Moss Mountain Scape (Hawaii mosses)

[greenmiddlefinger]

The above mosses however, are all collected from Hawaii. Including:

Fissiden sp.
Riccardia sp. (riccardia are commonly called "mini pellia")
Vesicularia sp.

shots of the fissiden:






Here's one of the hawaiian "mini pellia":




The vesicularia is somewhat swamped by the riccardia, as these rocks were recently collected with emersed growth. In time though, the vesicularia sp. "manoa" starting to be known locally as "manoa moss" (original plants now being grown aquatically were collected in manoa) grows into a lovely aquatic form with triangles very similar to singapore moss.

If you live on Oahu, you can see Manoa Moss growing along with Taiwan and Singapore in Robert's tank at Pet Land Kahala.

Hope everyone enjoys


BTW-- what should I put in here? I was thinking of finding some Atyoida Bisculata (hawaiian waterfall shrimp) so it would be semi-biotope (mosses come from the same forest, but they don't grow aquatically normally).

If I can't find any Atyoida Bisculata, I could go with cherry shrimp I guess . . . cherry shrimp have invaded the habitat of the atyoida bisculata so it'd be a kind of non-native biotope.

[RRG]

Great set up, Steven!

I'm assuming you collected those plants from Manoa area, huh? It will really be fitting if Atyoida Bisculata shrimps are inside that tank. It's so unfortunate that they are endangered.

[TS168]

nice one! Steven...

What is Atyoida Bisculata (hawaiian waterfall shrimp)? Any pic to show.

Yap some cherry or CRS will be great to add in.

So what is the tank temperature?
It must be cool else the plant might not grow that nice. As seen from the pic

Best Regards
TS

[RRG]

The common name for Atyoida bisculata is 'Opah kuahiwi. This shrimps climb up the waterfall, against the falling water, to reach to a higher elevation where the fast influx of water is cool and clear. Mountain climbers used to find this shrimp in abundance.

This shrimps does not live entirely in freshwater, the larvae of this shrimp could only be found in the ocean and once that stage is finish they have to mountain climb to reach the top.

The color of this shrimp is not as pretty as the Cherry shrimp or Hawaiian Lava Shrimp. I wish I could remember the site where the image of this shrimp is shown...sorry.

[greenmiddlefinger]

hate to disappoint, but as I am back at college now . . . this tank was dismantled.

temp-- actually, it was too hot. I just went low-techy and dropped an ice cube in it every day while it was running.

shrimp-- never got around to putting any in!

Hoped you guys enjoyed the pics here!

(rocks were chucked into the woods behind my house, where they will return to original emersed growth)

[timebomb]

It's a pity the tank didn't take off, Steven. Don't chuck those rocks away. You can make a fortune selling them on aquabid or ebay But seriously, the way the aquaria scene is now in Singapore, some local fish shops are selling rocks with mosses growing on them at astronomical prices. I wouldn't mind paying fair prices for the rocks in your pictures. They're lovely.

Loh K L

[TS168]

Hi Steven, sad to heard that...

Hope we will be able to see more posting from you in future.

Cheer
TS

[Rus Wilson]

The above mosses however, are all collected from Hawaii. Including:

Fissiden sp.
Riccardia sp. (riccardia are commonly called "mini pellia")
Vesicularia sp.

I'm on Oahu as well. Where can I go to see this stuff on the island? -Rus W.

[greenmiddlefinger]

To be honest Rus . . . I don't like the idea of someone making his first and only post just to ask where he can find a "rare moss." *sigh* They're not hard to find plants, go hiking somewhere and keep your eyes open.

To everyone else, the rocks are basically back in the conditions I found them in the forest. I know where they are so I could always go get them. I knew I was only going to be in Hawai'i for a month, so this was kinda go-and-shoot kind of thing. Well, the mosses did grow a bit during that month submerged. BTW-- I guess it wouldn't hurt to trade a small amount of these plants to spread them around (let you evil singaporeans get your hands on it :P). I'll be back home in March for a week.

[erirku]

Hey Steven,
How's the college life? Pretty boring now that you're away from the Islands? LOL. Well it sucks to be in college for me to!!! Been in that damn institution for so damn long!
Anwy, too bad you got rid of the tank of rare Hawai'i mosses! . You couldn't ask someone to take care of it? Well, hope to see a good aquascape from you up in the mainland. Now, where was the directions to those mosses??? Nah just kidding. Take care, Eric.

[greenmiddlefinger]

Eriku-- if you like, you can see a few of the stones I put in the terrarium at Pet's Plus. If they do really well, why don't you have stan scrape some off for you as these would probably grow better than the ones in the forest.

Well, if they grow like crazy maybe no one from hawaii will have to take from the forest, but I guess that's saying too much for a few little rocks.

[RRG]

Steven,

Could you please tell me the Pet's Plus schedule? I only been there once and the variety of plants they are selling is excellent. The second time around I could visit the store was when they were closed. I wish that LFS is closer to my house.

Also, anyone have ever visited Modern Pet Center. I tried visiting that LFS, but I got lost. Are they selling aquatic plants, too?