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Amazing ! All there are Singapore Moss and they look so different !
Hi, folks,
I was with the professor at his lab this afternoon. Unfortunately, Gan CW couldn't be there as he's somewhere in Shanghai, China now. Kho was with us though and he had a great time examining the mosses through Professor Benito Tan's microscopes.
Okay, here's my report:
First, let's talk about the Singapore Moss. The professor told me today that this moss is quite a wonderful plant, in the sense that it's very versatile. Their cells are highly variable so under different conditions, the Singapore Moss can show very different growth patterns, so different that it's sometimes quite hard to believe that they are one and the same moss. Here are some pics of the Singapore Moss in various forms:
Nature Aquarium's display tank. Note how stringy the moss looks:
Joe's planted tank. Note how the fronds seem to point horizontally instead of hang down
My Moss Pole. Note how different it looks from the other 2 mosses above
Well, here's the rub. The 3 mosses above are one and the same moss - the Singapore Moss. It's a species of Vesicularia. Amazing, isn't it? I will try and regurgitate what the Prof told me but please take note that what I say may not necessarily be correct as my memory isn't what it used to be. The Prof said it's got something to do with genes. Somewhere along the road of evolution, the Singapore Moss could be a throw-off from the Christmas Moss. In other words, they could possibly share some similar genes. Under certain conditions, the Singapore Moss can throw back into its original genes and morph into a moss which looks very much like Christmas. It's a one way road though. The Christmas can't possibly morph into Singapore; it only happens the other way. The Prof said the Singapore Moss is like the character from the X-men, the one who can morph herself into many forms. Don't expect your Singapore Moss to turn into a sexy girl though; it doesn't work that way
When I was at my nature walk the other day, I took a patch of moss from the bark of a tree. The prof said it's Singapore Moss. Here's the pic:
Can you see, within the patch, that there's a frond that looks somewhat like the Christmas Moss? So you see, even in its natural habitat, the Singapore Moss appears in more than one form.
Okay, that's all for the Singapore Moss. Now for some new mosses.
System Engineering and Control, the fish shop along Bendemeer Road that sells Bioplast products gave me a moss the other day. They call it Mini-Christmas. It's very beautiful. The fronds look like Christmas except that they are much smaller. Here's a pic:
The professor said it's a species of Taxiphyllum but it isn't the same as Taiwan or Java Moss. He couldn't be sure of the species though as we don't know where the moss is orginally from.
Mermaid World, the fish shop in Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 that specialises in many mosses gave me a moss which came with capsules. Melvin Lim, the owner said the moss can be found locally. Here's a pic:
The Prof said it's a species of Taxiphyllum but not the same as Mini-Christmas, Java or Taiwan. The Prof was quite amazed that the moss can be found locally as he said that as far as he know, there's only one species of Taxiphyllum that is native to Singapore, a moss called Taxiphyllum taxirameun. The T. taxirameun is not an aquatic moss though, too bad. The Prof will be examining the moss in greater detail and he'll let me know what species it is as soon as it's confirmed that it is local.
That's all for my report, folks. Watch this space for further news on mosses
Loh K L
<<-- Part III .... Part V-->
Amazing ! All there are Singapore Moss and they look so different !
Hi Loh
Real interesting account.
Back in SA we had a multi-form moss we used to call Java Moss. From what you describe combined with the pics it looks much more like Singapore Moss.
A real interesting thread!
Thanks for sharing!
Loh, do you have any idea of the water temperature of that tank in NA? The stringy look blends in so well with the wood....fantastic!
Regards
Peter Gwee :wink:
KL, did the Prof. say how widespread the Singapore moss is? It seems to be that it is abundant in all corners of the island.
Fish.. Simply Irresistable
Back to Killies... slowly.
The miltary restricted area have the largest population as mention in the study by prof Tan, I PM you the document. The area 'D' and 'E' should have more I suspect.Originally Posted by stormhawk
we saw a lot of them in the Catchment and Bk Timah Reserves.
Area D and E do not have a lot of secondary forests, they are primarily bushland (CB Leaves) and rubber plantations. The area used to be farmland until most were dammed for the reservoirs.
You should find more moss in the old forested areas. Just yesterday I saw some Singapore moss showing a triangular form on the moister area of the rocks or wood they were growing on, in the Catchment Reserve.
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
Peter,
Chan, the owner of Nature Aquarium is quite an accomplished aquatic gardener. His tanks are lovely. I don't know what's the temp in his display tank but I believe it's rigged up to a chiller.
Oh yes, it's everywhere, Jianyang. I saw many on the sides of scupper drains and on the barks of trees in Sembawang Estate. The older housing estates are where you can find plenty of Singapore Moss. They're been there all the time but we weren't looking close enough previously.
