Buying Driftwood with plant attached?

[puppyrjjkm]

At my petsmart we sell smaller pieces of driftwood with a plant (such as java fern) already attached and growing "out of" the wood. We have 2 we've had for a long time that the plants have died. How can you care for this without the plant dying?

[zackrspv]

U know, i've been wondering that too of late. At PetCo they have a great selection of drift wood, with anubia (or however u spell that) attached. Beautiful looking things, and i just know my Iggy and Shippo will love to have those in the tank.

The problem, however, i see with these, is that they have already acclimated to the tank at the store, and plants are extremely delicate. Especially those attached to non rooted surfaces (such as drift wood, rocks, etc). As most of the roots are usually exposed, the movement of the plant to the bag, bag to the tank, especially to a tank w/o the same heat, and parameters, can be very stressful for the plant.

I have yet to have one live, unfortunately. I think it'd be best to buy the plant, and driftwood separately, and then just plant them together. As the plant is bigger (and not in it's infancy, such as the ones at the store), they probably will have a longer shelf life.

Right now, tho i'm not doing live plants, aside from a live lilly pad. But other than that, iggy is happy with his artificial setup.

[Alex09]

Anubias are not delicate. Anubias and java ferns are actually some of the hardiest plants available. I havent had one die on me yet. If the plants suffered, its probably from a lighting issue, or nutrient deficiency. My PetCo carries a selection of anubias attached to lava rock for $10. Some of those same plants have been there for months. And PetCo doesnt exactly have the best conditions lol...