Er What's This?

[Twinklecaz]

Giving my tank a good clean yesterday I noticed these blobs on the underside of one of my plants:



Anyone any idea what they are? They look very neatly arranged so first thought was eggs but they're brown so then I thought no. Any thoughts?

 

[Akasha72]

I could be completely wrong but the plant looks like a java fern. I got one from my lfs yesterday and he showed me these blobs under the leaves that look like your picture. He said it was how to plant secures itself to rocks and wood and grows ...

 

[Baccus]

look like spores from ferns, totally natural and just means they are happy.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Thanks guys! Finally, nearly 2 years later I have a happy plant. Who knew lol.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If it is Java Fern, those patches could signify your plant is about to breed. Have a feeling that means it is not happy, but hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[Liquid skills]

Yeh this plant acc cums in a male and female like butter nut squash thats just a female varuent of the plant egg/spor pouches i was shocked to when i first saw some on my grandads plant lol

 

[soybean]

Don't be surprised if it suddenly starts to look a bit manky while it focuses on putting out new growth, but it should bounce back.

 

[coldcazzie]

Each of the little blobs will grow a new baby plant out of it. Let me upload a piccy for you

 

[coldcazzie]

Here you go:

You can see the new baby leaves and the new root system growing out from underneath the mother leaf. Once the leaves get to about 2 inches long you can pick the babies off and attach them somewhere else.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Actually you don't have to wait that long ... I've pulled them off when they're 1/2" and they're still growing in their new home!

BTW, Cazzie, yours are beautiful!

 

[Twinklecaz]

Lol now I'm frightened. Does it mean it's happy or sad? There's a load of tiny leaves at the back of the bogwood it's attached to if that's significant.

Poor thing has no idea it'll be ditched anyway as soon as I get my new tank because I don't want to transfer the persistant black algae that's on the wood

 

[coldcazzie]

Happy. You could snip those leaves off where they meet the rhizome and leave them floating in your new tank. Then after they've spawned discard the mother leaf and continue on with the babies

 

[Twinklecaz]

I'm so thick with things like this though - which one's the mother leaf?

 

[coldcazzie]

Any of them that have the little bobbles on them the leaves that the plantlets grow off is called the mother leaf, and the plantlets are called daughters, although why all these plants are female is beyond me...