# Cladophora for sale on ebaY?



## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I laugh seeing all the bunk aquaticmagic and others try to sell to gullible planted tank keepers,
but passing off a Vesicularia (moss) when it's Clado (algae) brings these guys to a new low;
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vesicularia-sp-...NE-PAD-Live-plant-/140498245247#ht_5290wt_906
this stuff is not even Marimo - please tell me I'm wrong - LOL , so what say you guys?
I know Clado can be decorative, but come one... this is ridiculous.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I feel the same way when I look at the catalog of DrsFosterSmith that I get in my mail box about once every 3 months or something. Products that I'd never even consider buying are going strong. Ugly aquarium stands, light fixtures, ornaments...

Gullible customers or not this is really about suppy and demand. Sounding bitter or not - I now know that selling mundane fish (cardinals, celestial pearl danios) makes more money than importing and selling rare fish that have never been (nor will be) imported again.

In the eyes of planted tank folks that Cladophora maybe a funny thing to try to sell. But I just saw a full page advertisement in Tropical Fish Hobbyist that just made me gag. It was a beauty pageant winner girl holding a sponge filter that is as efficient as a piece of seat cushion from Hobby Lobby. Tastless ad - yes. But that kind of filter sells very well.

Supply and demand.

Not so funny now, I know. Sorry for the bitter post. Or is it "realistic"?

Besides - growing that "variety" of Cladophora is not a very fast process. With CO2 this form grows about 1 sq. inch every 6 months or so. This is the form between the brittle invasive Cladophora that we hate and a Marimo ball. It makes an excellent biofilter. And it is not invasive - it will not take over your tank. The same can't be said for HC, Glosso, or other popular plants.

--Nikolay


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

niko - thanks for sharing your sentiments 

is there a better name for the non evasive Clado you 
were describing - I like knowing about such things 

I often see Marimo like clado coating driftwood or rocks and suspect it's glued on,
but if such a non evasive clado exists that has the attaching power of invasive clado,
with the smoother surface and brighter green of Marimo, then I'd like to know more,
even if the growth and spread is painfully slow with compressed Co2 help.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

once these asian companies finish their influences in their relative countries as one of the big fish stuff seller, they expand to the US via ebay and other international selling websites with tempting prices. when you are starting out, why buy expensive us stuff versus the cheap asian country stuff? well for one, they use not as good maintained farm tanks to mass grow this stuff, buy from the supplier and repackage and slap a nice cheap US price on there which probably is 3 times the chinese price they bought it for... i bought some fissidens when i started out from up aqua and the driftwood was covered in green dust algae... and the fissidens were fused with caldo. but a long time ago i did buy 6 marimo balls for 7 dollars shipped (from england?)... they've grown nice and big but i lost them when i started dosing excel excessively.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I was hoping this thread would 
be more about the plant ID
and less about overseas sellers.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

aquamagic also has horrible customer support and they'd sell ice to and eskimo if they would buy it.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

what exactly do you want to ID? its just a family of clado...


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

yeah, and that's like saying fissiden fontanus is just "moss".
if there is a non invasive clado that sticks to objects_ instead
of only self attaching like marimo,_ I want to know about it


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Well this form will stick to objects but as I said - it grows very slow.

And once it sticks to something you cannot remove it. Think a Dremel tool with a wire brush and you will still fail. It penetrates the pores of rocks and wood worst than BBA.

Basically it is a "fixture" that goes with the decoration once it's grown on them. From what I have seen Amano shrimp cannot do any harm to it even in good numbers.

This form oftenappears from the brittle form that we hate. But I've had it sporadically show by itself as tiny green tuffs that keep expanding like little fluffy green balls. I used to have small pebbles covered with this form of Clado that I'd bundle up together and form "area carpets". I could move the "carpet" anywhere I wanted of course. Except that the Amano shrimp kept moving the individual fluffy green pebbles around and "breaking apart" my nice little "area rugs" 

This form of Cladophora is perfect for a hands-off nano tank with zero equipment- no filter, no light. As long as you like the looks of this form of Clado of course.

--Nikolay


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

niko said:


> This form often appears from the brittle form that we hate.


it's interesting you say that - I had a tank last year I got lazy with, and let clado take over for several Months. I was surprised to see slow growing emerald green patches of pretty clado, among the disgusting wispy invasive gray stuff. it didn't occur to me to isolate the nice stuff from the crap and cultivate it separately. one would think if true, that any "desirable" clado would have been isolated, identified, and be more popular in the hobby by now. just look how popular Marimo is. as for removal... bleach removes all living things.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I just noticed something gross about this item auction.
it says in a graphic near the bottom that it's potential
height is 5-25cm :doh: definately not the kind of object 
covering "blanket" I was looking for. I guess you could
trim this, but then you'd have to keep taking the object
out of your tank to cut in a seperate bath to make sure
trimmings don't break free and migrate to other surfaces.
I've seen clado do this in neglected tanks - it grows into
tall whispy structures many inches above the surface.

come on google spider, do your job: green blanket moss


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