Aquatic Moss

Hi Professor.

I have a question or two about moss.

1. What makes a moss qualify as an aquatic moss and for those ready with a answer I know it grows under waterush:

2. I see a lot of the mosses has emersed forms and some were found that way for example Singapore moss. Would any moss like the ones we usually see in places were it is constantly wet be able to go submerged?

3. Do we have any native aquatic moss at all?

Thanks
Vis

 

Hi Vis,

I am also a moss fanatic so this thread is just up my street.

To answer your questions:

1. The answer as to what is an aquatic moss is perhaps a little difficult, besides the fact that it does grow under water or on very wet surfaces. In general, mosses grow under wet circumstances, but have adapted so that they can survive total drying out, you can even get mosses in the Karoo. Many mosses grow in permanently very moist places but this still does not make them aquatic mosses. However, aquatic mosses appear not to be able to survive any drying out at any time. In general, if I am to define aquatic mosses, I would say that I know of three moss genera that opt for an entirely aquatic livestyle. They are Taxiphyllum (such as Taxiphyllum barbieri, Java Moss) and Vesicularia (such as Vesicularia dubyana, Singapore moss) which are the classic aquatic mosses that we know, and then there are the Fissidens mosses, which look more like the above water mosses, but live entirely underwater.

If you want to read more about mosses check out this website:

http://www.aquamoss.net/ It has not been updated for a while but actually covers most of what needs to be said about them.

You can also check out the mail order website in Germany:

http://www.aquamoos.de/index.php

but then you are going to have to brush up your German. They offer an amazing spectrum of mosses.

2. You ask if many emersed mosses can go submersed. In most instances this is not the case, but there are exceptions.

3. You ask whether we have aquatic mosses and the answer is a very definite yes, just keep your eyes open! On my botanical expeditions, I check out every waterfall looking for them and I have found Fissidens borgneri in southern KZN which I now grow very successfully. See the attached pic.

Then I am very excited about the fact that I have found an aquatic moss, perhaps a Taxiphyllum in Hermanus which I have been growing for a year now. I have also found a Taxiphyllum type moss and a Fissidens moss growing in the furrows in the middle of Stellenbosch, would you believe it! These are now also also growing nicely in my ice cream tubs. I need to take some pics of these and then I will post them here. So, there are beautiful South African aquatic mosses that is for sure, just keep your eyes open!

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hmmm nice so I am not the only one who has a liking for this stuff,? I have always been one for the differant and this no exception lol prof I can't wait to see what else you got there...
PS growing moss in ice cream tubs? I can't even get it to grow right In my tank!!!

 

Thanks for the reply Prof, I find the mosses very interesting and that they can make very
beautifull scapes on there own. They also grow easy and most of them very fast.
I picked up the whole fissidens moss thing a while back as they are quite popular right now ex. Fissidens Fontanus aka phoenix moss.
I did however wonder if they were truly mosses and not just some plant that was close to moss and so dubed a moss.

Very excited to hear we do have our own aquatic mosses! Living in Mpumulanga we have tons of streams and waterfalls.
What would one look out for, a wet rock with moss,under the water or behind the waterfall?
Went swimming in a waterfall on my honeymoon and I must say I am not looking forward to that cold water again

I found this moss, I think it is, on a wall next to our building were there is constant stream of water. It looks more like fissidens than the
Java type moss.
Might even be some onkruid for all I know but decided to see what happens if I put it under water for some time.

Will go and read some more and come back with new answers.

O one more thing, any way of telling if the moss is strictly land based or aquatic as most moss grow in
damp spots?

I see you have added names 'species,famlies' to the mosses you found,would you be able to name them if they
are not already identified by somebody?

 

Would be really great to see a Fissidens South Africa under the Fissidens group

 

Will reply in greater detail later, but the one Fissidens is definitely scientifically identified as Fissidens borgneri. I was thinking of calling them Stellenbosch moss and Hermanus moss and Stellenbosch Fissidens. I actually think that we will find many more aquatic mosses and for this reason we should not call them South Africa moss or Fissidens. A place name would be very helpful for the scientists if they wanted to id them later. The only problem will be that they are not tropical and one will have to watch keeping them in temps above 25 C.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

That does make sense
I am planning on getting a few mosses together and growing them outside in something and using them
or distributing them among the forum members. Seeing that you are growing them in the good old icecream tub
any pointers I should keep in mind?

 

Guy thanks For this, It has been very insiteful lol... Vis let me know when you got that moss thing going I would be the first this will be my pet project, to get my plants growing well and the moss will be part of it!

