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I often find nice, usable pieces of Java fern and occasionally Java moss on the loose in my tanks during water changes/cleaning. I don't have time to do anything with them at the time, but I'd like to save them for future use.

Can I keep the plants temporarily in something like a Critter Keeper? Some tank water, lighting...would an airpump be necessary as well? Would they be ok floating?






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Sure theresa, we're not exactly talking about sensitive plant types here

Put them in the critter keeper under a desklamp, keep the lid off if you can so they get as much light as possible. An airstone would work fine, even better would be a very weak water pump or power head, just to keep water moving and prevent some algae types - though algae probably won't be an issue with the little amout of light you'll be giving them.

I can't imagine you'll need to give them any ferts in the mean time, the light and water and i dunno, maybe some excel will do them fine - may a few pinches of fish food, let it break down to give them some N and P.

other than that, they're tanks, you should be good to go.

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Back in the saddle!

I do this with a lot of my plants when I'm re-scaping or saving trimmings for later. A small water pump or something really does help more than you'd think. Java ferns will stay alive for weeks this way, and it's an okay solution for other plants for a few days. I even start rooting stem plants in a little pot with laterite (or just gravel is fine, really) in a bucket with a light overhead and it works out pretty well.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Theresa,

A quick cure for algae on java fern or on anubias is to put it into a ziplock with a teaspoon of water, seal the bag and toss it in a closet for a week or so. For java fern and java moss ambient light will do fine.

OK, it's a long cure for algae and moonlight is probably enough light for java fern and java moss.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Thanks so much for the info

Here's a pic of what I quickly threw together. I don't have an indivdual light for the container, but it receives light from the 10g next to it as well as daylight from the window across the room. It's sharing the airpump from my 75g.

So it doesn't look too bad, and the fry in that 10g are really curious about it, so that's a bonus



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You don't even need additional lighting or filtration if the clippings are only of Java moss & Java fern. I have a topless, bare-bottom 2.5g that I've been using for the same purpose. It's loaded with clippings of java moss, fern, floating polysperma & ludwigia. It's on the bottom rack of my 20g stand, only gets ambient light (plus a couple of hours of late afternoon sunshine) and no filtration. After 3 months, the plants are still alive (not even leaf loss) and I don't see any trace of algae on them or the glass.

-P

I LOVE your tanks picture theresa.they are very nice and look healthy.

Tank rearranging and all that good stuff here the past few days...my betta was moved to a 2.5g hex so today I came up with the idea to put the airstone, wood and plants in with him. For a quick little project it doesn't look too bad.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean