moss at NA

[timebomb]

btw can i buy moss from you if u have any to harvest?[]
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Someone in Singapore is selling the christmas moss on his website. He calls it "harvest on demand". I have never collected money for my moss. If I did, maybe I would be a few hundred dollars richer. Over the last few years, I have given away several kilograms of the christmas moss to people all over the world. Many Singaporean hobbyists have also written me for the moss and I have always tried my best to give everyone some. But I'm afraid I can't give away the moss anymore. I have very little left as I took down my moss walls a few weeks ago.

The moss wall, as you have pointed out, can be a death trap for fishes. I took down my moss walls because the killifish I'm keeping now are very skittish fishes and quite a few of them died when they squeezed into the small space between the wall and the sides of the tank.

I've seen the christmas moss sold in Petmart. They also sell the other type of moss that NA has, the Taiwan Moss. Bioplast at Boon Keng Road also sells the Taiwan Moss.

Honestly, I am puzzled why the christmas moss is not sold in more fish shops. It's been several years since I succeeded in growing the moss. Surely, the fish shops and farms would have succeeded by now too.

To be absolutely honest too, I have never paid any money for the christmas moss. Crowntol was the only fish shop to have this moss then and they won't sell them, not unless you buy the whole tank. I searched for the moss high and low in the old days and it took me several months before I got my hands on the first few fronds. They came with some Java Moss which I bought from Happy Aquarium. It was such a pleasant surprise then to find within the Java some Christmas moss fronds.

No one would have foresee then that the planted tank hobby would take off in such a big way. Where were you guys when I was looking for fellow hobbyists? Aquarium Station, Q Aquaplanter and the Aquajournal wouldn't have gone out of business if they knew that there will be so many of you now.

I never check my water parameters because I'm too lazy. I'm one of the laziest aquarists around. Although I own the test kits, I find checking things like Ph and Kh a big bother.

Loh K L

[ryan]

yeah i know that guy sells it, but i don't want to buy it from him. err why? i shouldn't say so here.
i'm wondering if NAs moss is christmas moss or taiwan moss.
how about petmarts?
sigh... its so frustrating to find real christmas moss...

[maverick]

petmart does sell christmas moss at $5 per pack but it is not in very good shape due to the way that the moss is packed and laid out there. Anyway I find that moss is a very hardy plant and will not die off easily even in adverse conditions. Most of what is sold at petmart can be salvaged. I bought a pack from there to try out last month and they are thriving quite well with the new shoots coming out everywhere on the wall and my driftwood....

NA has christmas moss in his tank for sale as well but it will be slightly more expensive but way nicer... this will be for the more impatient people who want to see greenery faster.

[peterkoh]

Hi Folks,

A guy is selling it - Is there a LFS owner here among the forumers ?

My water temp is 29-30 deg. If all being equal, will temp be a problem ? I need something to cover my foot-long naked driftwood

[ryan]

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On 11/13/2002 10:39:24 AM

Hi Folks,

A guy is selling it - Is there a LFS owner here among the forumers ?
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no he just sells it from his tanks.
riccia and christmas moss.
but i don't like his prices.

[anttz]

Just bought 2 pack of x'mas moss fr petmart (initially wanted java moss but was out of stock on that day).

current setting is a 4ft tank with 2x36 watt lighting without co2 injection, base fertilzer and running on eheim cannister filter. temp is @ 27 - 29. Have noticed that the other plants are growing except for the x'mas moss.

Still considering whether to add in a cooling fan.


[]

[wahboy]

hello everyone,

Are you all sure Petmart sells the Christmas moss=triangular moss???!!

from my experience, the emergent moss they sell isn't the type Loh owns. i grew it. it turned out to be a bit like java moss....like strings.....

petmart's display tank have lots of the moss they sell. does not even look like Christmas moss or as green.

i think the ones Bishan Pet Junction sells is then the real ones. last time they had a tank full of it. selling at $50 per 100g i think.

hope this helps.

Wahboy

[timebomb]

Still considering whether to add in a cooling fan.
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Consider no more. Without a fan, you will never succeed in growing the moss. You may keep them alive, that's all.

