya know. Buy plants 6 inches and after a year they are 1 inch. LOL

Its like that new brad pitt movie, but instead its "The curious case of hobbs plants", lol, yeah bad joke

[Lady Hobbs]

On the 14th I wrote in here that I had the slowest growing java fern known to man. Today I have about 20 new leaves! I started fertilizing with Leaf Zone two weeks ago and today I can see it is finally paying off. All this time, all these guys wanted so a bit of nutrition!

[labnjab]

Old thread, but I thought I'd update. I decreased my water change from 50% a week down to 25% a week and started using flourish weekly and excel every day and they really started to take off:hmm3grin2orange: The little leaves are now big leaves and next water change I'm going to steal some java ferns to put into my 10 gallon betta tank