I have been trying to get my hands on Needle leaf variety of Java Fern for quite some time now.
The inspiration for the “Flooded Forest” is a 90p tank at Aquarium Gardens, UK. That tank has focal point composed of Needle leaf Java fern. Without that most key ingredient, my scape was always missing something.
I have tried to source needle leaf with various sources. Stores generally pose regular Java fern for needle type and narrow leaf type. I don’t think they understand the different Java fern variants either. So my search was continuing for the last few years.
Unboxing
Finally I found a source on Facebook called Petkraftz. When the supplier sent me pics of the rhizomes, I was convinced this was the type I was searching for. The price was steep. There was no price discount either since this was a rare variety. I understood it better than most folks since I was searching for this variant for quite some time.
The packing was pretty decent. The ferns arrived without much stress I think. There were 3-4 leaves per rhizome and 4 rhizomes it looked like. The leaves appear ok, didn’t have to trim out much.
Treatment
I always incoming plants with a 2 min bleach dip followed by a rinse and then a 10 min dip in Seachem prime (decolorinator). The possibility of pest snails and algae infestation is minimal this way.
Planting
The rhizomes were all bunched together and inserted into the gap in the driftwood. The needle leaves are not that prominent now. The Bolbitis looks to be overpowering the fragile needle leaf Java fern. But with good co2 enrichment, fertilisation and light levels this set of rhizomes should bear new leaves and then I will selectively trim out the older, current leaves.
Hopefully this is the end of my search for the needle leaf variant of Java fern. 🤞🏽
AquaBang! 