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Growing Mosses

I have an interesting unknown moss growing on the reinforcing bar of my Juwel Vision 180 tank.
Well here is a picture from the other day.
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Still growing on the reinforcing bar, now got some gloss joining in the fun...
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Funny that as i was looking at some moss that had come off the garage roof and wonderd if it would grow in the tank. Other than ebay where could i get hold of (low tech/easy grow) moss,most fish stores around hull dont really cover plants.
 
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The Glosso is spreading well off the bar into the water now. Some HC has started growing as well.

These moss & plants got there because I used the middle bar as a "plant parking area" when fiddling with layout and obviously some bits got left. Handy as I keep trimming the Glosso to replace "manky" bits in the tank.
 
I'm having troubles with this method and 'peacock moss'. The central stems of peacock moss seem to be more brittle than other species of moss. I am as delicate as possible when doing the daily water change, but the moss seems to be degrading in quality slightly as time goes on. Bits seem to be 'snapping' out of the fronds of moss.

The other mosses in the same location (out of direct sunlight, not too warm in these summer months) are doing fine, so I think this may just be an issue with Peacock Moss. Has anyone else had any experience with this?

For now I am dropping the water change to every two days to try and limit the damage, I think I'll just get it in the tank where I know it will be happy, though that's not where it's meant to be destined for.
 
A1 matt growing hc Cuba and Xmas moss dsm now the Cuba growing well,the substrate is soaked well the Xmas moss is on some bog wood the temp is 25 deg do I need to spray the Xmas on the wood or enough moisture in tank ?
 
I did a nice find :) unfortunately the site is in Dutch for the non dutch people.. But still all names are alphabeticly ordered and in Latin ;)..
This website is a database from the Bryologic and Lichenologic Workgroup and they record Moss propagation around the country it also shows a map where it founds are reported and recorded and photographed.

The Netherlands is like UK kind of a wet land, lots of water.. We are lucky water is an international word for us. and i was rather amazed about the amount of moss species living and typicaly only to be found on wetlands near riversides. Where in the wet seasons it needs to survive some time submersed of course. Actualy i do not know a river in the netherlands that doesn't bank out during longer rainy periodes..

So if you read the word "water, rivier (river), nat (wet) then you know enough and can search the latin name for an english discription elsewhere. If it lives and can be found in the Netherlands near rivers the chances that it is to be found in the UK as well are huge of course.


http://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/mossen

Like not far in the A
Amblystegium tenax
http://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/foto/25627
Wet and water loving, growing on rocks near the river shore.. :)
 
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Mosses darn large group so much and so diverse and sometimes so much a like again it's hard to determine what you got if you're not an moss expert. It's rather a large list to study and get to know all. Sometimes i see mosses growing somewhere and i just don't know where to start looking for a determination of what kind of moss t realy is. The list is to darn large..

After doing some basic readings on moss i found out that by origine it actualy all started as an aquatic form of which some branches addapted to terrestrial growth in more dry environments. And looking at the rather large database seems that the majority likes wett and somewhat cool inveronments. So i came to think that this should in principle this shoud mean that every kind of moss could be forced back to aquatic live, that depending on where you find it you maybe need to make it addapt over time in a slow transition back and not just throw it in a bucket of water and see wath happens.

No a live on a hill near a creek vally, a small creek delta where a few creeks come together in between those creeks is a wetland forest. Very old end dense, with many old dead trees packed with mosses and ferns. I see mosses growing near the creek base and in heavy rainy periodes those creeks expand exeptionaly. Now i'm gattering mosses from that forest to see what i can do with them. I'm already doing that for some time also before i started aquarium again. And never had a chance to make them survive it always was just not wet enough to make them survive in my planted setups.

The only one i could determine till now is the most common Mnium Hornum (We call it common star moss, its all over everywhere around the world) But even that family seems to be quite large and also has aquatic branches. I'm not sure if there are living different species of Mnium in that forest all though i've gattered some different grow forms of it by now. So i do not know which Mnium species i gathered till now. Some stay short others grow longer and more slender, now idea if this is a grow form of the same kind in different condition or just a different kind of mnium. The others i just not sure what they are nearly impossible for me at the time to say wath it is.

