Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have tried to grow "Scotch Moss" in an aquarim before, but it died afer a while. What I died was... I put a 2 inch layer of pebbles on the bottom of the aquarium, to hold moisture. Then I put some scotch moss over it. I watered it with a spray bottle, and it did quite well for a while, but then it got yellow and died. What can I do to grow moss in an aquarium? Do you just put it on the glass? Thank you, jrbl

Well if your trying to grow it in a aquarium you should try java moss or something.

But if you are trying to grow it in a vivariam,,, heres what you can do.

Well heres what i did. I got tropical pillow moss from the mossman. I have a false bottom with slightly acidic soil from T&C (its suppose to help moss growth). And it looked bad for the first month then some of it started looking good. I put moss in mine the last of june i think. only about 1/4 shows that the moss is growing, but its a slow process in my case.

Kyle just used gravel and his grew on it. The only thing i do is use my humidifer and occasionally manually mist it and the plants to be sure they have enough water.

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

Yes, java moss is technicly an aquatic plant, but it can and does grow terrestrialy. Easily too I might add. It needs moisture all the time and somewhat strong light, but if you give it these things, it will create a nice carpet.
-David Taylor

Anyone have a picture of java moss in their tank? I would really want to see how it looks like. Also the mom and dad's pet shops by my house charges a lot for java moss? Where do you guys go? I use pillow moss and never have a problem. You just need a lighting and try to use distilled water or some sort.

I used to buy Java moss for $1 per bag at fish shows, but that's been about 12 years ago now. I haven't bought any since then, and we still have plenty. I'll post a little before and after for you here to show you what the rocks and substrate looked like before, and what they look like now, under all the Java. I know, my camera is not the best, but I got the best pics I could with what I have.

As far as pillow moss is concerned, I'm afraid that there must be more to it than that. I have 120 watts of compact fluorescent lighting in my terrarium. EVERYTHING grows well . . . I even have a Dendrobium orchid blooming in there. My pillow moss just sits there, and in most cases turns a dark green and dies. I don't care. I'm using Java and Selaginella as a groundcover now. No muss, no fuss, and it looks great.

Here's the before pic.

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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Here's the same pic today, 6 months later. I've even peeled Java off of these rocks a few times to spread it to other areas of the tank. It will grow on ANYTHING that is damp enough. Rock, wood, glass, you name it. Fish people even sometimes grow it in sheets by using those craft sheets--plastic lattice used for pinpoint or something like that. It just grows up in between those little holes, and they then use it as a background for the aquarium.

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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Wow looks good. Those are some great pictures so dont even worry about the quality of the camera. I think the reason my pillow moss grows so well is because i was too lazy to build myself a flouscent light setting so i bought one of those long UVB reptile light strip. Here is the link to it:

http://www.petsmart.com/reptile___amphibian/shopping/lighting___heating/lighting___light_strips/products/product_33071.shtml

Not sure if that helps but my moss has been in there for over a year now doing great. Chances are i will use java moss for my new tank because:

1. I hate waiting for shipping
2. and I tried growing the same batches of pillow moss in another tank and its slowly dying under a regular flouscent lighting i bought at home depot.

Thanks for the compliment. I've really enjoyed building this terrarium from scratch (got all the parts, including the glass and light, from a scrapyard or Lowe's). I've been really happy with the way it has turned out . . . but I'm still tinkering with it. Make sure you show us some pix when you get your new one up and running.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

I've had good and bad success with moss. I first tried sheet moss in my first tank and it grew well, for about 3 months, then died off. In that tank I had usd jungle mix over gravel, right now that tank is a mess, I ripped out the moss, and have replaced some of it will pillow moss. I plan to redo that whole tank soon.

In my other three tanks I have pillow moss on just gravel. So far it is going great. I got some of it from the mossman and the latest from T&C. Both are great sources for moss. I plan to try some java moss, but have yet to do so. I would not say my pillow moss grows, but it doesn't die. In my azureus tank it has filled the gaps and still looks good for the most part, and it has been in there about 6 months. I did have a section die from getting too wet from my waterfall, that I replaced.

In my 10gal that has no frogs in it it has grow to about 3/4 of an inch high, and has killed off some of the lower moss. I plan to try some java moss in that tank and see what happens. Right now I’m just using it to keep some plants going.

I'm all for the gravel only setup, its easy and less messy, and I don't see my frogs covered in dirt. My Leuc tank is driving me nuts, and I need to pull the frogs out and redo it. Only thing abd about it is the weight. My 29gal azureus tank has over 100lbs of gravel in it. I might work on a false bottom setup with gravel ontop for my next tank.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators