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Growing Mosses

That, looks realy nice :).. Thanks for sharing..
 
Leptodictyum riparium :)
http://www.aquamoss.net/Stringy-Moss/Stringy-Moss.htm

I got it as a sneak in, with other moss from above seller.. Fortunately because it's a nice one for open tanks..
The adult emersed form is somewhat different, but native all over Europe
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/mosses/Leptodictyum_riparium.pdf

It's all over my tank, but this one the only close to the glass.
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It climbed out of the water on it's own against the wood, i didn't help.. I just noticed today it was there. :)

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:)
 
I'm loving the contents of this thread, it's great to see everyone's experience with mosses. I'm planning on a re-scape of my shrimp tank, after going on holiday for 3 weeks it has taken a real bad turn. I'm hoping to use all sorts of mosses for this new look so this thread will be a great reference source! Right now I'm planning on getting a portion of Flame Moss, Christmas Moss and perhaps Round Pelia which is a type of liverwort I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), I also have some Fissidens which is hanging on for its dear life. I do have a small portion of what appears to be Anchor Moss from tim a while ago growing emersed sitting on some shrimp substrate which was saved a while back. I'm hoping to transfer it to its submerged form but I'm not sure how to go about it since I didn't attach it to wood which would have been easier. Maybe I'll harvest a little bit (don't have a lot of it) and place it in a container with just enough water in it so that some of the moss is still poking out and wait for new growth before adding more water. Any input would be great and also suggestions of what other mosses I should include.
 
Flame moss is very nice.. :) is very easily tied to wood or stone.

Pelia is more difficult, it also very fragile, it's a sinker but still easily floats off.. It attaches ok, but rather slowly it more likes to branche out than to creep. In used glew but thats not the best way for pelia, In my case it does best if its put into some cavity. :) Every flat surface i did put it on, (glewed), it came lose again with just a little attached to the surface and here in the cavity between 2 stones, just forced it in a bit, it very happy.
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Glew is more for the fissidens, it grows best submersed under moderate light it will creep steadily. Under higher light it will creep less and grows more up. So if you want a lot of surface covered with fissidens, you need a lot or keep the lights down till you have wath you got.. Once the tank is filled it's difficult to replant fissidens..

Christmass moss is very dominant, it attaches very fast and creeps as fast as it branches.. It will easily outcompete any other moss near it if it isn't kept in check.

If you can gett it, take a look at Lomariopsis Lineata.. It's a Fern looking like a round Pelia. :) It's easier to tie against objects than the pelia and less fragile because it's leaves are more flexible.. It's not a moss, but never the less a good companion and the shrimps love it.
 
Thanks for the reply zozo, Lomariopsis Lineata is exactly the 'round pelia' I was talking about, was going to buy it from one of our forum sponsor http://www.freshwatershrimp.co.uk/product.php?id_product=26
Wonderful one, I found it grows better with co2 and medium light attached to a stone with cotton line. In a few weeks you will see how it grows round and compact. The only constraint is that it tends to hold a lot of debris if you don't squeeze it during WCs. In my low tech tanks it was a plant that grew well but without a clearly defined shape.
I don't have it anymore but I would like to grow the adult fern plan from it

Jordi
 
Wonderful one, I found it grows better with co2 and medium light attached to a stone with cotton line. In a few weeks you will see how it grows round and compact. The only constraint is that it tends to hold a lot of debris if you don't squeeze it during WCs. In my low tech tanks it was a plant that grew well but without a clearly defined shape.
I don't have it anymore but I would like to grow the adult fern plan from it

Jordi

I was thinking the same.. :) Do you know anybody ever tried that before? I can't seem to find information about it. Rather peculiar story about that pant, i realy wonder if it's even possible to make it transition to sebmersed, it doesn't seem to like it in this form as we know it.
 
I was thinking the same.. :) Do you know anybody ever tried that before? I can't seem to find information about it. Rather peculiar story about that pant, i realy wonder if it's even possible to make it transition to sebmersed, it doesn't seem to like it in this form as we know it.
Nobody! Never did some serious research but it is not common for sure, at least for L. lineata

Jordi
 
I may be wrong but i think scapania undulata is only red under low nutrient conditions, as is common willow moss. If you grow it in preety much pure ro youll end up with red willow moss although youll have to keep swaping 2 lots around to keep it red.
 
Took some moss from a wet place out of the garden.. Actualy it's the same moss that's on my wood from the picture from above. :) anyway, did put some on a stone and placed it in a plastic cup semi submersed in the water with some of the same moss submersed the water. actualy totaly forgot about it, tugged away in a corner fr a few weeks. Today i noticed a green string growing up agains the side of that cup, took it out to take a look under the lid.

And i was surpriced to see it more than twice as much i did put in there. it likes to grow as much submersed as emersed, it doeesn't realy care where it is..
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Also did put a small piece of mini pelia among it. :)
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Here is the submersed growth.
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Here it is in the tank submersed on another stone.
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The same moss on the wood at the water line, it constantly wet but not submersed. And it grows differently at that spot and it already on there weeks longer than on the stone and in water above. SHorter and thicker..
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And this is how it grows an inch above the water line. It carpets and grows even shorter.
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Wonder what kind it is.. Submersed it looks a bit like the Leptodictyum riparium, but it isn't. :)
 
Did put some mnium sp. (so far it's my best bet that it is a mnium sp.) in the tank, to see what it will do. Took pictures with a date stamp. :)

First week
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Now i see it is transforming, changing and growing, very slow but it's doing something old form is slowly withering away and new growth is forrming. directly left to the rotala it's seen best that there is growth. It looks like it propagating, i see some tiny shoots comming behind the stone. where was said Acrocarps don't propagate aquatic? Can't find it back.. :).. Or am i mistaken?

