Animals
Bunnies
Bunnies II 
Cat-N-Around Cat Club
Cat-N-Around Cat Club 2007 Annual Show
Hawkeye Cat Club 2004
Hawkeye Cat Club 2005
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Degus
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Ferrets by BOB
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Water Bottles

Bugs
Crabby 500
Crab 04 Results
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Tarantula Night 2006
TarantulaWeen VII
TarantulaWeen 9
Walking Stick
Misc. Bugs
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Finches
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Parrot Pix III
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Lizards
Alligators
Anoles
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Calotes
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Horned "Toads"
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Iguana Update
Cool Iguana Pics
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Salmonella
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Tegus
Uromastyx maliensis
Water Dragon
Misc Lizards
Misc Lizards 2
Misc Lizards 3
Misc Lizards 4
Misc Lizards 5
Misc Lizards 6
Misc Lizards 7
Misc Lizards 8
Misc Lizards 9
Misc Lizards 10


Snakes
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Kids at Pet Expo 1

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Kids at Pet Expo 3

Kids at Pet Expo 4

Kids at Pet Expo 5
King & Milk
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Snakes Alive
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Snakesgiving II
Misc Snake Pix
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Misc Snakes III  

Turtles/Tortoises
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Box, USA
Races
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Spiny

Sulcata
Water
Western Painted

Live Foods
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Super Worms

Wax Worms
White Clouds

Decorating
Bubbles
Driftwood
Gravel
Plastic Plants
Rocks
Slow Growing Plants

Miscellaneous
Bob's Acclimation

How to Start
How to Add New Fish
How to Keep Healthy
Which Fish Get Along?
10 Questions to Ask
What is Ich?
Under Gravel Filters

Sponge Filters
Cloudy Water
Cool Water Tanks
Gravel Vacuums
Preventing Disease
Feeding to the Max
Frozen Foods
Green Water
Nasty Chemicals
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Power Filters
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Quarantine Tank
Mini-Tank
2nd Av Bait

Pet World Visit
Dandelions

Aquatic Plants
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Sword Plants III
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A. fenestralis
A. ulvaceous
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Hygrophila
Lace
Java Fern I
Java Fern II
Java Fern III
Java Fern IV
Java Moss
Moss Balls
Onion
Vermiculite
Watersprite
Different Watersprite

LA
Not your average Java fern.

LA

First Discovery:  We first noticed this new Java fern on a piece of weighted driftwood in the 55 where we put all our traded-in community fishes.  We'd never seen it before, or any plant like it.  There's Java moss growing on and over it, but it's still an eye-catcher.

LA

Closer Look:  Up close it looked a lot like one of the succulent plants that grow in rock gardens.  It was firmly attached to the driftwood and continued to catch our eye nearly daily with still no clue to its identity. 

LA
Mystery solved.

Mystery Solved:  Then one of our customers traded in a half bucket of what he called Java fern.  Seems his wife was tired of looking at his jungle.  She insisted he "simplify" as Thoreau used to say, so he traded in his Java fern jungle.  This weird form of Java fern was in the bucket -- along with lots and lots of regular Java fern..

LA
A small portion of starter plants.

Lots of Potential:  We hauled out our trusty scissors and came up with nearly 50 starter Java Ferns.  We'll need some small sunken wood pieces to attach these to.  Over time (maybe a couple months) the fern roots will develop crampons that firmly attach to the wood.

LA

Plug Anchors:  We used these small plugs as anchor sites for the new Java ferns.  We'd rather use a 2" x 3" or larger chunk of waterlogged wood but our supply of same is limited.  Most bog wood is hard as a rock.  Even a hacksaw has difficulty cutting it into starter plug size.  So we used these "chips" which were easier to work with.

LA

Not Difficult:  Fasten a starter sprig to a piece of wood with a rubber band.  Not a big job, but it does require a bit of manual dexterity.  With a larger piece of wood, you just drop these in the water.  With these little plugs you need to place them more carefully.

LA
Java fern plugs in freshwater.

Java Fern Plugs:  By anchoring these starter plants to small pieces of water-logged wood, we turn them into "Java fern plugs."  These plugs when placed on other submerged driftwood, serve to "kick start" the colonization of that submerged wood by the Java fern.  The above new plugs are growing in plain freshwater.

LA
Java fern plugs in brackish water with mollies.

Brackish Water Comments:  We also started several plugs in a molly tank with brackish water.  Brackish is a fairly loose term.  In this case it means two teaspoons of salt per gallon.  Java ferns (and algae) grow very nicely in brackish water.

LA
And the larger your starter plug, the sooner you have an impressive show plant.

LA
Here's your average  regular Java fern which will eventually grow to the top of a 20H.

We Googled Tropica:  We googled a Danish firm called Tropica -- an excellent plant info source.-- and found a registered variant of Java fern named after one of their original owners.  This plant looks very much like their 'Windeløv' variant.  We won't know for sure until we get the DNA results.

LA
Here's a nice size individual that's not anchored to wood or rock.

LA
Here the plants are attached to small pieces of gravel.

Unanchored Java Fern:  Unattached ferns grow more slowly than attached ferns.  If they stay in one place long enough (no fish knocking them about), their crampons grab onto the gravel -- just like the standard Java fern.

LA
Note the several stems growing from the leaf tips.

Second Tier Growth:  In addition to reproducing by rhizome, this Java fern variant also grows new plants from the tips of its leaves.  We haven't had it long enough to say whether these new plants will also grow new plants at the tips of their leaves.

LA
Java fern "roots.

The Root of the Matter:  Green leaves grow upwards from the long thick green rhizome.  Blackish-brown "roots" grow downwards.  These "roots" are really crampons that grab hold of wood, rocks, or gravel.  The green strands coming down are Java moss -- a plant that often overtakes and overgrows the slower-growing Java fern.

Last Words:  In case you didn't know by now, Java ferns rank very high on my popularity poll.  It's hard to go wrong with these guys.

Even Laster Words:  Dec. 7, 2007 a gentleman from Chicago visited Aqualand and said this plant is called staghorn Java fern.  I found a couple references from the U.K. that also called it "staghorn Java fern."  LA

For more Java fern info go to
Java Fern I
Java Fern II
Java Fern III

Q&As Jun I 0607
Q&As Jun II 0607
Q&As Jun III 0607
Q&As Jul I 0707

Q&As Jul II 0707
Q&As Aug I 0807
Q&As Aug II 0807
Q&As Aug III 0807

Jaguar Spawning II
Jewel Fish
Keo's Flowerhorns
Keo's Flowerhorns II
Kribensis
Oscars 1
Oscars 2
Oscars 3
Oscars 4
Oscars 5
More Oscar
More Oscar II
More Oscars III
More Oscars 2007
More Oscars 2007.5
Oscar Spawn
Peacock Bass
Red Devils
More Red Devil  
Red Parrots
Red Parrots Spawn
Red Parrot Spawn II
Pikes
Pink Tilapia
Rams
Red Bay Snooks
Roger Stephen's Cichlids
Severums
More Severums
Severums III
Tanganyikans
Texas Cichlid
Texas Spawning
Texas Spawn II
Uarus
Misc Cichlids I
Misc Cichlids II
Misc Cichlids III
Misc Cichlids IV
Misc Cichlids V
Misc Cichlids VI
Misc Cichlids VII
Misc Cichlids VIII
Misc Cichlids IX

Livebearer  
Guppies
Half-Beak
Mollies
Moons/Platys
Swordtails

Minnows/Tetra 
Barbs
Barbs, Black
Barbs, Gold
Barbs, Rosy
Barbs, Tiger
Barbs, Tinfoil
Danios
Danio Egg Saver
Distochodus
Fathead Minnows
Headstanders
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Killies, Golden
Killies, Peat
Killies, Plant
Misc Mini-Fish
Pacús 
Piranha, Black
Piranha, Red
Rainbowfish

Rainbowfish, Dwarf Neon
Rainbowfish, Irian
Silver Dollar
Tetras, Larger
Tetras, Smaller
Tetras, Spawn
Tetra, Vampire
White Clouds

Pond Fish
Carp
Channel Cat
Gold. Comets
Gold. Fantails
More Fantails
Gold. Oriental  
Gold Oriental II 
Gold. Spawn
Kloubec Koi Farm
Koi
Koi II

Koi III
Oranda Spawn
Plecostomus
Shubunkins

Oddballs  
Af. Butterfly
Af. Lungfish
Af. Mudskippr
American Eel
Archer Fish
Arowana
Bichirs
Borneo Suckers
Brackish I
Brackish II
Brackish III
Brackish IV
Brackish V
Michael Troung's Pix
Butterfly/Wasp
Chameleon Fish
Chromides
Chin Alg Eater
Crazy Fish
Crocodile Fish
Datnioides
Dojo
Dwarf Puffers
Electric Cat
Electric Eels
Elephant Nose
Exodon paradoxus
Flounder
Gars  
Glassfish
Goby Bumble
Goby Butterfly
Goby Dragon
Goby Misc.
Half-Beak
Knife African
Knife Clown
Knife Ghost
Loach Botias
Loach Clown
Loach Kuhli
Loach Weather
Moray Eel  
Peacock Gudgeons
Polypterids
Puffers
Ropefish
Scats
Siam Algae Eater 
Spiny Eels 
Snakehead
Stingray
Stonefish
Wasp Fish
Wolffish
Wrest Half-Beak
Misc Mini-Fishes
Misc Odd
Misc Odd II
Misc Odd III
Misc Odd  IV

Misc Odd V

Sharks  
Bala
Black
Bull
Chinese Hi-Fin Banded
Iridescent
Red-Tail
Siam Algae Eater

Pond Info 
Blank Park Zoo
Bob Humphrey's Ponds
Cattails
Maffett Reservoir
DMACC's Pond
D.M. Botanical Center
D.M. Water Works
Dr. Ervanian's Garden
Duckweed
Dwarf Lily
Ewing Park "Pond"
Jan & Chris's Water Garden
John McDonald's Pond
Hall's Four Acres
Klines' Water Garden
Landscaper Effects
Mini-Pond Pics
Pioneer Corn's Pond
Pond Fish Predators
Pond on 38th Street 
Pond Pics
Pond Plants
More Pond Plants
Pond Plants III
Reiman Ponds
River Scenes
Riverview Island
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Selin's Japanese Garden
Tom's Used Cars Pond
Urbandale Duck Pond
Water Hyacinth
Water Lettuce
Wild Ponds