A Question On Java Moss

[AndreaC]

At last I have java moss. It arrived today ordered off ebay. Ive attatched it driftwood pushing it into cracks. Its staying put.
As soon as I put it in the mollies are attacking it, well eating away at it At this rate there will be nothing left

What i want to know is how long will it be before the java attatches itself firmly to the drift wood and start growing?? I have a feeling the mollies will keep nipping at it until it all comes away and it wont grow. So are we talking days or weeks??

Ive sucesfully at long last managed to plant my curly vals and amazon swords and they have stayed planted There doing very well and the curly vall is actualy shooting new sprigs and spreading. Just hoping the moss will survive the mollies lol. My mollies seem to like wrecking plants, they nip no end of curly vall leafs off so its lucky they are growing well.

 

[fozziebear]

At last I have java moss. It arrived today ordered off ebay. Ive attatched it driftwood pushing it into cracks. Its staying put.
As soon as I put it in the mollies are attacking it, well eating away at it At this rate there will be nothing left

What i want to know is how long will it be before the java attatches itself firmly to the drift wood and start growing?? I have a feeling the mollies will keep nipping at it until it all comes away and it wont grow. So are we talking days or weeks??

Ive sucesfully at long last managed to plant my curly vals and amazon swords and they have stayed planted There doing very well and the curly vall is actualy shooting new sprigs and spreading. Just hoping the moss will survive the mollies lol. My mollies seem to like wrecking plants, they nip no end of curly vall leafs off so its lucky they are growing well.

it takes a long time, mines been on for a week and still hasnt properly attached in places, best thing to do is cotton thread it down then the thread will rot in time, and by the time its rotted it will be attached

 

[AndreaC]

Thanks. I was wondering about the cotton thread trick. Thing is I didnt realise java moss was all bitty, its like a mass of little broken bits, is that how it should be?? By tieing cotton over it bits will still come away! I thought it would be more like long strands or something. it look healthy and very flush green.

 

[fozziebear]

Thanks. I was wondering about the cotton thread trick. Thing is I didnt realise java moss was all bitty, its like a mass of little broken bits, is that how it should be?? By tieing cotton over it bits will still come away! I thought it would be more like long strands or something. it look healthy and very flush green.

dont be scared to be rough with it, squeeze it into balls then mould it to your bogwood/rocks, make sure theres an even layer all over then smack a load of thread on it, till its tied enough that the bitty bits dont come off, i still get little bits coming off but thats just the small bits that havent attached themselves yet, they usually just end up attaching to my silk plants or getting sucked onto the side of my filter, just make sure you dont make the gaps between the strands of cotton too big.

 

[AndreaC]

Ahh right. I was being gentle with it lol. Will have a go at that thanks.

Can i ask, if some comes off and attatches itself to other plants, it wont starngle or damage them will it?

 

[fozziebear]

Ahh right. I was being gentle with it lol. Will have a go at that thanks.

Can i ask, if some comes off and attatches itself to other plants, it wont starngle or damage them will it?

most probably not, because its such a slow grower compared to many plants they would out compete it, but if your worried about it just gather up all the little bits with a net squish em into a ball and attach em to the bogwood again.

 

[nicklfire]

It's pretty easy and it's very hardy stuff. And this stuff grows like crazy. I think when i got mine off ebay like a good year ago it came in a ziploc bag maybe had less then a handfull and about 3 months later i was reselling the stuff on ebay. You dont need much to get it start growing. Just flatting it out in your hands, place it on the driftwood and spread it out a bit. I tied green cotton thread to it the same color as the moss(not too much) and then i left it for a couple of weeks (takes about 3 to properly attach). The reason you dont want to tie too much is cause after three weeks if you decide to take the cotton off it's alot easier this way. Then it will grow out really fast, then you gotta cut it down (after this picture was taken i cut it down to about 1.5" and let it regrow then cut it again. Each time you cut and grow it becomes alot more fuller and more of a carpet layer on your driftwood instead of just scraggely moss. Takes about 3 good weeks undisturbed. You shouldnt have too many problems with your mollies.. it's just new and remember this stuff grows fast too.

 

[AndreaC]

Wow that looks lovely in the picture. Cant wait for mine to get like that.

Well Ive tied green cotton round it onto the driftwood, wrapped it round several times. Im a bit confused now as this was suggested but last post states things different?? Does the cotton need removing after 3-4 weeks or is it ok to leave and rot away? i take it cotton takes a long time to rot away? Also will the cotton stop it from bushing, growing out?

Ive now got tons of litle bits all over tank that came away when I was lifting it out to tie on. Some of the bits have gone behind plant pots, caves etc.. some just floating about or on gravel. Will these be ok to leave and the next time I do a water change I can vacum them up?

 

[fozziebear]

Wow that looks lovely in the picture. Cant wait for mine to get like that.

Well Ive tied green cotton round it onto the driftwood, wrapped it round several times. Im a bit confused now as this was suggested but last post states things different?? Does the cotton need removing after 3-4 weeks or is it ok to leave and rot away? i take it cotton takes a long time to rot away? Also will the cotton stop it from bushing, growing out?

Ive now got tons of litle bits all over tank that came away when I was lifting it out to tie on. Some of the bits have gone behind plant pots, caves etc.. some just floating about or on gravel. Will these be ok to leave and the next time I do a water change I can vacum them up?

yeah its fine i leave mine, i try not to vacuum them up on water changes and leave them as still as possible so they attach more, basically the cotton does take a long time to rot away, but it will keep your moss from growing out and upwards so much, and keep it more as a carpet effect on your bogwood, you can do either it wont affect the moss too much.

 

[nicklfire]

me personally, i dont like the look of the tied cotton still attached, so i just cut him off usually. And again the moss will grow fast enough that i really dont need that much so i just suction them all up (then again mine is already eveolved) If you got enough on your bogwood it should be fine... again it does not take much for it to grow and grow and grow lol.

 

[fozziebear]

me personally, i dont like the look of the tied cotton still attached, so i just cut him off usually. And again the moss will grow fast enough that i really dont need that much so i just suction them all up (then again mine is already eveolved) If you got enough on your bogwood it should be fine... again it does not take much for it to grow and grow and grow lol.

yeah ill agree with that, its pretty much the easiest plant to grow lol.

 

[AndreaC]

Ok thanks. I really would like it to grow up and outwards a bit as I want there to be enough hiding space for fry. The vacuming, I didnt mean vacuming the moss I tied on, just all the lose bits already come away and laying all over the bottom of the gravel. Dont want to much sprouting up everywhere and taking over lol.

Thanks for all the advice. I shall leave it to attatch itself for 3 or 4 weeks and gently remove the cotton from it.

Just cant wait for it to start growing some like in your picture nicklefire