I did put some different forms i found in my aquascape, not yet submersed but only moist, a portion above the waterline and a portion with only wet feed. Just to make them slowly addapt to a more constant wetter condition than they actualy came from. Some of them didn't like it and others are astablishing quite well. So i decided to strat me an experiment with getting mosses found in the forrest back to aquatic life.. Something in my gut tells me, if you do it slow and controled it can be done. Something in me tells me aquatic mosses also spread and can be found terrestrial near water. We will see. :)

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This is a portion of a patch i found in that forest of different spieces growing together in one patch. I do not know if it is 2 spieces of Mnium in there or the same with other grow form. I'm trying to work on that, but seeing the imense data base to plough trough i need soem time.
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There is much more to be found in that forest, but i have to go on my knies for that.. I'll keep gathering.
Do not know when i will be ready for it. But i'm planning to make me a small 5 to 10 gallon low tech moss tank (Paludarium) for my experiment.. I'll come back on that when it's ready.

For now this is my little moss propegation centre
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This don't know yet what it is but i'm going to see if i can get it attached epilithic and if i'm slowly going submersed with it.
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This is Mini Pelia en fissidens F. lets see how far we get with it emersed. (Also got them on the wood above, can't see them, but still there still alive but not realy growing, takes time i guess)
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This is my other Moss propagator :)
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It's just a big sink bucket at a sunny corner in the garden. I filled it with sand and rocks and water. Did put some plants in it like Iris, Pickerel, forget me not, salvinia and mare's tail. The plants in there create their own shady spots for the mosses. I'll check it every other day and keep the water level high as much as possible when days are warm and dry. The water level is only about 1 to 2 inches above the soil.. Now it is already standing for many years like that and there are some mosses in there i didn't plant myself and it's already i nice dense patch. And i see them willing to grow submersed as well. I took some out to use in my scape
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and the hole i created pulling a patch out already grew back.
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Today i disected a small piece to see if i can determine what it is and what more can be done with it. Already did put a small string submersed in my tank. Still working on the determination of spieces. But its actualy beautifull definitively (semi)aquatic and just growing in my garden by itself.
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Also got some other spieces in there as well. It isn't enough to pull it out yet i want the patch to grow some bigger.
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This also is growing from submersed to emersed as you can see.

:)
 
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Wow, I missed this one... I am also a moss lover, with plenty of little emersed setups at home using mosses I found here and there. I'm lucky to live in a warm area so the moss I collect do not always need a winter diapause in their life cycle.
Some of you maybe know some of these:

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I suppose you all know this guide (http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/activities/BBSFGspac.htm)... it's brilliant.

Jordi
 
Hi all,
I suppose you all know this guide (http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/activities/BBSFGspac.htm)... it's brilliant.
The linked pdf's are from the site, but the book itself "<"Mosses and Liverworts of the British Isles: A Field Guide"> has much higher quality images. I can honestly say it is one of the best £25 I've ever spent.
Still working on the determination of spieces
They may be the real <"Drepanocladus aduncus"> & <"Leptodictyum riparium">, both are common mosses in NW Europe.

However they may not be the same species as the mosses sold commercially under these names.

cheers Darrel
 
That's realy lovely Parotet :).. Looks stunning!. Im still a beginner, so i'm not into determing spieces yet. Even if they look familiar, the family is to big to be sure if you don't know the small details. I'm still hoping to find me the Fox Tail Moss, That one is number one on my wish list. :) Actualy hoping i already did find it, got some looking like it. and see if i can make it grow like this. Can grow like a little tree standing by itself..
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Hi all,
The linked pdf's are from the site, but the book itself "<"Mosses and Liverworts of the British Isles: A Field Guide"> has much higher quality images. I can honestly say it is one of the best £25 I've ever spent. They may be the real <"Drepanocladus aduncus"> & <"Leptodictyum riparium">, both are common mosses in NW Europe.

However they may not be the same species as the mosses sold commercially under these names.

cheers Darrel

Hi Darrel, thanks for the links, sometimes the spores can tell what you got i found out. Maybe i'll have to wait till it's willing to grow them.
But do you know this kind? Rather strange and potentialy beautifull decorative moss.
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Found it at a rather warm day almost dead at a dry spot in between some other dying mosses.. took it home did put it in to wet live sphagnum and its recovering. Kind of star moss i guess..
 
Hi all,
Looks like a <"Polytrichum sp."> they are common on heaths etc.

cheers Darrel

Ok thanks Haircap moss, don't see 'm so very much around here.. But haven't bein on the heaths often lately. So than they like it sandy and dry. Funny is i did put some emersed in the tank as well with the stems in water and it seems they rurn red or dead on me, don't know yet maybe to rich in firts for them. I also did put a few stems submersed and there it seems to do better them emersed, still bright green. :) The ones on the sphagnum are recovering good..
 
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