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I have 5 java ferns and a anubis plant in a 10 gallon.It is 2WPG and no fertilizer.The pH is 7.4 and temperature is 78F.The amonia is 0.I dunno about nitrate.
Why won't they grow?
I have the same problem with another 10 and a 33.All perims. are the same.

WHY WON'T THEY GROW?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

I think you hit your main problem in your post. No fertilizer. All plants need fertilizer of some sort unless you have flourite or eco-complete as a substrate. If they're not getting the nutrients that they need to grow, they're not gonna grow.

You should pick up a bottle of Seachem Flourish to treat the water, and you'll notice a difference!!

Oh and also, I know that most plants will "tolerate" higher ph, but they will do -better- with a lower ph. And keep in mind your java ferns are slow-growers.

Listen! Do you smell that?

Umm... will the fertilizer affect my fish?
How fast does anubis grow? What else would look nice in there?

-Shadowtheblacklab

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

The Fertilizer is absolutely fish safe. (just make sure you use aquarium ferts, Flourish is good and I have good results with Jungle labs stuff too.) I use both liquid and Tablet fertilizer. As for How fast Anubias grow I get about 2 to 3 new leaves a week. With Java Fern Its good to get one a month. Keep in mind with both of these the Rhyzome must be above the substrata. And Java Fern uses its roots to anchor to rocks not for collecting nutrients.

As For what looks good with it Amazon swords IMO complement them nicely.

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lysaer is right when he says that "java ferns are slow-growers", and anubias are actually slooooooow-growers.

And neither nor would profit from a fert-enriched substrate as neither nor should be buried (ok, you may dig in the skinny vertical roots of the Anubias, but not the rhizome) but tied to rock or wood.

So, if you have them buried the you will loose them anyway

And if you don't what should they eat? They need fertilizers in the water column. Nitrates (in Ammonia form) and Phosphates may be provided by the fish, to some degree, but that's it, except for any goodies you may have in the tab.

2wpg can be considered the lower scale of medium light, as such the addition of ferts is desired.

You also never mentioned how long they are in the tank for already.

Ingo

EDIT: didn't see LogansLeathers entry, agree with him on growth, except that it sounds odd that he gets one fern leaf a month. I take that his plant has not settled yet.

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

My Fern is weird I have had it for over one year, and it puts out a bunch of new leaves then they turn black and die off, the rhyzome is still green and now all it puts out are little round leaves. When it grows good I get up to three new leaves a day. It hasn't grown good now for months.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
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I have many Anubias and some Java Fern in the 5ft tank and the Betta tank also has Anubias and Serated Java Fern.
Both tanks get ferts and never a problem. Both ferts I use a totally different. The Beta tank is Seachem products only, and the 5ft is fert once a week with a totally different product.

Both tanks have v/good lights one plant and one daylight each

Depending on the Anubias species and the conditions it is grown will depend on the speed of growth. In the Betta tank the small variety grows faster than in the 5ft tank.
The large Anubias is a slow grower but an extremly a long lived plant all of the large leafed Anubias in the 5ft tank would be close to 20 years now. The best methods to go it is either tying with 15 lb fishing line to either rocks or DW .

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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The harder you stare at those poor plants the slower they will grow. Let nature do its thing and then one day soon you will be suprised with new leaves! A fert should help. My tank is currently unfertilized and I have a java fern and two different anubias in it. The fern does grow fast for a 'slow' plant and now that it is settled it is producing leaves and babies at a better rate. The anubias nana puts out leaves regularly but the anubias barteri will not do anything... Yes, swords would look nice with your plants and they are pretty good growers. Maybe a grass-looking plant would make a nice contrast?

What kind of grass-looking plant?Is there anything else i could add?

My tank has been up with fish for about 3 months,but I agree the Java fern is slow...I have some in all my tanks.

I am slightly worried about using fertilizer because I now have 16-1 day old swordtail fry,and will soon have guppy and platy fry.

P.S.
My new babies are SOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

Standard fertilizers like flourish at the usual dose will not hurt your fry. Such products are used with far more sensitive fish even in breeding tanks to keep the plants growing. Everything in these fertilizers is normally found in water it's just that unlike in large natural bodies of water in a tank the plants use up the nutrients faster than they are replaced. The only bad thing that might happen is if you add too much fertilizer you'll get some excess algae growth.