Java fern care?

Tell me about it! I have never had good luck with Java fern. Nothing else that I've tried to grow has given me as much difficulty. It doesn't die, but it just fails to thrive. The three classic easy plants (not counting Java moss) Anubias, Java fern and Crypts...all have done well for me, except for Java fern. I've finally done away with most of mine because I am tired of being aggravated by it either shedding leaves or getting brown spots and holes. The regular all purpose liquid fertilizers I've used in all my other tanks don't seem to be enough for it...

I'm sorry not to have anything too scientific to say, but these are my observations.

It seems to grow better in low light conditions. I have better luck with it in a 10 gallon tank with low light than in a 55 gallon tank with higher light levels. I'm sure it can grow fine in higher light, but it probably needs more careful supplementation, possibly CO2. (I'm more of a general teaspoon per gallon, dose with whatever's on sale kind of gal)

Although it is supposed to grow great attached to driftwood, it seems to do much better attached to rocks, in my case limestone...which is porous. Not only does it attach much more firmly and readily, but it seems much more vigorous.

It is supposed to be tolerant of extreme water conditions, but in my experience, it prefers water that is on the hard side of neutral. Water that is too soft or really hard doesn't seem to agree with it.

It can't compete with other fast growing plants. It does best for me in a 10 gallon tank where the only other plant is mini pellia. I had it in another tank (same lighting, same ferts, same W/C regimen) along with Crypt wendtii 'bronze' and it didn't do as well.

Bolbitis, which is supposed to grow more slowly, has grown just as fast for me and with absolutely NO annoying symptoms of nutrient deficiency...and looks more interesting anyway, IMO :)
 
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Are your Java ferns floating around or buried? If the rhizome is buried the plant will die, all of my best growing java ferns are free floating or anchored a few roots into objects after a while. I've found that Java Ferns from my LFS typically start to die when I put them in tanks with different kinds of lighting, but they they come back. Also, you might be getting algae on the rhizome or leaves. I don't think Java Fern is really a plant you can help grow. As long as it is in water with a bit of light it will grow as good as possible.
 
platydude, my ferns are actually attached to a moss wall which im trying to establish... im just waiting for the moss to creep out of the mesh to form the wall. i know java ferns need to have their rhizome above substrate otherwise they will rot. I dunno if its due to the high lighted tank that i have for the ferns but other than that i have not tried placing them in a tank or bucket as i only have one tank with lower light. one thing that i find odd is that when you placed them in the tank they would pearl really well like it was photosynthesizing well in the tank. Then after 2 weeks you get to see the holes, and the dying leaves... there are some small plantlets forming from the rhizome but its really frustrating... to see them. do not so well.

Industrial how long did your ferns come back? i guess i might be too impatient as that seems to be the only plant that is not doing well in my 5 week tank. the rest grew like wild fire. even my crypts and anubias. on a side note, if you get those bigger anubias can you plant them directly into the substrate? coz i know the anubias barteri nana petite you cant coz the plant will die, which is why i attached it to the drift wood.
 
Photos of the dying plant might help too. I had a hard time with them as well. But I got lazy and left them for fish food. Low and behold, a leaf will wilt out to nothing and they sprouted new leaves off the tip of the dying leaves. and now the old leaf is a root looking piece. Also, high water current from filters seemed to hinder them along with some over zealous baby snails that hid during the day.
 
Also, 2-2.5WPG isn't really "high light" I'd call that medium. I had java fern in a 20 long with about 2.5 wpg of T8 light and DIY CO2, dosing dry ferts and it did great. The java fern I have right now, in approximately the same ammount of light, but farther away from the lights, is doing good too, and there's not even any CO2 yet (planning it soon). a couple leaves died off at first (because my lights aren't on a timer and there were several days I forgot to turn them on because I got really busy with school stuff) but at least one of those dead leaves sprouted two new plants which are starting to grow, and the main plant has several new leaves now.
 
taari.. sorry i was wrong about the wattage. I currently have about 3 watts per gallon. 2 x 24W + 1 15W light tubes. so thats about a total of 63W for a 20 gal thank thats about 3 watts. I dunno if this information is true but too much light can also burn java ferns? is this true? I tried experimenting by moving my 2 x 24 watt lights to the front and middle of the tank and move the 15W light to the bank of the tank which is where i have my java ferns attached to the moss wall im trying to grow out.
 
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