Java Fern Water Roots

[The Newb]

Evening,

I am just wondering if there is some way to inhibit the growth of the water roots on my java fern. I have been leaving it alone to let the plantlets develop, but once I separate them I want to get rid of the water roots and pretty it up a bit. As you can kind of see from the blurry photos, the roots are growing all along the length of the leaves, not just at the plantlets. I am worried that even if I snip them off, there will still be little stubs sticking out which would be less than attractive. Could excess light be sending it into propagation overdrive? At the moment it is directly under the 192w power compacts in my 55gal. If I moved it to a shadowed area could it slow down the roots?

Any info/advice is greatly appreciated. 

[The Newb]

another pic

[Laura]

That looks unusual, but perhaps it's the plants reaction to having it's base buried in gravel.

They shouldn't have their roots buried like other plants, you want to tie them onto driftwood with cotton thread and let them adhere to the wood.

[Saltcreep]

I agree, that looks very unusual. I have a ton of Java Fern - rooted to driftwood, ornaments and rocks, and probably 50% is rooted in the substrate. I didn't plant it in the gravel, that was the plants' choice. This stuff will take hold very strongly in medium size gravel. I have never seen roots developing like those in your pics though. That does seem like an awful lot of light. Maybe that's the difference; mine is all growing in medium to low light. Maybe try raising your lights or, like you said, sheltering the plants.

[sas]

Just as Laura mentioned Java Fern doesn't appreciate having it's rhizome buried.
I'd try relocating it so the the rhizome is visible above the gravel, otherwise
it will rot.
Right now the plant probably can't get enough nutrients so it is sending out extra roots
at the top of the plant.
Hope that helps .

[jetstream]

From my own experience, the reason that your Java Fern developed lots of roots under the leaf is because of the plantlets on top of the leaf. There's chance the (mother) leaf is damaged close to the base of the leaf or is breaking off from where it attached to the rhizome. I think your tank is still considering in new setup phase with lots of nutrients. With high light together, the plantlets will grow much faster and grow out lots of roots under the leaf.

Under higher light condition with good amount of nutrients, the leaves of Java Fern will be smaller but more bushy when compared with lower light condition. You can try two experiments. First one is, cut the existing leaf off, attached it to a piece of rock or driftwood, put it away from the strong light area. You will see the plantlet grow taller, slowly develop the rhizome. The old leaf will finally broken off or over taken by the new plant root system will be on it own just like a regular Java fern plant. Another experiment is, cut another healthy leaf off and use cotton thread attached it to a piece of driftwood or rock (make sure the leaf's top is facing top) and put it next to where your existing plant is. There's high chance you will see the same thing happened again.

Just my two cents! 

Cheers!

[The Newb]

Thanks for all the responses. Gives me a bit more to think about and play around with. I will try some of the plantlets in different parts of the tank without burying them, and may even move one to my other tank with less light.

I am hoping the original plant will still be okay there in the substrate though. So far there has been no rot or anything, just the profusion of water roots. At least if I do lose the original I'll still have the dozen plantlets that have taken it over