Without a fan, your temp will be in the region of about 30 C most of the time. I think your thermometer is off. With our kind of weather and the lights that we use, the temp in our tanks can go as high as 33 C. At that temp, the moss turns brown, then black and then bye bye.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Are you all sure Petmart sells the Christmas moss=triangular moss???!!
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Petmart sells both the Christmas and Taiwan Moss. The ones in the display tank (last time I was there about a month ago) is the Taiwan Moss. I've also seen the Christmas moss sold in the fish shop at Block 22 Havelock Road. They sell them for $10 for a mass about the size of an adult's palm.

Loh K L

[ryan]

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On 11/13/2002 10:34:48 PM

Still considering whether to add in a cooling fan.
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Consider no more. Without a fan, you will never succeed in growing the moss. You may keep them alive, that's all.

Without a fan, your temp will be in the region of about 30 C most of the time. I think your thermometer is off. With our kind of weather and the lights that we use, the temp in our tanks can go as high as 33 C. At that temp, the moss turns brown, then black and then bye bye.

Loh K L
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but he is using 2x36watts lights for 4 feet tank... it won't grow...

[ryan]

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On 11/13/2002 8:41:43 PM

hello everyone,

Are you all sure Petmart sells the Christmas moss=triangular moss???!!

from my experience, the emergent moss they sell isn't the type Loh owns. i grew it. it turned out to be a bit like java moss....like strings.....

petmart's display tank have lots of the moss they sell. does not even look like Christmas moss or as green.

i think the ones Bishan Pet Junction sells is then the real ones. last time they had a tank full of it. selling at $50 per 100g i think.

hope this helps.

Wahboy
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i wonder if bishan still sells them, he like has converted to luo hans...

[hwchoy]

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Someone also gave me a bit of moss he collected from a nature reserve in Singapore. He said he grows them together with the Christmas moss in his tanks and they look exactly the same.

alamak, timebomb, old already, got your details tong-balek!

I gave you the local moss (I just call it BK or Bukit Timah moss) which was collected by subzero in the bk timah area (but outside the reserve itself lah).

When grown in cold water side-by-side with christmas moss (bought from Gen-X) they are very similar but is different in that BK moss is light green (compared against xmas moss) and the BK moss has a softer more supple texture.

In case any one is wondering why I am groping my moss for texture, I have to take them out (tied to two separate steel mesh) for cleaning.

so how's your BK moss doing?

[jacian]

I just bought some moss from Petmart 2 weeks ago. The moss has settled well in my tank. In this early stage, it is hard to tell exactly what moss is it. So far, it does not seem to be the xmas moss but more like the new taiwan moss.

[timebomb]

alamak, timebomb, old already, got your details tong-balek!
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Hey, sorry I got the details mixed up, Choy. You know when one is old, the brain cells start dying.

The BK moss you gave me is doing fine. I suspect it's Willow moss.

Loh K L

[wahboy]

hello all,

Loh you said petmart sells christmas and taiwan moss. from what i see all the moss are emergents. so how do you differentiate the two?
i can never seem to find any difference between the emergents. hope you can enlighten me. TIA.

Wahboy[:]

[kubrich]

sorry for borrowing thread but was wondering what it means if the shade of green on my xmas moss is getting lighter and how can i get it to be a darker more lush shade of green?

[cheeboonyong]

Is it true that SAEs will eat the moss? I've had hits and misses growing moss. My home tank is 30 degrees and with 2 SAEs, doesn't appear to be much growth at all. And this is after 5-6 months of waiting. It's not turning brown and dying but neither is it growing at all. Just some green shots that resemble bare green sticks with no "leaves". I suspect it's both the temp and the SAEs at fault here. Chan from NA advised me that it may take even up to 6 months for the moss to adapt and grow. I intend to get a fan to lower the temp and try it out.

On the other hand, my office tank, about 24-25 degrees, is growing the moss fantastically well. No SAEs either. Grew at a fantastic rate just after 2 weeks.

Can anyone confirm that low temp is a must for moss? And SAEs WILL eat moss, thereby retarding its growth? For that matter, does malayan or cherry shrimps eat moss as well? (at least I don't see the shrimps nibbling at the moss yet.)