I believe your fern is the Japanese painted fern _Athyrium niponicum_ -99% sure. Hehe. And that’s fine if it’s in the moss, in fact, epiphytic setups are better for a fern, most of the time. The moss of course picks up moisture, and it’s also aerated enough for the roots to not rot. Then the evaporation from the tank water does the rest. Nutrients will be wicked up from the water as well. Soil isn’t really a fern’s “best friend”, though I know most people grow ferns potted in dirt. Whenever I’ve bought ferns I almost always repot them or mount them right away. Soil is just a bit too thick and heavy for most epiphytes unless it’s 75% drainage materials. I often pot ferns in 100% sphagnum. Most average gardeners don’t have the experience or confidence to try epiphytic growing, on moss, or mounted on wood, etc. It looks good for you! 👍🏽
This is very useful information! Many thanks:) I didn't know that ferns can grow as epiphytes. I used to grow them with roots partially submerged in water in my previous paludarium setups, which they seemed to enjoy due to the amount of nutrients from the water.
Hey friend- great to catch up with you and this tank. Funny, I just posted a video of my tank with the most emerged growth but it's Rotalla that is going nuts out of water (as opposed to your Japanese Clover). Anyway, I hope you are having a lovely summer :)
Hi, thank you for watching! Your top shelf tank with its emersed Rotala was an initial inspiration for me to add long stem plants here expecting they will break the water surface, but at the time my local fish store had no Rotala, only Bacopa caroliniana, so I went for it!
@@tropicalfishhub I actually started all this rotala with only emerged stems and just wedged them into moss covered wood. They did the rest. I could try sending you a bunch of “dry” stems though I know it is a long way for them to travel.
@@LushSaltyAquariums Oh, thanks for the offer, but the UK customs won't allow in or out of country any live plants in private mail! Rotala isn't a rare plant here, but my local fish store sometimes runs out of it, so hopefully I'll get it next time:)
Thanks Gil! Both of these plants seem to do well in normal 'living room' conditions. I spray them once per day, but once they get used to emersed growth they don't seem to need any extra moisture
@@tropicalfishhub thanks, that's very useful to know! Any idea which one is doing the best, if I just wanted to cover a large area on top of damp sphagnum or hygrolon?
@@93kristof In my experience, Christmas moss is a solid all-rounder that will grow under any circumstances. Sphagnum is the hardest to maintain lacking high level of moisture (but without exposure to water)
Changing 50% of the water every week is a lot of work. Spraying that whole wall of plants every day is an insane amount of work! *It's to be a slave to that terrarium!* You built it wrong, it needs to be under a hood to reduce evaporation and to increase humidity.
It takes me 30 minutes per week to change water and 2-3 minutes per day to spray it. I won't have done if I'd enjoy it obviously or do you believe I'd be torturing myself?! I built it on purpose to allow more space for plants to grow and prevent humidity accumulating as I don't want any mould in my flat. There is no right or wrong in the hobby, you do it the way that works for you. lol
