# Best/worst attaching mosses



## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

As per title, I noticed that some mosses attach to wood and stones quite well (Fissidens being the best I've ever kept) and some mosses never really attach. Please share the type of moss you've had experience with and tell how well it attached (perhaps even on what kind of surface).


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## StrungOut (Nov 8, 2004)

taxiphyllum, fissidens, best attaching

vesicularia worst


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## StrungOut (Nov 8, 2004)

fontinalis very good at attaching

same with pilo moss


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I find that some mosses will displace themselves as they grow thicker, the lower levels will die out and detach. Pruning them will help prevent this.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

My least favorite is also the one that has attached best for me: Java Moss. It attaches to everything, including other plants, and is hard to contain in a specific location.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

StrungOut said:


> fontinalis very good at attaching


Do you mean the moss that's called "Fontinalis antipyretica" in Amano's publications? That seems to be a Taxiphyllum (barbieri?).
True Fontinalis species (antipyretica, hypnoides, duriaei etc.) look very different, and in my experience they don't attach themselves under aquarium conditions, although they make scattered rhizoid tufts.



StrungOut said:


> same with pilo moss


Agree! For those who don't know that: "pilo" for Pilotrichaceae sp., an unidentified creeping moss belonging to the family Pilotrichaceae and possibly to the genus Cyclodictyon, popped up as nameless moss in a petshop in Berlin some years ago.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

So to sum up (best to worst):

Fissidens
Taxiphyllum/Pilotrichaceae
Fontinalis
Versicularia

Any other thoughts?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

Mini pellia! (RICCARDIA CHAMEDRYFOLIA) attaches really well to plants and rocks and wood. I started with a small tuft in my low light shrimp tank and now it's this gigantic dense sheet. Once it attaches to a flat surface it's damn hard to get off. 


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## StrungOut (Nov 8, 2004)

miremonster said:


> Do you mean the moss that's called "Fontinalis antipyretica" in Amano's publications? That seems to be a Taxiphyllum (barbieri?).
> True Fontinalis species (antipyretica, hypnoides, duriaei etc.) look very different, and in my experience they don't attach themselves under aquarium conditions, although they make scattered rhizoid tufts.
> 
> Agree! For those who don't know that: "pilo" for Pilotrichaceae sp., an unidentified creeping moss belonging to the family Pilotrichaceae and possibly to the genus Cyclodictyon, popped up as nameless moss in a petshop in Berlin some years ago.


I mean the true willow moss. Not the one used by Sir Great Amano. The one that loves to go into the current. They attach to wood very nicely.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

So Fontinalis attaches good for you Strungout, but not for you Mire?


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## StrungOut (Nov 8, 2004)

Out of vesicularia, i have found christmas moss to adhere well. Weeping naw, erect moss no. 

For fontinalis i have experience with antipyretica, durae, hypnoides, i don't recall hypnoids attaching, can't remember.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Yo-han said:


> So Fontinalis attaches good for you Strungout, but not for you Mire?


Yes, I haven't noticed that Fontinalis attached itself by rhizoids under aquarium conditions. Although I found rhizoid clusters on stems of Fontinalis duriaei.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

However, under natural conditions, Fontinalis is often attached to substrates. I remember F. duriaei on the concrete wall in the outflow of the Malomtó (mill pond) in Tapolca, Hungary, in 2007.


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