Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm curious to see how many of you use Java moss as groundcover in your frog tanks. When I was looking around to figure out what I'd use starting out, I had some people tell me that it really didn't look good as a groundcover, and that it would take over anywhere you had tropical pillow moss laid.

Well, despite this advice, I did put some Java on my waterfall rocks and in the water feature (just a little Java from some fish tanks), and I covered the rest of the tank with the tropical pillow moss.

Well, the tropical pillow moss really has only taken off in 1 or 2 places in the tank, and the Java moss has really gone to town. It sends up spore pods about once every month or so, and it is slowly colonizing the whole terrarium. However, I think it's a great groundcover, and it's certainly not as fickle as the pillow moss. Even though I have very high light levels in the tank, I know Java will thrive under low light conditions as well. I'm just curious as to why you don't hear more people culturing Java in sheets (hey, they do it in fish aquarium plant suppliers) like you see the other mosses.

Just a thought. Thanks for any replies.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

I've thought about using it, do you have any pictures of your tank? I am going to redo my leuc tank soon and might use it for that.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Hi,
I have been an expert at killing pillow moss so I just bought me some more java moss and it does grow alot better.It seems that when my tanks mature the plants shade out the pillow moss and it eventually dies off for me.Most of my tanks now have leaf litter and I like that look alot better.
Mark W.

So does that java grow over gravel? Anyone have any pictures of this growing in a tank. Some people say it looks bad, but the couple of pictures I have seen look good to me.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Yeah, not problem getting it to grow over gravel. Mine has comepletely grown over the large rocks that make up my waterfall, and it's forming a carpet on the flagstones in the front of the tank that make up the "hunting zone" where I feed. The biggest hint I can give is to start it out in an area where at least 1/2 of it stays WET all the time. It will begin to creep out from there as long as the tank is humid enough. It definitely grows much more quickly in areas where the frogs routinely defecate. I'll try to get some pics today, but you can see it in the pics of my New River . . . especially in the one where there looks to be a spotlight on the frog. That particular patch gets walked on multiple times a day, and still looks pretty good.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Homer,
I have used tropical pillow moss and java moss for a few years now and have not had any problems of one taking over another; however, the java moss tends to grow quicker so it might hinder the spread of the pillow moss. I actually use java moss as ground cover and decor in all of my dart frog tanks. I have it growing up the sides of the glass on some of the tanks and it creates an interesting look to the tank. In one tank it grows so thick on the glass that I have considered trying to attach broms to it for fun to see if it will work.

Good Luck
Justin

I got some Java moss after you talked about it a few months ago and have it growing in the shallow pool of my bow tank on smooth pebbles. It grows relatively slowly for me, but hides the pump tubing very nicely. So far, it hasn't taken over the pillow moss or gotten onto the land areas at all, but I wouldn't mind if it did. Pillow moss just gets shaded out in my tanks and never lasts very long. I like the pillow moss best for the temporary nursery tanks as a carpet over cocoanut/charcoal pieces. The waste can be washed through it and it makes a nice clean floor for the froglets. (Drain water is siphoned out from the charcoal/cocoanut layer.) By the time it starts dying off, they are ready to move to their permanent vivariums.

I also have the Java on the egress logs (Mountain mahogany branches) that go from the aquarium portion to the land sections of the paludarium. Again, it is slow to cover these, but looks nice where it has.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

Where can I get some?

n/p
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2.2.6 D. azureus
1.2.24 D. ventrimaculatus 'yellow'
1.1 D. tinctorius 'cobalt' (one subadult)
0.0.3 D. tinctorius 'patricia'
1.1 D. auratus 'blue'
0.2 P. aurotaenia

Check your aqarium shops. Its routinely sold as a nice place for root spawning fishes to lay eggs and for fry to hide. A piece that is squeezed down to the size of a baseball will cover a rather large area of a terrarium when teased out. Just remember to keep it constantly moist.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense