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Thread: X;mas Moss = Taiwan Moss

  1. #1
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    X;mas Moss = Taiwan Moss

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    As Above, is X'Mas Moss the same as Taiwan Moss?
    Been Curious about this cuz i read somewhere from the Net that Under Good conditions, Taiwan Moss will grow & change into X'Mas Moss. And Vice Versa, X'mas Moss under bad condition will grow & change into Taiwan Moss.
    So the question is, are they really the same?
    Anyone Experimented with these 2 Mosses b4?
    Thanks~

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    i think u can do a search on the forum...
    this has been brought up before... []

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    do a search in thekrib and u realise how the name x'mas moss came about

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    Hi Frd

    To start with, how certain can yu tell that moss A is Xmass and not Taiwan??

    Wud love to find out as well. Can the moss expert pls step foward!? Haha...

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    Go to a great site setup by TIMEBOMB. His name is Kwek Leong. He took the trouble to show us how to breed fishes and he also describe Christmas, java and Taiwan moss.

    http://www.killies.com/Killieplants.htm

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    But he said.

    "However, when grown poorly, the Christmas Moss loses its triangular shapes and will look exactly like the Taiwan Moss. It's all very confusing. Sometimes, I suspect the Christmas and Taiwan are actually one and the same moss and they look different only because they were grown under different conditions."

    So are X'Mas Moss juz a Better Grade of Taiwan Moss?
    Or can we say tat If we give better condition for Taiwan Moss to grow, it will Turn into X'Mas?

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    SL,

    I know its great to get the right answer cuz they satisfy your curiousity... and if it were something clearcut, I'm sure there would be tons of people waiting to answer you. I suspect however that you're not going to get an answer which will satisfy you. In fact, short of a proper scientific analysis, you will just keep running into differing opinions whether here on AQ, or in petfrd, or any other forum.
    Allen

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    I asked similar question before. To understand more, I bought the so-call 'Taiwan' moss from NA and 'Christmas' moss from GenX.

    (FYI and to make things a little complicating, GenX told me Taiwan and Christmas moss are the same thing).

    Both mosses grow side-by-side on a drift wood in my tank. They are subjected to the same water-condition and lights and the same invasion by my hundreds of Malayan-Shrimps. But they look distinctively different.

    If anyone has the time/space to do experiment, you can perhaps also get some of the so-call HDB-moss and plant the 3 mosses side-by-side. I bet they are totally different species.

    To find peace within myself, I am no longer bothered with the name of the moss (except java which I think no one dispute the species).

    I call it accordingly to what I like.


    Not too sure the following will make it more interesting..
    There are actually another different type on the market. They look like 'christmas' of GenX but with very light green color. SamYick are parkway has it and they have the 'Christmas' of GenX too (in the same tank, along with Java). But the staff that I asked (on many occasions) kept saying they (GenX's Christmas-look-alike and the lighter green ones) are the same moss. I thought something is amiss here. Even the most novice will tell the 2 are different. I will try to get my hand on the light-green-moss..

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    To further murk up the waters...

    Spoke to someone at Sam Yick myself. According to him:

    Xmas Moss is not Taiwan Moss. Planted as a wall, Taiwan Moss grows triangular and the fronds point downwards (like Timebombs Xmas moss pics). X'mas moss fronds grow upwards. You can see this X'mas moss at Sam Yick's outlet at GOldhill Square at Thomson, in one of the quarter-circle tank at the pet accessories area.

    Only reporting what I've heard. I'm not making any conclusions. However, I agree with Nicky, name may not be so important, as long as it grows the way you like it. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to know if you have the right one. []

    Wonder if the forumer who mentioned the scientist that specialises in moss managed to contact him (the scientist).
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
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    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

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    Allen_1971, the reason i wan to know the answer is b'cuz i wish to do a Moss wall but planning to do it with Taiwan Moss. And wan to noe if there will be any difference if i use Taiwan Moss instead of X'Mas Moss.
    And another reason is tat Since everyone is saying about whether Both are the same. Might as well find my answer here.

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    SL, wouldnt it be better for you to see them yourself? coz this topic has been a rebate not only in local forums but oversea ones and some ppl still believe that both is diff, perharps from a diff source.. just like fishes, same species, diff source = may not look the same

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    Differences can matter. They may be marginal, like neon, cardinal and green neons, but they are also what contributes to diversity and interest to the hobby and the study of the natural world. It's sad when you hear people in LFS saying of the little fishies, "all these longkang he where got nice one".

