Native Mosses

[mr_c265]

3 liverworts, middle is the smallest mini pellia i have ever seen

a native star moss

a different one

native rose moss

microscope showing detail of the rose moss

same as for the native star

Microscope of the first moss in

native stringy

I have another 10 or so species of natives that i can't be bothered photoing. Few are still slowly acclimatizing to submerse.

[fishmosy]

Great pics mate.

[blackcat]

Awesome pix :-) I want some :-) sick of juat my java time to expand

[mr_c265]

I should mention that except for the Stringy moss these were all collected within 4km's from each other, over the period of a week and either underwater or on the banks of the creek or in temporary run offs.

The stringy i got 200km's away.

[ninja]

You guys are so lucky over there, we are not even allowed to take beach sand off the beach here, no driftwood out of the rivers. Not even allowed to pick up dry sticks off the land alongside the river. Apparently it's habitat!

[blackcat]

Hmm @ninja LaLaLand must have tight laws ???? No seriously where r u location!

[JohnH]

I totally love the native mosses. In fact I am replacing all the moss in my tanks (apart from from one) with native mosses. Here are some lovely ones I got off Bob (northboy).

[ineke]

If I was talking to Bob I think I wouldn't mind some of those they look great

[blackcat]

Wow look at that :-) hope ull pay forward eventually

[northboy]

Mr C we sure do have some TOP Mosses here and I have seen some beauties further up Cape York.

Looking good John, one day some slacko will get the names for them.

Ineke you not talking to me, what did I do this time LOL

Bob

[ineke]

I don't want to hijack a thread but we were cut out of the auction LOL you bid against me

[JohnH]

Oh dear, you are in for it now Bob "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"

[northboy]

Why do you think I locked the front door John, I am scared. Ineke is not to be messed with LOL.

Bob

[ineke]

I so hope I win your competition Bob lol look out:barbershop_quartet_

[mr_c265]

Mr C we sure do have some TOP Mosses here and I have seen some beauties further up Cape York.

Looking good John' date=' one day some slacko will get the names for them.

Ineke you not talking to me, what did I do this time LOL

Bob[/quote']

Bob, i've got the mosses from you in another tank, dont think i've forgotten about the beauties you sent me. :p

You're very luck up there, they're all growing in very nicely.

I'm still puddle pirating in the freezing water all the way down here, hopefully i'll find a few more this week coming.

[northboy]

Mr C I think Australia has so many mosses to offer, but most people a only interested in the OS ones or think we don't have good stuff here.

The other thing is the out of water scare, most of our Mosses grow in the wet season zone, so they are under water in the wet and out in the dry, the main reason I am told by Moss Scientists is the lack of CO2 in out water and by growing in the wet season zone they get there CO2 in the cooler months from the atmosphere or air and convert in the wet to underwater form and get their CO2 from the decaying leaf litter or something like that??

There is a couple of dozen places up here that have year around underwater growth, but they are ground water feed so have a good CO2 supply.

Bob

[BlueBolts]

I'm definitely loving these native moses. Perhaps when Chris Lukhaup comes to Aus, he can instigate the naming of them, and taking pics etc ? ... Would be a awesome article, and pics where they occur naturally etc....

[mr_c265]

Mr C I think Australia has so many mosses to offer' date=' but most people a only interested in the OS ones or think we don't have good stuff here.

The other thing is the out of water scare, most of our Mosses grow in the wet season zone, so they are under water in the wet and out in the dry, the main reason I am told by Moss Scientists is the lack of CO2 in out water and by growing in the wet season zone they get there CO2 in the cooler months from the atmosphere or air and convert in the wet to underwater form and get their CO2 from the decaying leaf litter or something like that??

There is a couple of dozen places up here that have year around underwater growth, but they are ground water feed so have a good CO2 supply.

Bob[/quote']

I've gotten a few mosses that were 100% underwater and would be even when mostly dry, a few that were borderline and a few that were wet feet. One of the underwater ones was Sydney Fissidens, beautiful moss. Have heaps of it. Another was the native Stringy, which is again a beautiful moss. Two of them have no names (from me at least) yet, the small one on the microscope slide with the round leaves and one of the others.

I did another trip today actually, to a different spot, bout 20k's out.

Now for the plants:

Yep, Hydrocotyle

A gorgeous non aquatic plant (probably feral, only saw one):

bit of native stringy

not sure... have seen it before,

have seen this one before, many times, Potamogeton ochreatus?

and a leaf of it

a persicaria?

nitella flexilis

the ugliest liverwort

also saw some Sydney Fissidens and a few other native mosses, i collected some but they are pictureless, for now at least.

Not sure if these are spring fed or not, but due to the cold weather, CO2 saturation increases (yep down south has a bonus), so the amount of CO2 in the water increases in winter, hence why our southern aquatic mosses grow best in the cold. There are a heap of mosses that were out of the water, and i'm sure they would be year round.

