the almighty java fern

**jonny5** · 01-27-2012, 03:57 AM

so this plant is resilent as hell.
To make things not too long, my mom had bought little betta mirrored finish 1gallon tank a while ago and it just sat in our bathroom after the betta died (this was before i got into fishkeeping)

I decided to fill it up, throw in some java moss and malaysian trumphet snail just to have a little life in there.

I threw in an old decaying piece of java fern leaf from a water change of my tanks.

Now this little betta tank is a box with one viewing port and in a bathroom with a single little window, a 2 and half foot by 1 and a half foot frosted(not clear) window, that never gets direct sunlight.

And after about 3 months (and in winter in california), they decaying java fern leaf starts to grow little leaflets, i was amazed.

**hyp0r** · 01-27-2012, 04:01 AM

I know, I had a leaf fall off when I was cleaning the tank and I threw it away. Then several hours later I was reading about the java fern and how the leaf would grow new roots. I went and got it out of the trash, rinsed it off and floated it on my tank. The next day it already had new roots growing out of the tip of the leaf. I was surprised how quickly it happened.

**hydra01** · 01-27-2012, 01:18 PM

These plants are great. I had one growing from the ouside of the filter tube. They are resilient. I have never had one reach the listed size of 10 inches though. They do grow slowly.

**kurly** · 01-27-2012, 03:02 PM

I have a nice one in my main tank that is close to 10 inches now but it has taken about 3 years to get there. I moved it from my 10 gallon three years ago when I got my 65 gallon tank. The poor thing literally died due to new tank syndrome ,I guess, and I had to cut all the leaves off except about five little half brown leaves. My kids thought I was crazy because the plant looked so dead but 3 years later it is healthy and thriving!

Java Ferns really are pretty much indestructible!

(There are a few who cannot keep them alive for some reason but I think they are in the minority.)

**Brhino** · 01-27-2012, 03:16 PM

I threw a fern that was growing off of one of my main ones into my tadpole tank. That tank doesn't even have a light, nor does it get even indirect natural sunlight... and the fern is thriving.