Weeks later..
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Left ront is Lomariopsis lineata and the long stems at far left is Pyrrhobryum dozyanum i did put in later. :)
 
Took the moss from above out off the tank after 6 weeks submersed to take a closer look what happened. :) Look at the new growth on it, far left you see actualy 2 new shoots growing out the same stem.. Interesting transformation... Did put it back in the tank of course.
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And its this (bottom of the picture) moss i found on a relative dry spot under a tree in the forest.. :)
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Even more intersting is, if i put it with the base stem in the water and the leaves emersed it dies off. :)
 
Little update on my Mnium Hornum experiment. :) It'sgrowing and propagating submersed very well till now.. Actualy the new submersed growth has kinda different appearance. I wonder how it will eventualy mature in it's aquatic form.. I realy wonder could we have a terrestrial moss here of which when it's spores if landed aquatic develops in a moss which at the end is identified as a different spieces. Field guids state Mnium Hornum isn't found aqautic.
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:)
 
Here we go again, whit a till now somewhat succesfull experiment. Growing terrestrial found moss aquatic.
This time it's the moss shown in bellow picture at the left hand top :) Sory for the bad pic..
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It already changes apearence when grow in a closed moist container.. then it branches out with longer stems and grows less dense then on the forest floor.
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Did put a piece of that in my little test tank, over 6 weeks ago.. :)

And this is how it grows submersed..
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Actualy relatively fast.

Here you see the same piece outside the tank, with it's original terrestrial piece still attached.. The terrestrial form goes dorment, maybe even rots away if it is long enough submersed. But clearly to see, this moss changes totaly when forced to grow submersed and shoots of a different new growform. So at first glance with the naked eye you wouldn't even say it is the same moss..
:) But it definitively doesn't mind at all to addapt and propagate aquatic.
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Need to read through this properly!

Quick question though, I'm after a creeping moss to grow emersed on some wood that goes above the water line.
I have Christmas, flame, Java, fisidens and weeping. Any of those? Something else?
 
Hi 5678 :)

Im trying different things with mosses emersed and submersed. Above my open top tank on wood and in some wabi kusa emersed on wood and rock. I think many mosses can do submersed as well as emersed, you only need to provide the proper conditions and in almost all cases have a lot of patience.. As you see above many mosses also change apearance when condition change.

For example i see fissidens also doing ok emersed in very high humidity, that is if you take a strain which propagated submersed and place that emersed. Im not yet to the point to make it propagate itself emersed and see if or how it will change. And maybe let it addapt to lesser humid conditions. So i can place it on wood above an open top tank.The submersed version yet did not grow by itself out of the water yet. No idea if it ever will do this.. or it maybe is and i do not recognize it as fissidens because i got several kinds of mosses growing on the same wood.

In my open top tank i placed several mosses on the emersed wood parts near to waterline.. I did it also with the moss from above, Emersed it creeps and submersed it takes a stringy form. So it's hard to say which moss will grrow in the same form in all conditions.

I think all the ones you mention in your reply can do, but it will take a long time for submersed forms to addapt to the lesser humid condition above an open top tank. Even very close to the water line the air humidity is very low..

Approach it in a waby kusa style of growing.. Put it emersed in very humid condition and see if you get it to propagate. Than slowly let it addapt to less humidity.
I do the same with terrestrial mosses i find in nature other way arround, put it in a closed container with high humidity like 90% + for a while and see what propagetes. The pieces which propagate in 90% + humidity i do put in 100% humidity (submersed) and they keep going. :) Even mosses of which the field guide says it's only found emersed.

That's what i found out till now. mosses don't like drastic changes..

Just an idea for you, one that already worked for me.. Put a bucket outside the house in a half shaded spot. Fill it with any kind of substrate and put some very easy swamp plants in it like Iris. Top it of with water and leave it to mother nature, only give it some ferts once in a while. Just check once in a while, make it a wet and dry invironment, if the topsoil is dry for a few days top it of again with water. after some time mother nature will provide you with some mosses growing in there at the plants base, soil or hardware, mosses which prefer those wet and dry conditions. Take this moss to put on your emersed hardware and your good to go without a lot of experimenting and losses. :)
 
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Have some new ones going im wondering about.. :) This time emersed..

Its this moss found between the crack of the pavement on the street. there it forms a few millimeter thick dense cushions of lightgreen moss. I did put it in a more regular moist condition on a wett soil and it starts to grow up and stops cushioning.. Its very tiny and very difficult to photograph in it's real detail it's just that small. But it looks like a leafy moss now.
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And this one also a street moss :) scratched from a concrete wall.. It's darker olive green.. It has kinda grassy form, i did put it on a rock.. But this one didn't do very much in the few weeks it is on there. It stays lush and green but it's not realy growing till now. (guess it wants calcium i still need to try that)
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Does anyone have an idea about wath Sp. it might be?? :)
 
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