# Favorite moss



## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

What's your favorite moss?


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

Hard to say...I`ve managed to kill just about everyone I had.

John


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

Native moss (does well for me), spagnum moss, This random "fern moss"(an actually moss, but it looks like it has fronds) I found at a local greenhouse, and what ever pops up in the viv...


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

Java moss. Maybe green flame moss once I get some of that growing.


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## Ben Wehr (Jan 23, 2011)

I've always used native moss to Oklahoma and i'ts worked pretty well for me. it does get a little stringy at times but if the light and moisture is right I can grow a nice carpet.
I'm experimenting with java and riccia and the java is working well for the tanks I have it in.
I have a good clump of selgnela or club moss in a 42 hex with the standard strip light and an additional 20'' Compact flourescent and it and the native moss do great. The native moss in the higher portians with less light do better than the same moss on the substrate which is dimmer and a bit soggy.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Ben Wehr said:


> I've always used native moss to Oklahoma and i'ts worked pretty well for me. it does get a little stringy at times but if the light and moisture is right I can grow a nice carpet.


ya back when i was growing up in ok, i had a gallon jar turned sideways full of native moss. it looked so lush and green and soft, and did really well for a number of years. i still think back to that jar when i imagine what i would like my moss to look like now <nostalgic sigh>


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

I've tried several kinds over the years with mixed results. Most of them have slowly browned out and died. Some have lived but not spread remaining the same size as when I put them in there. I like plants that are hardy and spread quickly so I would say Java moss is my favorite.


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## rcteem (Mar 24, 2009)

Pellia by far!!!!


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Favorite: Moss that will grow naturally in your tank if you take time and give it a chance.

Least Favorite: Moss that is rolled up off hillsides and parks and sold to hobbyists.

s


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## leuc11 (Nov 1, 2010)

riccia by far, cool dense bright green mat


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## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

im putting some moss on a clay kitty litter background with a waterfall what would spread best?


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

Dendroguy said:


> im putting some moss on a clay kitty litter background with a waterfall what would spread best?


It depends on your viv... I find the ferny looking moss spreads well, or you can actually get Tropical moss from some vendors.


Just a side note: Riccia is not a moss!!! it's a liverwort.


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## Ben Wehr (Jan 23, 2011)

Chris


rcteem said:


> Pellia by far!!!!


Hey, do you have any pics of this. I'm unfamiliar with it.


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## oddball (Jan 31, 2011)

tho not a moss, mini Pelia is my favorite liverwort. heres a pic: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=342
as for true moss, i would hace to say that singapore moss is one of my favorites, in the aquarium and vivs!


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

I've always had the best luck w/ delicate fern moss


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## shazzbott (Sep 17, 2010)

I bought some moss spores from amazon, and it cover my clay background great after a month or two.


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## oddball (Jan 31, 2011)

shazzbott said:


> I bought some moss spores from amazon, and it cover my clay background great after a month or two.


are youtalking about the kyoto moss? any pics?


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## shazzbott (Sep 17, 2010)

ya thats the spores I got, and ill post pics in the morning.


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## DJboston (Oct 25, 2008)

My favorite moss is whatever pops up on wood or backgrounds and starts spreading when I never even planted it to begin with. Stuff that comes in spores on leaf litter.

I'd love to order spores...where can I do that?


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## Bananaman (Mar 21, 2009)

I've tried a few different mosses but I like the low growing moss I received from Chuck (Manuran) the best. Its bright green, stays compact, and grows easily given good light and moisture.


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## Blocker Institute (Apr 19, 2010)

We just got a selection of moss from moss acres.....it all seems to be doing well in the terrariums. We ordered the "moss sampler" set and got a large box of moss, 4 different types.























Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

Blocker Institute said:


> We just got a selection of moss from moss acres.....it all seems to be doing well in the terrariums. We ordered the "moss sampler" set and got a large box of moss, 4 different types.