    There could be also be consequences of not knowing differences. Edible and toxic mushrooms are commonly indistinguishable except to experts. Monarchs and other poisonous insects have their entourage of harmless pretenders. In aquaria (nod to Kasselmann), Hygrophila balsamica is a plant very similar to the popular H. difformis, but is very poisonous to fish.

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    SL,

    at the end of the day, its the end result that matters right? not whether its called taiwan moss or xmas moss... so go to an LFS with the moss, point at the moss and say "i want that moss".

    The reason I said what I did earlier is simple, some people think taiwan moss and xmas moss are the same. Others think they are different. The answer you get depends on who you ask. There isn't any good scientific evidence to show either way... so you can debate this till the cows come home, and your moss wall still won't be ready. Rather, lets get that moss wall growing, and in the meantime, you can keep an open eye/ear for information which would lead you to conclude one way or the other.
    Allen

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    ok... ok...

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    I forgot to add the following:

    In one of the 6 volume of AquaJournal (English edition), there was an article on the different type of moss. To me (only to me, and no one needs to agree with me on this), the so-call 'Christmas' moss mentioned in the magazine is NOT the same as the 'Christmas' of GenX.

    The 'Christmas' of that magazine is the light-color moss (and I agree with Vinz, that they point upwards and opposed to the downward pointing of GenX 'Christmas' moss) I was refering to in the display tank of SamYick of parkway.

    So happy 'mossing' around.

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    I had the impression that Taiwan moss is mini moss. Xmas moss on the other hand is slightly larger.

    Picture of the different moss at Jason's website

    Cheers,
    I have dwarf cichlids in my tanks! Do you?

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    I hate to say this but Jason don't seem to be able to tell Malayan shrimp from Yamato! [:0]
    why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
    hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica

  18. #18
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    Haha!
    Got to agree on the way about the Diff on Malayan & Yamato.

    The problem now is tat, my Taiwan Moss from PetMart dun look like a Taiwan. Looks a lot like X'Mass. & i noe there's a Difference between the 2 of them. Tats why i asked this question in the forum.

  19. #19
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    Hi, guys,

    Did I hear someone mentioned my name? []

    Sorry I couldn't respond earlier but I've been kind of busy these days.

    Okay, about the Christmas and Taiwan Moss, here's what I have to say - I don't know. Now, that may not seem like much but the truth is more people should learn to say that - I don't know. Fish shop owners and magazine publishers will tell you all sorts of stories but they are not really moss experts. I'm not a moss expert either so I can't tell you for sure if the Taiwan and Christmas are one and the same moss.

    2 hobbyists on the Aquatic Plant Digest, namely James Purchase from Canada and Stephan Mifsud from Malta spent a lot of effort and time trying to identify the scientific name for the Christmas Moss. I sent samples to both of them but up till this day, neither of them are sure what is the Christmas Moss' scientific name.

    As a hobbyist, I can tell you that the Taiwan and Christmas moss looks different. But that's only when I see a whole bunch of them. If you show me just a frond, I won't be able to tell the difference. How are they different when they grow in bunches? I can't describe that also. I can only tell you they look different. Are they really different plants? I don't know. But that shouldn't stop you from asking. It's only through a sense of curiousity and wonder that we all learn. I'm just as interested as anyone else to know if the Christmas and Taiwan are one and the same moss. I read in the papers a couple of months ago that there's a moss expert in Singapore and he's some sort of a lecturer in one of our local universities. If any of you knows his name and how I can contact him, I would gladly send him the mosses for positive identification.

    A couple of years ago, fish shop owners in Singapore didn't believe that there was a fish called a Siamese Algae Eater which will eat Black Brush Algae. The only SAE they know is the one called the Flying Fox. It took a group of hobbyists (known as the AGG) to convince them that the fish exists and there will be a huge market for it if any fish shop owner is enterprising enough to bring in the fish. Q Aquaplanter was the first fish shop in Singapore to sell the genuine SAEs in large quantities. Now, SAEs can easily be found in many fish shops. So you see, you all can make a difference to the local aquaria scene. Don't stop asking questions but always read the archives first []

    Loh K L

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