Mosses and the men who love them (our meeting with Dr Tan)

[whoppie]

Aquaturbo,

The plant that you have is being cultivated at 'Ah Gek' farm in one of Pasir Ris fish farm. I can't remember the name or the address of the farm. It is growing on land in the farm and they tie them into drift wood before sending to the LFS.
A staff there also cannot name the plant but refer us to a lady call 'Ah Gek' so my friend and I call it 'Ah Gek plant'.

[/quote]

Its called Capricorn Aquarium and they are also known as 'Ah Pek'.

Saw the plant for sale and he gave a a handful when I bought some malayan shrimps from him.

[DJ]

Hi,

All this new information about moss is exciting but frustrating for me since my main interest is in creating a true Amazon biotope -- right now I'm trying to make a tank that only contains plant and fish species that could be found in one location on the Rio Napo in the Peruvian Amazon. I've been searching the web but can't find any info about aquatic moss from there.

Does anybody know of any information you can point me to? Does Dr. Tan have a friend working on that area?

Regards,
DJ

[imported_brbarkey]

Ben, I will appreciate it very much if you can send me some of your moss as soon as possible. It does not matter that it's brown but it's important that you pack some of the capsules together with the moss when you send it. Here's my address:

Loh Kwek Leong
Block 104 Towner Road
#08-324
Singapore 322104


Loh K L

Loh K L

I will send it as soon as possible, but just to let you know it doesnt have any capsules any more. It had the capsules when it was growing well. I will send it to you any way and I hope you can use it...its in bad shape right now, but it will grow.

Also I have never sent anything overseas before, can you tell me the best way to sent the package. How much will it cost? In your address what does this represent #08-324?

Thanks

Ben

[Slaigar]

This is quite an interesting forum for mosses! I have read(Aquarium Plants, Kasselmann) that Java Moss only has capsules when grown emersed. Does anyone have a good terrarium that they are growing Java Moss currently in? Maybe this easy-to-grow plant needs optimum conditions in order to create capsule.

[hwchoy]

mmm… but according to the Prof Java moss (Taxiphyllum spp.) are fully aquatic and that specimens from Vietnam are known to produce capsule (or sporophyte) while submersed.

Has anyone actually seen emersed Java moss?

[NongOil]

As for the Nano Moss, I have no idea what hte scientific or common name is. I collected this moss myself and it has been growing in my tank for about 2 months.

Hi Gomer,

I think what you have is same to me. "Nano moss" is could be same to my "Dwarf Willow Moss". Please see the pictures below. From left to right. "Dwarf Willow Moss" or "Nano Moss", Erect Moss and Christmas Moss.



Here is it's look like when growing in my tank, similar to Erect Moss but very small one. It's grow straight up to the top with a few branch.




Loh, I have good news for you and Gomer. If he can confirm this moss is same to Nano Moss I can give it to you more easy than him, of course without any postage cost. Because I will ask Gwee to bring it to you when he go back to Singapore on Monday 16. BTW if this moss is not same to Nano Moss, still I will give you. I kept this moss in my tank for more than 5 months. It came to me with brown and not healthy. But after pass 3 months it started to grow new tiny fronds with light green.

[Green Baron]

This is an appeal to those hobbyists here who live in North America or Europe. If you can send me a sample of the genuine Willow Moss,
(Fontinalis antipyretica), I would in return send you Erect or Christmas Moss.
Loh K L

After all these discussions, I still haven't seen a photo of Willow Moss, (Fontinalis antipyretica). I decided to do a search on Google and this is the result !
Does anyone know which is the real Willow Moss ?

Gan

[timebomb]

Loh, I have good news for you and Gomer.

Oil, that's great news. Gwee Sia Meng is leaving either tonight or tomorrow night for Bangkok. He called me on the phone the other day and I asked him to bring some more of the fish, the unidentified Boraras sp home for me. Nonn knows where this fish is sold. It's somewhere outside Jatujak market. Please call Nonn for directions if you can't find the shop.

As for the Nano-moss you have in your tanks, I would be very delighted if you pass some of it to Sia Meng. I hope Gomer will send some of his too so we can compare if they are the same. The thing that Professor Tan is interested in, besides the mosses' identities, is the commercial value of these plants. He knew only about Java Moss being grown by aquarists before he met us. Most other mosses, if they have commercial values, are used for stuffing pillows.

By the way, guys, if you are wondering why I address Nongoil as Oil when he signed off as "K. Sitthiprasert", that's because Oil is from Thailand and all Thais have nicknames which usually consist of a single-syllable word.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

If you can read chinese, You might want to visit http://www.51fish.net and try your luck there.

I will be posting on that forum to try and see if any response. Have introduce this website to the hobbist there regarding mosses.

Teck Song, I can read Chinese but my command of this language is not good enough to take part in discussions on public forums. I can read but I can't write. But thanks for recommending this web site to thehobbyists in China and Taiwan. Maybe some of them can write English and will join the forum here.

Also I have never sent anything overseas before, can you tell me the best way to sent the package. How much will it cost? In your address what does this represent #08-324?

Ben, I expected someone to ask the question about sending mosses overseas so I showed how I do it in another topic. You can read up about it at:

http://www.killies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=594

I'm not sure how much it will cost you to send a small envelope of moss but when I send them from Singapore to anywhere in the world, the stamp costs only one Sing dollar. As for the numbers in my address, the hex # symbol represents storey. In other words, I live on the 8th storey of a flat and the unit number of my house is 324.