It's be interesting to see how those do. Keep us posted.

As for the original question. Mine would be java. Spreads quick, easy to acclimate above water, and grows pretty much anywhere. I havent had much luck with anything else, other then my small patch of riccia and the random mosses that pop out from the corkbark and clay background.


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## johnyrocks (Jun 25, 2011)

Java ftw, I can grow nice tall carpets if I keep it wet!


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## WONTON SALLY (Jun 26, 2011)

anyone have luck/given it a try: FLAME MOSS?


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## josh_r (Feb 4, 2005)

My favorite mosses are the genus fissidens and Schistostega pennata. I have grown both in vivs in the past. Both mosses look like layered feathers.

S. pennata
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-u7n2gNiETi0/SpzgMgdsMtI/AAAAAAAABg0/3xVVmvVWrfI/Schistostega_pennata_2.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-VzQJNTheJOY/SpzgMfLF4vI/AAAAAAAABgw/DwdeEEWPGh0/Schistostega_pennata_1.jpg

fissidens
- javanica: http://bryophytes.plant.siu.edu/images/Fissidens javanicus.jpg
- bushii: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ep4hGTduq...SxR31a0M/s1600/Fissidens+bushii-big+glade.JPG
- nobilis: http://akwa-mania.mud.pl/rosliny/fissidensnobilis.jpg


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## josh_r (Feb 4, 2005)

Unfortunately, these are horrible pictures of the mosses themselves, but here is some fissidens I had growing in a liphistius malayanus communal viv I had back in the day

in the very bottom middle of the picture on the log is a little clump of fissidens sp. you can make out the feather appearance









There is a small patch of the S. pennata to the very right of this picture right above the log. it is the brightest green moss in this picture. 









there is a large patch of fissidens growing on the base of the log right above the liverworts as well as a small patch right below the liverworts









at the very top of this photo in the center above the thick bright green moss is a nice patch of fissidens









a cool shot of some really nice liverwort and large trapdoors









a full viv shot









My apologies for not having clear photos of the mosses themselves. these photos were taken for the trapdoors and not the mosses. unfortunately, i sold this viv about 4 years ago


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## WONTON SALLY (Jun 26, 2011)

the fissidens looks really good, did you mention where you got it from?


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## josh_r (Feb 4, 2005)

There are a few species available online. Most of the sellers are from se Asia however. Occasionally someone in the states will offer it. I have grown fissidens fontinalis and another species who's name escapes me but it was a native to SE Asia but very very cool looking. The other species that is in the viv above I believe is fissidens bryioides. This one I grew from spore collected from local populations along with most of the other mosses in there.

By the way, for the people that claim temperate mosses don't do well in a tropical viv, every single species of moss and all but one fern in the above viv are temperate species that came from an elevation of about 7,000ft. The liverworts in there came from the very hot Sonoran desert. Everything thrived as you can see.

I encourage people to experiment with temperate mosses and especially growing them from spore. I believe the biggest cause of failure vs success will be finding the proper soil type with the proper Ph range to grow them on. I have noticed many species do not do well on peat but will flourish on a soil that is a bit more neutral in Ph


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## ryan10517 (Oct 23, 2010)

i have some locally collected haircap moss that has done well for me so far, and there is some sphagnum and star moss that has naturally popped up on my clay background.


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## WONTON SALLY (Jun 26, 2011)

ryan10517








Member

any pics of the mentioned moss in your tanks?


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

This kind:









Just kidding. Java moss, because it's easy and grows relatively quickly compared to some other mosses... I use it for tads also.


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## ryan10517 (Oct 23, 2010)

WONTON SALLY said:


> ryan10517
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i can try and get some pics, but they would be really poor quality phone pics. i'll see what i can do.


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## Arpeggio (Jan 15, 2011)

Peacock or willow moss.


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## WONTON SALLY (Jun 26, 2011)

Arpeggio said:


> Peacock or willow moss.


whatever's good.


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