JAVA MOSS declared a "WEED"

[fish4fish3]

Today I declared java moss as a weed! I just think it is a noxious nasty and just cloaks other plants and sucks up ferts that other plants are better off benifiting from.

Also I wouldn't want to sell plants with this pest attached to it either so I did us all a favour and started picking it out... I don't think people would complain if they had flame or riccia attached

I thought it would take me all day but after 3 hours had weeded 2 tanks today and still have one left, the easiest. i just think that flame moss and riccia are much nicer but can be over grown easily by this pest moss so am cleaning it all out. I have flame and riccia in another tank but am planning on expanding it accros to the others as I am over java cloaking everything including my anubias. I think I like flame and riccia (lol)

Below are a few pics of the tanks i had weeded and I must say they look alot neater than before! At the end I had 4 soft ball sized clumps that I added to my fish / IBC setup.

STILL TO CLEAN (the easiest)

CLEANED / WEEDED (this tank's older and not starfire so calcium / milky glass)

CLEANED / WEEDED ( flame and riccia on the right)

all the java added to the tubs system with my colony of german speckle back moba

[mickeyG]

Thought it was funny that I just made a java moss wall thanks to jordo. Had it years ago but moved onto other mosses, like three years later I'm glad its in my collection again haha

I like your bottle powerhead idea and the java planter rack!!

Nice mobas too, are they housed in ibc's?

[fish4fish3]

I just had enough of the moss for the time being. I'm not ridding the moss totally otherwise I would have just thrown it in the garden. I just don't think it's a good moss to keep with others as it easily out grows others and get's stuck all over the other plants. Mainly I'd just preffer to grow other plants and mosses and save the space for them.

The milk bottles are cool huh? it's an alias power head from ebay for $6 that fit perfect in them. use only 2w and pump less than 200l/ph that is promoted but are very efficient using the right media.

The mobas are in an IBC system plumbed together using a whole IBC as a wet / dry on the end . There is around 30 in there all german imports and 4:1 female to male ratio. they are just starting to get good colours and on their first mouthfulls ATM.

[Gbang]

Wow that's a great setup!!! And yes java moss is very weed like but has many many benefits for raising fry from both fish and shrimp! Would you have mobas later for sale? Any luck getting blue tails?

[fishmosy]

Haha wondered how long it would take until you removed that "Xmas" moss! :victorious:

Your specklebacks have coloured up more since I last saw them.

[fish4fish3]

I agree with the fry raising part hence the addition to the moba tub. have had a few mouthfulls recently but it's hard to keep track of so many females when they all look the same, this way if they spit they have the moss to spit into and I may save a few of them. But it's only a short term thing as I'm letting the girls train with holding and I don't want to strip them far too early or they may not hold again.

I may have 2 or 3 blue tails but are from a later shipment and still waiting / hoping they colour right. the finnage is full with no obvious breaks for yellows but waiting on the body to be certain. If they do come true I will sell off the other males as I too prefer this colouration. Fry are nil at present but expecting to be making sales in around 6 months allowing another 3 months for training.

haha fishmosy! shouldn't laugh at people who got scammed with java moss sold as Xmas... It's bad luck! :stupid:

and you should see them when they are in breeding mode... very nice! much stronger / fuller colour than in the pic.

[Triggs]

Java Moss 4 life!

[Gbang]

If you have any blue tails spare please sell to me, I love them :) ill even trade for shrimp. Speckle back Moba are my favourite leptosomas and blue tails the ultimate dream!!!!

[mr_c265]

Who would've thought Java Moss grew fast...

This was ages ago back when i forgot to trim my tank for a little bit, i had literally 1.5 cubic feet of Java Moss.

So i gave it a bit of a trim to plant some Rotala...

I still don't know where the Rotala went, but i suspect the person who bought the Java Moss off me scored a few freebies.

[fish4fish3]

My point exactly!

And Gbang. if by blue tail you mean this one.

Then I deffinately have 1... the pic doesn't show it that well but has nice blues starting to show up with white tips on the pecs. Still have another 2 -3 very possible, one of the possibles you can see in the back. But as stated before... not for sale. Will see what fry I have later on and make sure I pm you.

[Gbang]

OMG that's amazing!!!!!! Shotgun any blue tail fry you have later ok?

[fish4fish3]

I was thinking of splitting the colony into 2 so I can selectively breed them with other females that I believe may be blue tails. From my examination, It's easy to tell the difference with the blue tail as they have a full dorsal and anal fin from very young where as the yellow tail have broken dorsal / anal and the yellow develope there. But I will wait and see until the other possibles colour up to confirm my jabber.

Just realised that I hijacked my own thread... lol

They're just so exciting ATM after forking $$$$ on them and waiting months, now finally colours, displays and mouthfulls! It's all happening!

[Kaichaina]

LOL.. dont you talk like that abt java moss.

I love it to bits :)

If you dont want em, post them to me :)

[ineke]

Kaichaina we should set up a Java Moss appreciation thread LOL I love it too!!!!

Cheers

Ineke

[fish4fish3]

Riccia and flame moss are better... so many other moss that are nicer and neater... only good thing about java is that it's simple to grow and -=fast

[ineke]

I'm getting some of that subwassertang from ebay should arrive next few days -that looks quite nice too

[fish4fish3]

Don't keep it in the same tank then... any moss or small plant potentially runs the risk of being over grown or at least polluted by your beloved "JAVA"

lovely plant though that subwassertang. great for carpets / walls or making trees. Do you know much about it?

