My lfs gave me a handful of Java Moss because I gave them a few fish. The lfs swears that it should be fine with my tank conditions. I don't really care if it dies, but I read up on it and I read some very mixed reviews. About 2/3 of the people love it, great stuff, everybody should have it. The other 1/3 hate it, won't ever use it again because it infiltrated their tank so bad, grabbing onto decor and filters so tightly that those items had to be thrown out.
i know it did grow rampant in my tank... but it didn't destroy anything... they're full of aids... it did wrap itself around the driftwood, but it came off easy... why would it destroy decor, or any kind of hardware...???
my fish loved it... especially the betta's... they would chill in it and the tadpoles would munch on it... just put it under something like a rock or some driftwood...
Yeah, I really want to get some but our LFS's don't carry stuff like that.
I would love for java moss to go crazy in my tank. It can take over my tank anytime it wants. haha I just think it will make it look much more natural.
werd... get some from ebay... or ask someone to send you some thru the mail... my moss came from another person's tank... i would never buy plants from a LFS or some type of business...
Thanks for the input. I wrapped some around a rock with some fishing line. The people who were complaining mentioned that it wrapped around the filter so badly that it was hard to clean it. I don't know why the person with the driftwood complained...maybe they decided the didn't want it anymore, or didn't want that much. We'll see....
I was thinking that maybe the people who complained just didn't prune it enough.
Gum - I took your advice and got some silicone (the appropriate kind) and I'm going to create my own caves for my guys. I can't find any retail that are decent.
I don't come across anything related to reefs or marine setups because I have freshwater and didn't think to look in salt. I've been looking in local stores and online stores for caves. I've had a little bit of success with some fake driftwood that looks realistic and when turned the right way, creates a natural cave or two.
I have some nice shale that I'm planning to stack creating caves, hiding places, etc., and using silicone to make it one unit. Unless this is just a really bad idea...
Yeah I have to prune mine down almost monthly. I do this out of the tank cause there isn't alot of room in there to maneuver. If I miss a few clippings they tend to rest on whatever and I just pull them out later when they become noticeable.
The only problem I encountered was small strands being sucked into the filter. They WILL kill your impeller/motor if enough get sucked in. My solution: Cover the intake with screen. Simple as that. If the screen gets covered simply pull the moss off, your filter is safe. My damn biowheel gets bound up enough with seemingly nothing in it..lol
Here's the most KILLER D.I.Y. article I've found on slate caves. I have yet to attempt it.
Oh man, that's cool - it's somewhat like what I was thinking, only better looking. I bought the same slate from Home Depot, only it has orangy-copper veins in it. I can't wait to get started on it! My Gourami and my Angel Ram will love it. I've been adding more caves and such since I've adding more fish, and I paid for it yesterday. I was trying to catch my last two (murderous) lighting fast Zebra Danios. They caught on to the whole net thing and then hid, immediately, in the hiding places I so thoughtfully provided for them.
i just stack the rocks in the tank without glue or anything... you guys don't have anything that will knock the rocks over anyways... and if you make sealed caves stagnant water gets in there... that's why i took out the coconut shells and some whole terra cotta pots...
that slate stuff is pretty fail and aids... it looks store bought and not natural looking...
another thing you could do is get some feather rock from a rock pit or landscaping store... some LFS also have some of they... it's really light... it's so poorous you could get a knife and carve into the rock to make caves and stuff... the only thing is that it's kind of tricky to keep it from floating... you must boil it for a wile... after it's in boilling water, get a bucket of ice cold water... then take the rock out of the boiling water and throw it into the ice water... all of the ice water will be sucked into the rock and will now sink...
Hey Gumbii -- good advice. I plan to glue my slate only because it's easier to pull it out as one piece when I'm vacuuming or "redecorating". You're right though, it isn't exactly natural, which is why I'm going with very dark grey or black and I plan to put many plants around it so that it isn't a "feature" and it blends. I thought about having some Java Moss grow on it. Besides, I have so many fake plants there's nothing in there that looks natural except the fish! LOL I've never heard of feather rock....I'll look that up.
