Java Moss

[charliesmith]

morning! this may sound a peculiar question, but what is the best 'way' of keeping java moss. I have heavily pregnant guppys and platys in my tank, so bought the balls as an extra place for new born fry to hide, but upon investigation, the balls are very thin, even balding as some may say!

logic would tell me that the moss will simply grow around the core over time, but was wondering if i had to break the balls up to promote growth or if they were being constricted by any means (such as a net to form the shape restricting growth!)

any help would be most appreciated!

cheers

charlie

 

[Straydum]

view the pinned thread on java in the plant section

 

[nry]

If you bought 'balls' then they are more likely to be marimo balls (a form of algae) then they are to be java moss. Not sure if java moss is sold or can grow as 'balls'?

 

[charliesmith]

will do straydum, forgive my weary eyes!!

you are probably right about the balls not being java moss, the shop i bought them from does seem to have a habit of mislabelling items! if i have introduced a form of algae into my tank (without trying to generalise here), would i be running the risk of parts of this ball fragmenting and growing in various parts of the tank?!

the ball shape seems to be formed by some kind of netting, with the plant growing through....very peculiar, will try and get a good quality picture if it would help

thankings

 

[nry]

They sound like java moss when you mention the netting, the marimo balls don't (to my knowledge!) need nets as they grow ball shaped by default I think.

 

[charliesmith]

well, having looked at the pinned thread on java moss, these balls look in no way similar! there is definately a form of netting, cant get a pic of it as my phone is not that detailed!

well, here is a picture of one of the balls -

it feels somewhat furry to the touch, im sure you are right in saying they aren't java moss.

 

[iSnail]

Definitely NOT Java moss. They are Marimo/Moss balls, infact made of algae. Java moss looks more like long strands of green strings.

 

[MoonstruckMuse]

Those shouldnt need any sort of netting to stay round like that. And don't worry, it doesn't spread unless YOU go and break it up and then spread it around, so no fears of that. Balding probably means it isnt getting enough lighting, though they're really low light plants anyhow... so just give it a roll every so often so that all sides get some light and it stays spherical.

I'm not sure how much hiding these will provide for fry, to be honest. You can try breaking up one of them and laying it out flat like a carpet, which I've heard of some people doing before, and this may provide the fry some more spaces to hide. However, since the algae is fairly short - not likely it'll provide tons of protection. It'll provide some though, don't worry.
You also might be able to bring it back to your LFS and trade for some java moss, now that you know what it looks like.

 

[charliesmith]

cheers moonstruck

it was thinning on one part from where it had been left in the same place in the shop. Spoke to the guy who runs the lfs about the mislabeling (not that i knew!) , so he gave me loads of java moss anyway! nice! will probably keep the balls anyway, i hear they are a good source of lowering nitrate??

probably wont bother with breaking them up

 

[reggieschuey]

Java moss grows like crazy in my tank. its not particular the most beautiful thing, just heaps hairy kind of thing , i always seems to have to hide or tie it to smoething and then ending up throwing it away!