Name: Subwassertang

Lighting: All levels

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

Placement: All over the tank but best in foreground of attached to objects in tank

Pros: Rhizomes grow in a nice stratified pattern, grows in low light, and is shrimp friendly

Cons: It can quickly react to water quality: poor=dead (Don't worry shrimp will die before this will... that comment doesn't make anyone feel any better does it? but it's true, lol)

[ineke]

I read a bit about it and the LFS has it in a shrimp tank - looks really nice. The way I am fussing over my tanks it won't be left alone long enough to take over anything. I was going to try it on a piece of drift wood but was told it doesn't actually attach. I'll give it a go anyway now that it is coming. So note to myself- after learning MUCH more about shrimp start learning about plants!!!! I'm an empty nester and home alone most days with the furbabies so I have nothing better to do (other than house work) .

[fish4fish3]

that's the thing about java moss... the more you touch it strands break off and get caught in other plants. The java then over grows that plant.

Same as riccia it doesn't actually attach to any thing but using some fishing line you can tie it down. I prefer to use 40lb mono as I find the thicker the better as it doesn't "cut into" the plant if too tight and kill the ryzhome (root stem) basic physics really larger surface less pressure, smaller surface more pressure. After a while the plant will flourish and hide the line completely giving the effect that it looks like it's growing from whatever.

ah the days of just keeping fish. so little to learn... Shrimp OMG! you have substrate, additives, plants, o2 kits, denitrifyers, chillers, shrimp, RO water and more! it's one field leads to the next.

[ineke]

AND ON AND ON AND ON don't ya just love it. I have just spent double what hubby thought I would on 2 aqua nanos- I know bigger is better but this is what I got. I bought 2 very nice small driftwoods suitable for nano and am presently soaking those. Guppyluv is giving me some java ferns they should arrive tomorrow so they will get tied to the driftwood and the subwassertang will go in one. I will try my hardest not to put the java moss into them but I don't have anything else. When hubby gets over the shock I will spend some money on mosses.

Cheers

Ineke

[fish4fish3]

now with the wood... Be carefull... I don't like wood for this reason: The tannins in the wood that make your water tea coloured drop your PH. the deeper the colour the lower the PH so to speak. Now if you did a water change ( assuming your tap water is neutral or above) you will have a high fluctuation in PH and can cause stress and possible deaths. if the wood is turning the water into tea do smaller water changes daily. Ultimately don't use a new piece of wood but one that has been seasoned in water.

Also wanted to ask a question... Do you use RO / tank water or a water ager? If you use a water ager, is it one that neutralizes heavy metals too? I'm assuming you know that heavy metals in the tap water will kill shrimp. But just in case. I have also heard of a story where a guy collected his tank water off a metal roof and killed all his cherrys.

[ineke]

I use marine master water ager it does chlorine and chloramine, we have a pura tap on line as well not sure what that takes out. I use this in my community tank which houses Neons, Bettas, Angels and various catfish with no losses. I have been using this since having the shrimp and I'm into week 4 now with no losses. I have been doing water tests every 4 days as umm the tank is still cycling:redface-new:. It wasn't meant to happen this way but I bought some plants privately and he nicely gave 4 lovely RCS what can I say the rest is history.

The drift wood I bought today from Petstock and have it soaking at the moment. It is a very light one that they use in their shrimp tank so thought it would be ok. Will change the water in the bucket every day and see if it leaches any tannins if it does I will use it for the fish!!!!

Cheers

Ineke

[fish4fish3]

If the on line filter is using charcoal filters it should be safe unless you don't change them as required. charcoal when full will leach more chemicals back into the water than what is normally in it as it has stored what it cleaned. The only pit fall to a unit like this or an RO unit is that you will have to add minerals the shrimp need back into the water... It has it's pros in you can control what goes into the water but unfortunately it's another thing you need to add and monitor. GH KH.

Cherry shrimp like all shrimp need carbonate for their shell. This is why it is recommended to leave the moulted shell in the tank for them to eat. For a cherry shrimp their is enough carbonate in the tap water + moulted shell for them to have a healthy cycle. removing the carbonate with all other minerals will result eventually in moulting problems.

I have heard of people adding epsom salt to add carbonate but something like salty shrimp will give an all round mineral boost with best results. I'm sure there are other methods to add carbonate but these are the only ones I know off

leave the wood in the bucket and see how deep it gets. change the water every 3 days ( as to not let it get stagnant and start disease or rotting) and see if it improves over a couple weeks.

[jacet]

I throw my java in the bin and replaced it with subwassertang.... I hate Java moss so much it is not allowed to be spoken about in my house... close second is duck weed.. hahaha

[ineke]

The pura tap gets new filters yearly as recommend I use about 2/3 pura tap to 1/3 tap water with water ager. I will leave the wood as you say and change the water. It is outside in a covered bucket to keep any beasties out. I leave the moulted shell in the tank it disappears overnight. I do water tests for ph, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates I don't have any other test kits. I am not sure what GH KH stands for ( more to learn) and TDS is something I don't know. Looks like a bit of googling is on the cards.:redface-new: