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

**imported_brbarkey** · 15th Feb 2004, 06:24

Loh K L, I dont have to go to work monday so I will be able to ship you the Willow moss then. You guys over on the other side of the world are lucky people....Im lucky to walk into a fish shop and fisn one or two strands of some stem plants.

**budak** · 15th Feb 2004, 12:59

I notice some of the UK-based aquaria magazines (Practical FishKeeping, Today's Fishkeeper) have regular plant editorial sections (though not specifically planted aquaria in the Amano or Dutch sense), but my impression is that the Brits are still barely dabbling in planted aquaria, compared to the Americans/Canadians, and leagues behind the blokes across the Channel. It's rather rather strange, actually, considering that this is nation of the most enthuasistic gardeners (and pond-keepers/nature lovers) I have seen..... surely it's not huge leap of effort and conceptual thought to transplant the greenhouse into the house, aquatically.

Maybe the isolated plantnuts in the UK could set up their own "Aquatic Gardeners" Society, and get the related publications and supporting vendors involved?

**imported_subzero** · 16th Feb 2004, 01:58

Hi Kwek Leong,

Is the below moss at all? If it's something new to you i will pass it to you anytime. I picked them from the same stream where i got the 'Bt.Timah' Moss

**Daemonfly** · 16th Feb 2004, 14:22

I've been following the moss threads for a while now, as I'm another "moss lover"

.

I've been trying to collect mosses, but haven't been to successfull. Nothing local, as it's still winter here

.

I have "Java Moss" in my 6G - http://www.daemonfly.com/images/6gEc...02-08-full.jpg
No spore capsules though

but I'll keep an eye out for it.

I also have "X-Mas Moss" from floridadriftwood.com. I beleive most of it is dead now

as I left it in a "holding tank" for too long - was going to attach it to driftwood, but other things came up & it sat for a week. It came loaded with capsules, and produced more when it was in my "moss tank". Some rather poor images of it in my experimental semi-emersed grow-out tank can be found here - http://www.daemonfly.com/images/mosstank/ - as well as two recent pics of it after I put it in my 20gallon, although it's not looking too good, 90% is brown

Some patches are still green, so it's salvageable.
http://www.daemonfly.com/images/20g/xmassmoss1.jpg
http://www.daemonfly.com/images/20g/xmassmoss2.jpg

I have another moss comming in from Urkevitz at www.plantedtank.com that he collected locally(NY, USA). I have no idea what kind it is yet. His description is:

It's some moss I found by a stream, it looks like javamoss but smaller. I have had it in my tank for 4 days and it is doing good, it pearls like crazy. Very experimental.

**hwchoy** · 16th Feb 2004, 22:59

subzero, I think what you have is a liverwort, based on that brownish stem-lilke thing.

**timebomb** · 16th Feb 2004, 23:18

Originally Posted by subzero

Is the below moss at all? If it's something new to you i will pass it to you anytime.

Ben, I think what you have is a moss. Their tips at the end of the fronds look like those of the Pope Moss that I showed the Prof last weekend. The Prof confirmed that mine is a species of the Fissidens which he said are many. If you can spare me some, I will pass it to the Professor.

By the way, guys, it's confirmed now that many mosses sold in local fish shops are the species of Vesicularia that is ubiquitous to Singapore. I took 3 samples bought from 3 different fish shops to the Prof and he said they are all the same. I must say someone (the supplier) is being very enterprising, selling mosses that can be found easily everywhere. It's like selling snow to an eskimo

But on the other hand, I would happily pay for a well-cleaned piece of moss than have to dig for it somewhere.

Loh K L

**timebomb** · 16th Feb 2004, 23:24

Originally Posted by Daemonfly

I have "Java Moss" in my 6G -
No spore capsules though

but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Daemonfly,

I would very much prefer to address you by your real name if you are comfortable revealing it :smile:.

I took a look at your picture and I think it's unlikely you will get any spores from the Java Moss if you grow them submersed. I saw your other pictures but couldn't access the last one (the one you got from Urkevitz) though. Can you please send the pic to me instead? I'll upload it for you.

Loh K L

**imported_brbarkey** · 17th Feb 2004, 04:07

Loh, I know I said I would ship some willow moss today (monday). I am off work today because of a holiday (presidents day). Well I just realized after I went to the post office that they are also closed because of the holiday, but I will send it to you tomorrow. Sorry for the delay

ben

**Daemonfly** · 17th Feb 2004, 04:23

Timebomb

That actually wasn't a link to a pic

I was just noting the site he was from where I contacted him, and of course, the board turned it into a link.

Once I get the moss, and get it growing, I will deffinately try to snap a pic for ya.

One other question. On ebay, etc.. there are many auctions for mosses for bonsai & terrariums/reptiles. Common ones are "Mt Fuji Moss" & "Kyoto Moss". Not sure how they'd grow submerged, but I found one seller about an hour from me that is selling this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EBWA%3AIT&rd=1

I emailed her about getting only one bag, as I don't have room for two!

For some reason, that moss looks awefully familliar...

I just picked some moss from my Bonsai & will see if it grows emersed as well.

And, I'm just so used to using "Daemonfly" as my default internet persona, especially when theres "old acquaintences" I'd rather not be able to Google & match it to my full name.

Mike

**timebomb** · 17th Feb 2004, 20:16

Originally Posted by Daemonfly

For some reason, that moss looks awefully familliar...