 

Professor, you wouldn't be able to give me some hints as to where you found your Stellenbosch moss, would you? I could take a walk around town now that this thread has piqued my interest. I have an aquarium which could be used to experiment with aquatic mosses, but I have yet to keep anything more interesting than Java moss.

On a side note, I keep a terrestrial moss "garden" with quite a high degree of success, I will probably have to move it into larger container at some point.

 

Hi Nirv,

The mosses grew in a water furrow just towards the town from the Adam Tas road near the station. I do not know what the name of the street is, but I can check for you. Throughout the last summer this furrow remained wet and a constant trickle of water ran in it as opposed to the Dorp Street furrows which only run for a certain period during the day and then are dry for longer periods. Unfortunately a few weeks after I collected these mosses the furrow was dry and I think that the mosses died. I could perhaps go back though and check and then we could even go and collect some together, if you would like.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Prof if I understand correctly mosses do not have flowers or pollin so the moss must have come from another
place where it grew long and healthy enough to make spores?

Nirv if you go on a moss expidition you better collect enough to send me some

 

Thank you Professor. I think I know of the area to which you refer; Stellenbosch has been quite wet lately, as you know, which may help our chances!

Have you had an opportunity to check the local rivers? I have spotted some healthy-looking algae in them but if I see anything that I could identify as a moss I will definitely take a closer look.

Thank you for your kind offer, it could be a very enlightening experience. I have plenty of time on my hands since my exams ended. I'm sure Kattz would enjoy it too.

Vis, if I/we find something interesting, I'm sure something can be organised.

 

this has intrueged me as well. iv been googling moss today and quite like the look of christmas and weeping moss available overseas. back to the subject though i might have a look around our waterways on the farm up in limpopo when i go next, i'll have to check the permanent waterways though as most are seasonal. very interesting thread guys

 

Prof. You said that you keep some of your moss in icecream tubs ill be getting in about +-5 small batches of flame,spikey,java,Christmas, taiwan moss and I was wondering how I could make them grow as fast as possible before putting them into the main tank. Thanks

 

Good Point I did not know where Is saw that thanks for the reminder...

Prof any pointers...

 

Sorry for not answering, I have been very busy.

When growing mosses, you can be grateful that most of them are actually not complicated to grow at all and do not require nearly as complicated circumstances to grow as most aquatic plants do.

Another thing that I want to mention is that you cannot get mosses to grow faster very easily, they have a fixed growth rate (which is different for different mosses) and they grow at this growth rate largely completely regardless of how you grow them.

In the ice cream tubs that I grow them in, I add my normal soft tap water, put a airpipe in, not even an airstone, to keep the water aerated and circulating. Then I add two drops of my plant hardening mix and two drops of plant feeding mix. I do not put the mosses into high light conditions because this can favour algae growth, they stand around on the tanks or on the floor of my fishroom. I may also add a few ramshorms snails, but not other snails as ramshorms are really good in my opinion as they will not eat the mosses at all, other snails will eat mosses. Depending on circumstances, I will change water in these containers once every two to three weeks.

Very importantly, I keep my mosses strictly separated so that they do not get mixed up.

Mosses, I can really say, can be grown easily and therefore are good for beginners, and for that reason are one of my favourites.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks prof for the help ill try that when I get the moss

 

Moss Found

Hi Prof

Went for a picnic today and chose some watery spot.
Like always was looking around for some interesting things like say Moss:blink1:

Found these and would like your opinion.

1st pic is the place where is was growing



A closer pic of the moss. The Pink arrows point to little pieces that looks different from the other growth but definitely part of the same plant



Close up on rock



Closer pic of moss



Closer one of the different leaf




These grew on the same spot but looks different.



Single piece.



Hope you make something out of these pics.

 

Hi Vissie,

You have taken some nice pics of these mosses, it helps a lot if the images are as good as yours are.

I am not sure that these mosses are aqautic mosses in other words that they would grow under the water. The first one looks like a typical above water moss that grows in wet places, the second one may be aquatic.

Put them into a container, cover them with water and see how they grow. If they do not, then you know they are not aquatic mosses. It is as simple as that.

Keep on looking though, I think there are many more aquatic mosses in SA that we do not know about.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Will do:bigsmile:

I have some other moss/pellia type thing in a small tank where I put all the funnies I find.

Almost all of the leaves died but I now see some new growth coming out of the old. Will post some pics when it has grown some more.