Loh K L
and here's the man we have to thank for that serendipitous act of picking a bunch of moss out of a stream and putting them in his tank!
Ben Yau aka subzero
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
oh what happened to that Fissidens spp. found by Ben, is it unrecorded or undescribed?
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
Thanks Loh for the info but the answer is no as I found out on my visit to NA for CO2 topup. Chan told me he only uses a fan for it. Geeee....perharps it was the cold weather today and the temperature shows 26 degrees celsius! The smaller tank with moss also is of a much higher temperature though at 28 degrees.
Regards
Peter Gwee :wink:
Choy, I'm afraid I forgot to ask the professor about the Fissidens that Ben found. Ben deserves a lot of credit for being among the first to experiment with mosses found locally. We haven't heard from him for a while. I hope everything's ok with him and his family.
Peter, it's been raining since this morning. Considering that the thermometer in my living room reads 27.0 C, 26 C for a tank with a fan blowing non-stop is not a big deal :smile:. What's interesting about Chan's display tanks is that the moss in the smaller one was taken from the bigger tank. But the moss shows different growth patterns. It's Singapore Moss, a Moss with many faces
Loh K L
Ben is alive and wellChoy, I'm afraid I forgot to ask the professor about the Fissidens that Ben found. Ben deserves a lot of credit for being among the first to experiment with mosses found locally. We haven't heard from him for a while. I hope everything's ok with him and his family.
Loh K L
We went on an outing to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve just last Saturday (you can see the pictures here) and in fact we came across the Singapore moss growing on damp rocks and wood exhibiting a mix of the emersed and the "triangular" forms.
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
Hi guys,
iI have a 3ft tank and if i throw in a big root with moss tied on it, will it just grow and grow?Of course, I provide it with fan but no co2 though.
thanks
yours sincerely,
Storm
Storm, it would be better if you start a new topic by itself instead of posting it here. You would probably get a much better response.
The answer is yes...just don't blast it with loads of light. More light energy means more demand for CO2 and nutrients. For your info, moss does not use bicarbonate as an alternative source for carbon and only uses CO2. Hence, you are limited in growth rate unless you provide it with CO2 in good amount (30ppm).
Regards
Peter Gwee :wink:
Hi Peter,
Thanks. Did not wish to jam up the forum.Will post a new topic next time round.
thanks
yours sincerely,
storm(jeff)
Hi, folks,
Thought you all may like to see how the Mini-Christmas Moss looks like. The picture is taken from the display tank belonging to the shop known as "System Engineering & Control", the one that specialises in Bioplast products. It isn't a very good pic as my hands weren't quite steady but I think you can see how beautiful the moss is.
A while back, I gave a few strands of the Fissidens Moss that Ben found to the same fish shop. They're good with plants and the Fissidens is now growing very well in their tanks. Here's the pic:
Loh K L
Kwek Leong,
Very nice moss indeed at "System Control & Engineering". I wonder how you and the shop snapped out of this "browning moss" phenomenon some 2-3 months ago.
I'm still affected by this myself and I'm sad to report that the beautiful Erect moss you gave me have almost disintegrated entirely! Java moss which used to grow like weed in my tank grows extremely slow. My Narrow Leaf Java Ferns are growing very well in my tank in my tank though.
Also, my chiller have always been maintaining a 24C temperature. CO2 is still abundant and dosing is always the same.
Anyway, I'm so busy preparing for the arrival of my 2nd child that I have little time to make any considerable effort to resolve this problem. Perhaps I'm just not good/lucky with moss
Cheers,
Roger
Beautiful moss! I wonder if the browning may be algae? low co2? I have some browning of my moss in my 55 gallon and they went through an episode of low/no co2 (tank emptied, and some other reasons), and subsequent algae outbreak. They are trying now to recover.
I wonder because my tanks are at 77/78 degrees Fahrenheit so I'm not sure that the temp is the issue for the browning?
Deborah
Roger, one way to overcome the "browning moss" phenomenon is to cut away all the brown parts and re-start again with the green ones. But it's no guarantee the green ones won't turn brown again.
When I was with the professor, I offered the theory that the Erect Moss turns brown because it isn't truly an aquatic moss, probably not even semi-aquatic. The prof had told me many times in the past that quite a few of the mosses we grow in our tanks are not aquatic in nature. He said they can survive underwater for a while but will eventually die because once underwater, their life cycles change. He wasn't sure if the Erect is one such moss but he said my theory could be correct.
Not everyone is reporting their Erect Mosses are turning brown though. But almost everyone who got them from me are seeing this phenomenon.
I distributed quite a fair bit of Erect Moss around so I can safely say many of the mosses in hobbyists' tanks came from mine. I don't know if the Erect in Sam Yick's is turning brown too. Anyone visited their shop at Eastpoint recently?
Loh K L
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