Mosses always look familiar; in emersed form, they all look the same :smile:

Mike, I'm not sure what mosses are those but I suppose they must be from Japan. The planted tank hobby is big over there so if there's a moss that can be grown in our tanks, I'm quite sure some Japanese hobbyist would have tried it already. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a go, of course. You'll never know until you try.

As for "old acquaintances", I can understand what you mean as I have quite a few of them too :smile: But my teacher used to say, "A man with no enemy is a man with few friends". I have many enemies

Loh K L

**Green Baron** · 17th Feb 2004, 21:13

Originally Posted by timebomb

By the way, guys, it's confirmed now that many mosses sold in local fish shops are the species of Vesicularia that is ubiquitous to Singapore.

I brought along 'Taiwan/Mini' moss and 'Christmas' moss that I bought from LFS in emersed form for Prof Tan to Id and both turned out to be the same Vesicularia sp as the one KL mentioned above.

So any of you that bought emersed form of Christmas Moss have been had !

I don't think any LFS intended to deceive us. They probably bought it from someone else that claimed the moss to be Christmas Moss !

Well, the good news is that this particular Vesicularia sp when grown properly, have nice triangular fronds and looks just as nice as Christmas Moss ! To most aquarist, that is all that matter.

Until Prof Tan publishes his article, there is no easy way to tell the imitation from the real McCoy. What we know is that if it is in emersed form or if it is cheap <$10, it is probably not the the real McCoy.

**imported_brbarkey** · 18th Feb 2004, 08:03

Loh K L,

Package was sent today (Tuesday) at 4:00 p.m. my time. Not sure how long it will take for the package to arrive. I didn’t put any riccia in there like I said in the liverwort post...couldn’t find enough to send...oh well, but now I hope you will have some willow moss or what’s being sold over here as willow moss...I guess this thread has taught us you never know what moss your buying. I know you said that you would send some Christmas moss or erect moss but don’t worry about that. They are beautiful mosses but I don’t have a place for them...Just keep me in the back of your mind...I might take you up on the offer some time in the future

another note that I hope wont affect the moss...I didnt have a lighter to seal the bag so I used a bunson burner, which was very difficult. To make sure it was sealed tight i wraped it in packing tape...I hope it works

I hope it arrives in good condition

**timebomb** · 21st Feb 2004, 16:34

Hi, folks,

I got in the mail yesterday a letter, enclosed within were 3 plastic bags of mosses. The envelope carried a Singapore stamp which obviously meant it was mailed by someone living here. There was also a note in the letter which stated that the mosses were from these countries, namely, China, Thailand and South America. The letter writer signed off with his real name but since I'm not sure if he wants his name to be revealed in a public forum, I would just tell you all his initials, which are YY.

I appreciate YY sending the mosses very much but I wish I know who he really is so I can thank him properly. I also like to send him some Erect Moss in return. Anyway, here are the pics of the lovely mosses that YY sent.

Moss from China

Moss from Thailand

Moss from South America

It would be a great help if YY lets me know where he got the mosses and what are their common names. The Moss from China looks like Taiwan Moss and those from Thailand look like Java. I wonder if those from South America are Willow.

YY, if you are reading this post, please contact me privately if you are uncomfortable about revealing yourself in this forum. Thank you.

Loh K L

**timebomb** · 21st Feb 2004, 17:00

Hi,

It's been 2 weeks since I started growing the Erect Moss emersed in my terrarium. As with other mosses in our tanks, they look completely different in emersed form. Here's a pic:

Now that you know how they look like when grown on land, you can go hunting for them :smile:

The Prof said that although the Erect and Christmas Moss are native to the regions around here, it's unlikely you can find them in Singapore. However, he thinks that you can find them in Malaysia in the good forests. By "good forests", he meant forests that have not been spoiled by man.

Loh K L

**wks** · 21st Feb 2004, 18:30

No need to go all the way to Malaysia's forest to look for the Christmas and Erect moss. We already have a reliable supplier here and thats you, Kwek Leong. :wink:

Jason Wong

kc · 23rd Feb 2004, 08:38

2 weeks since I started growing the Erect Moss emersed in my terrarium.

Ar hah!! Looked familiar! It's mossing time!

**timebomb** · 23rd Feb 2004, 20:42

YY called me on the phone this morning. For various reasons which I would consider valid, he does not want to reveal his identity here. Anyway, YY confirmed that the 3 mosses he sent were imported from the 3 countries that were mentioned.

I'll be bringing them to the Prof for identification. YY, if you are reading this, I have to let you know that the results may not be announced so soon as the Prof may want to do another scientific paper on the rarer mosses in the market. The 3 you sent could qualify to be in the "rare moss" category. If they turn out to be Java or Christmas Moss, however, I will let you know about it immediately.

Loh K L

**timebomb** · 24th Feb 2004, 20:26

Hi, folks,

It's a Mossy day today!! I received 4 envelopes from hobbyists who live in other countries. And there were many bags of mosses. Thank you.

The mosses have been placed in plastic containers and tagged accordingly. I'm highlighting 2 here because they are very beautiful. One is called Tropical Moss by the person who sent them and the other is Willow Moss from UK. To my untrained eyes, they look like the same moss. Here are the pics:

Tropical Moss

Willow Moss from UK

When I have time, I will take the pics of the other mosses I received today. Thank you very much to Susan Aufieri (USA), Ben Barkey (USA), Ben Morrow (USA) and the guy who lives in the United Kingdom. He sent 5 bags of mosses but did not write down a return address or a name. Were those mosses from you, Tony?

Loh K L