Loh K L

[hwchoy]

By the way, guys, if you are wondering why I address Nongoil as Oil when he signed off as "K. Sitthiprasert", that's because Oil is from Thailand and all Thais have nicknames which usually consist of a single-syllable word.

Loh K L

why? chinese have such nicknames too (usually prefixed with "Ah") :wink: my nickname is Peet :P

[timebomb]

Does anyone know which is the real Willow Moss ?

That's what I'm trying to find out, Gan. Prof Tan said the Willow Moss isn't indigenous to our region so the genuine McCoy should be in one of the samples our foreign friends are sending and not those found locally.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Does anyone have a good terrarium that they are growing Java Moss currently in?

Mark, 3 days ago, I tore off almost all the Christmas Mosses growning emersed in my terrarium tank and replaced it with Java and Erect Moss. It's still too early to tell if they will throw up capsules but I'm hoping they will. I don't know if my terrarium provides optimal conditions but here's how it looks:



Loh K L

[Green Baron]

Does anyone know which is the real Willow Moss ?

That's what I'm trying to find out, Gan. Prof Tan said the Willow Moss isn't indigenous to our region so the genuine McCoy should be in one of the samples our foreign friends are sending and not those found locally.
Loh K L

KL,
I am hoping at least we know how it looks like so that we can recognize it when we seen one and not just pass anything that someone claims to be Willow Moss to to Prof Tan. I am curious if it looks more like Java Moss , longer with irregular branches , Christmas/Taiwan Moss with more regular triangular banches or Gomer's 'Nano' Moss with no branching at all.

Gan

[timebomb]

I am hoping at least we know how it looks like so that we can recognize it when we seen one and not just pass anything that someone claims to be Willow Moss to to Prof Tan.

Gan, if we use photographs to identify the Willow Moss, we would just be speculating which wouldn't be very scientific :smile: The best way to identify the real Willow Moss would be to pass all samples to Prof Tan and let him determine which one is Fontinalis antipyretica. Once that is known, we will take close-up photographs of the plant and I'll create a web page to show it, together with the other mosses, the common and scientific names. Although photographs can be deceiving, that's probably the best we can do at our level. As hobbyists, very few of us own powerful microscopes and even if we do, it wouldn't be of much use unless we know how the mosses look at the cellular level.

There's no mixed-up about the scientific name of Willow Moss. What is not known is which is the real McCoy.

Loh K L

[BeyondGomer]

NongOil,

Ours could be the same, but I suspect that they are different.

I found an older image that showed decent detail of the moss, but it is clear enough that you can still see a difference in "leaf" structure and spacing. The sizes do look similar though.
Mine

Yours

[NongOil]

I asked him to bring some more of the fish, the unidentified Boraras sp home for me

I will manage to check with the shop owner today if it available. I know this shop well, very famous shop for wild fish. I will pass it to Gwee for you. I also kept a small group of Boraras sp. in my micro tank on the desk in my office, tiny and cute one . They don't like strong flow and also don't need to use any kind of filter or airation.

As for the Nano-moss you have in your tanks, I would be very delighted if you pass some of it to Sia Meng.

No problem, but maybe a few frond because they grow so slow and I have only a few healthy fronds, but so many weak in brown color fronds . I will pass it to Gwee for you on Sunday.

Ours could be the same, but I suspect that they are different.

Wow, Gomer, it's also good news. That's mean we have two other kinds of moss for Loh to analyze. So, from now, we better named your moss as "Nano Moss" and mine as "Dwarf Willow Moss" until Dr. Tan descript them later.

[timebomb]

Besides all the mosses we have seen so far in this thread, I will be bringing another 2 new ones for Prof Tan to identify tomorrow. I found one of them at the foot of Telok Blangah Hill. It looks like the moss Teck Song mentioned in another post. Whilst searching for new mosses in the fish shops the past few days, I also came across 2 fish shops that were selling this plant. Every Moss needs a common name so for the time being, I'm calling it Bubble Moss. Don't swear at me for naming plants haphazardly but someone's got to do the dirty job . Here's how it looks:



The other moss which I will be bringing to the professor was given to me by the kind folks at Eco-culture. It looks similar to the moss that appears in page 40 of the AquaJournal Volume 38 (The English version). It's described in the magazine as a moss from Japan that requires an extremely low temperature. The common name given in the magazine is Pope Moss and the scientific name, Fissidens japonicus. The sample I have was almost dead when it was given to me about 3 weeks ago but it has revived somewhat since I put it into my tank. Here's a pic:



Professor Benito is going to be a busy man tomorrow

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Just a short report on the meeting Gan and I had with the professor this afternoon :-

The professor burst my bubble, so to speak. The Bubble Moss as shown in the picture above is, according to the Prof, a Liverwort and not a moss. But that doesn't mean you can't grow them in your tanks, of course. This liverwort can be found in many places in Singapore and when grown submersed, they grow straight up like the Erect Moss.

The Pope Moss, the Prof said, is a species of the genus Fissidens. The species name cannot be confirmed for now.

It's an exciting time and we are getting close to finding out the true identities of many mosses. The Prof is very keen on getting some samples of Nano, Willow and Dwarf Willow Moss. Please send them as soon as you can. Thank you.

Loh K L

[hwchoy]

just to note that timebomb and the Prof spend their valentine together peering through microscopes :wink:

[FC]

I finally understand why many plants look differently but are named as the same genus. And some plants look almost the same but not of the same family. It is all classified under the microscope and not by the look of the plant.

Thanks Gan for the lead and Prof Tan for the enlightenment.