Taking care of Java Fern and Anubias Nana

Currently in my 20g long tank I have some java fern (getting more JF) and Anubias nana attached to some rocks. I dosed Easy Green Fert by Aquarium Coop after my water change. I just changed my light to the Finnex 24/7 HLC planted plus.

How long can I keep my lights to grow them without growing algae?

Do I need CO2? And is the EasyGreen fert enough once week?

You do not need CO2.

These 2 plants are some of the easiest to grow. I have a 48 inch Finnex HLC on my 55 gallon tank and keep the lights on for 9 hours. I dose the day after water change (once a week) with seachem flourish. So my setup is quite similar to yours. I have the light on max for the duration of the time it is on. I may dial it back just a bit since I've noticed a tad more hair algae than normal.

The java fern and anubias do grow some hair algea, but it isn't problematic for me. On the anubias, I cut the leaves that are compromised.

With the Java Fern, once a leaf starts to die, it makes babies on the leaf and begins to make more leaves from the rhyzome and I have plants!

It'll be a trial by error finding the right balance between light and nutrients, but you've got good gear to get you started.

It seems like you are already aware of this, but don't bury the rhyzome.

Do your java fern and Anubias go through the pearling? I just put them in the tank so I am not sure how long it’ll take for them to go through photosynthesis.

I concur (with post #2), with the addition that the 20g long is a shallower tank and thus the light reaching the plants is likely to be more intense than it would in a deeper tank, even considering the different light strengths. You might find algae much more of an issue.

Both Anubias and Java Fern are slow-growing which means low light requiring, and lower nutrients to balance. Floating plants would probably solve any issue here. Brush/beard algae can be a real problem with these plants under overhead lighting.

Byron said:

I concur, with the addition that the 20g long is a shallower tank and thus the light reaching the plants is likely to be more intense than it would in a deeper tank, even considering the different light strengths. Yoou might find algae much more of an issue.

Both Anubias and Java Fern are slow-growing which means low light requiring, and lower nutrients to balance. Floating plants would probably solve any issue here. Brush/beard algae can be a real problem with these plants under overhead lighting.

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Would you recommend Monte Carlo or frogbit? I’ve been interested in getting either one of these.

Sergical said:

Would you recommend Monte Carlo or frogbit? I’ve been interested in getting either one of these.

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Sorry not Montecarlo I meant water lettuce

Sergical said:

Would you recommend Monte Carlo or frogbit? I’ve been interested in getting either one of these.

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Monte Carlo I assume refers to the plant Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo' which is a substrate "carpet" type plant so that won't provide overhead shade. Frogbit (Limnobium laeviatum, the true tropical or Amazon species) is ideal. You might even get flowers. Other good floaters are Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and the perhaps best of all, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris cornuta).

Edit. You posted while I was typing, so we're sorted out now.

Fog bite is nice, I have anacharis, water sprite, moneywort and hornwort as floating plants. I have several different types of ferns in my 55 gallon tetra tank. I can not get frog bite because of state laws.

I really like anacharis. I bought one bunch and now I have it in every tank.

I had water sprite and it was awesome, until my cichlids ate it.....

I like it too, it is my favorite plant. I made a anacharis "forest" in my sunk forest themed tank for my ember tetras to hide in. I have water sprite in my 30 gallon shrimp tank and just got my order of more water sprite Thursday so once it is done in QT it may go into my sunken forest tank too.

Retired Viking said:

I can not get frog bite because of state laws.

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I have an anecdote about this. Some 12 years ago on another forum, I posted some information on what I though was Limnobium laeviatum because it had that name in the store. It happened to flower, so I posted photos of the flowers with the article. The site owner/admin, who lived in the US, sent me an email he had received from someone in the US Department of Agriculture, with a request that since I knew about these plants would I respond. The Agricultural official pointed out that this plant was an invasive species and illegal in some states. I researched it and discovered the plant I had been sold was in fact not the tropical species but a European species, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, easily identified by the flower.

There are two other plants very similar in appearance (leaf form) that may be confused with Limnobium laevigatum. L. spongia is a native North American Frogbit, and Hydrocharis morsus-ranae is a European/Asian plant sometimes referred to as Common or European Frogbit. This latter is a very invasive plant that was intentionally introduced into North America via Ottawa, Canada in 1932. It has since spread quickly and by 2003 was known to occur throughout much of southeastern Ontario, southern Quebec, northern New York and Vermont and eastern Michigan. "Frogbit" is classified in several states including California and Washington as a noxious weed. It is likely that some aquarium plants are in fact not L. laevigatum but one of the other two, and the flowers must be seen to be certain unless you do a phylogenetic analysis.

Thanks for the info

Ironically the more invasive Hydrocharis morsus-ranae does not fare as well in tropical aquaria. I tried this on several occasions sourced from local sellers via eBay or Amazon, of course it was sold as "Amazon Frogbit". It did not cope at all with the humidity or temp and invariably died. For my final attempt I bought some Tropica branded Limnobium laeviatum and the rest is history.

Not suggesting you need to buy branded plants, but it is one way of ensuring that what you put into your tank is what you think it is - and a good reason for not trusting common names.

seangee said:

Ironically the more invasive Hydrocharis morsus-ranae does not fare as well in tropical aquaria. I tried this on several occasions sourced from local sellers via eBay or Amazon, of course it was sold as "Amazon Frogbit". It did not cope at all with the humidity or temp and invariably died. For my final attempt I bought some Tropica branded Limnobium laeviatum and the rest is history.

Not suggesting you need to buy branded plants, but it is one way of ensuring that what you put into your tank is what you think it is - and a good reason for not trusting common names.

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I still have mine, and I got the two spindly plants about 9 or 10 years ago. You are correct that it does not do as well in tropical aquaria. More than once I have vowed to toss it out, but no matter how much I thin it out every week at the water change, by next week it is covering the surface again. It just doesn't look as lush and thriving as the tropical species (presumably) would, but I guess if it reproduces this rapidly for nine or ten years, I should not care. It only flowered the once, a few weeks after I acquired it.

Here's a photo of the flower on the "Frogbit" I have. I've had this plant longer than I realized, the date this photo was taken was in 2008.