Mosses in Paro-tanks

[Stefanie Rick]

Good morning to everyone,

induced by Peter’s answer to my question about sphagnum in Helene’s “New P. nagyi home”-Thread, I start this new thread about using different mosses in paro tanks now.

I am experimenting a bit with indigenous plants (mosses) in my aquariums. I keep Fontinalis antipyretica in all of my tanks, whichever ph-level. It works well, even with dim light.

I also tried Calliergonella cuspidata, which does well submerged. It grows a bit like “stringy moss”, forming thin long curtains stretching to the surface. Here is a picture from my Pseudosphromenus tank, where I fixed the moss on a bambus cane mounted horizontally as a cave for the Pseudosphromenus:

I also have it in my first paro tank – which means I can only tell experiences from about 2 months. It seems that it also does well, but up to now shows no tendency to grow in this upright, thin way. It looks like this at the moment:

I looked for informations on keeping real peat moss, sphagnum, submerged – and found out that there are some species growing submerged indeed. Here is a very interesting publication about Sphagnum – I’m afraid it’s in German. But there is a spreadsheet showing the ph-levels and distribution of each species – this should be readable even for people who don’t speak German.

As I found out apart from this table, it’s Sph. cuspidatus too, which often grows submerged.

Peter is right – don’t collect sphagnum mosses yourself, because most species are protected by law – at least in Germany.
It is possible to order sphagnum at orchid nurseries or nurseries of carnivorous plants – but the species is never given, as far as I know. We have to try …………

What about your experiences?

[Peter Finke]

Stefanie, thank you very much for this new thread that will certainly interest many people. The problem with Fontinalis antipyrectica is temperature again. There are plants from slightly warmer regions and many from cold ones; the latter dominate in Europe and the mosses are less suitable for a warmer aquarium. But if you are lucky and find a population adjusted to warmer waters they are wonderful. You are totally right in recommending it for Paro-tanks.

I experimented with some mosses that are sold by the aqiarium trade since several years. Again the problem are the special water values with the Paro-waters and sometimes little light. But generally it’s rewarding to use them. But most of them grow rather slowly, much slower than “Javamoss”.

[Lars Iversen]

Hi guys

Beside the problem with the growth limitations towards higher temperatures, Peter is mentioning, I think some of the main problems using temperate mosses in tropic aquariums are one of these two:
Firstly, most of the species grow only partial submerged and depend on seaonal and/or partial aerial exposure. Secondly, many of the temperate mosses (e.g. Spaghnum species) needs an yearly diapauses during the winter. The last point might be problematic in a Parosphromenus tank :).

What I find problematic in blackwater setups is keeping the growth of some of these mosses dense and not get these stringy structures as Stephanie is showing. But by placing parts of the mosses above water it seems to restrain the need to leave the tank and creates a much more unidirectional growth.

At the moment I’m mostly using Leptodictyum riparium as an alternative to Java moss. It grows rather slowly but pretty steady in my tanks.

Best regards
Lars

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