With spring fed streams, the Calcium Carbonate rocks dissolve, which puts a lot of CO2 in the water via equilibrium, when it reaches the surface, it will slowly degas as the stream trickles on and on, after a few sets of rapids it'll be mostly lost. Fortunately a lot of air is introduced in rapids, these air bubbles contain a lot of CO2, which will quickly leave the water, but the mosses can suck it up whilst it lasts, hence why you'll often see mosses in the little pools that build up in fast flowing water over rocks.

[northboy]

Chris won't be able to name the mosses in Australia, it has to be done by a Scientist unfortunately , then we can put common names to them.

I have time Tuesday to send some away so I will get my finger out.

Nice photos Mr C, its amazing when you find a spot with lots of moss and plants you can hardly believe your eyes, I guess it is different conditions all over Australia for growing. What I have found with aquatic moss is, generally they do far better with added CO2 than without, they are all different.

Bob

[mr_c265]

Chris won't be able to name the mosses in Australia' date=' it has to be done by a Scientist unfortunately , then we can put common names to them.

I have time Tuesday to send some away so I will get my finger out.

Nice photos Mr C, its amazing when you find a spot with lots of moss and plants you can hardly believe your eyes, I guess it is different conditions all over Australia for growing. What I have found with aquatic moss is, generally they do far better with added CO2 than without, they are all different.

Bob[/quote']

I've noticed that too, even mosses that are mostly aquatic do grow very very well emersed, which tells me they do appreciate extra CO2.

Fortunately, i believe most of these have scientific names (or even just families) associated to them, so working out what is what is the next step, and then of course common names finally.

I'll be growing these for a while, i'll put aside the ones that do not grow well underwater and then hopefully i'll be sharing around some of the ones that pass.

So far, i've had the Stringy Moss for a good 6-8 months underwater in 3 different setups and it has excelled, albeit slowly, in all of them.

Sydney Fissidens i have had for a good 3 months now i think and that too has done incredibly well. I'll use their growth as the benchmarks for the other mosses.

[northboy]

The only Australian expert on Moss is in Townsville, one that will take the time to talk to you anyway and yes they mostly have names it is getting the expert to put the name on it for you and yes making a trade name.

I just got back from getting a few to send tomorrow and it was 14c on the Tablelands dam cold.

Bob

[mr_c265]

The only Australian expert on Moss is in Townsville' date=' one that will take the time to talk to you anyway and yes they mostly have names it is getting the expert to put the name on it for you and yes making a trade name.

I just got back from getting a few to send tomorrow and it was 14c on the Tablelands dam cold.

Bob[/quote']

She helped me out with the Stringy Moss ID a while back, very generous with her time.

Well, i went out again. No collecting this time, but just had to show some of these goodies.

Palm tree Moss, there was a rock covered in it, probably 3m long half a meter wide

this bad boy, covered the side of a cliff

bit of stringy

mini bolibitus

same again

nice little native fern

the creek

more stringy

creek

1.8 meter tall obstacle

native eleocharis and a unidentified plant

a not-so natural rock formation

Now this place is especially beautiful because one minute your in this sort of rainforest, quite different to any of the other ones that i've been too so far, it's constantly wet and there is water running down across the track permanently, all the trees are covered in slime and are constantly wet. You walk 6k's south and it goes from rainforest to coastal trees in about a 10 minute period of the walk and next thing you know you're not looking out at a beautiful creek, there's mangroves all around you and schools of mullet, shrimp, blue eyes, blackfish and gudgeon flying around. You can even find the waterfall where it goes from freshwater to brackish.

[fishmosy]

Hey Chris,

How does the "palm tree moss" do submerse? I think I have the same one collected locally but it melted away in my tank. Maybe it is sensitive to glutaraldehyde as I dose that? Maybe the tank was too hot? 23degrees C?

What conditions/water parameters do you keep yours under (if you do)? How do you move it from emerse to submerse?

[ninja]

I like the look of the palm tree one too, very interested down the track if you guys get it going down the track, but it's got to be low tech suitable?

[mr_c265]

Hey Chris' date='How does the "palm tree moss" do submerse? I think I have the same one collected locally but it melted away in my tank. Maybe it is sensitive to glutaraldehyde as I dose that? Maybe the tank was too hot? 23degrees C?What conditions/water parameters do you keep yours under (if you do)? How do you move it from emerse to submerse?[/quote'] I've had this moss before, quite a few times. The reason i didn't collect any yesterday is because it was a good 5 metres or so from the water, could be a different species to my usual one which i have collected with both 'wet feet' and completely submerged (albeit after rain fall). In the past, i've had palm tree moss that has grown underwater, however, it needs incredibly bright lights and lots of CO2, i'm working on growing some with just the bright light at the moment (1 watt per litre). It definitely doesn't seem to be a good candidate for a planted tank at the moment. I too have had it melt away, it is definitely a terrestrial moss that can be 'tricked' into growing underwater, but for the next 3 months or so (until i've had a good go at it) i'm going to have to say it will only last temporarily under normal planted tank conditions.If anyone else wants some to try, i have a fair bit growing here emersed, but it comes with no guarantees that it will grow underwater.