Your favourite carpet moss

[Cipher]

Hey guys,

I'm suddenly getting an urge on setting up a moss only tank. Just wondering what you think is the best moss to use as a carpet?

So basically moss 'type' plants such as
typical moss such as peacock
riccia type plants
pelia's
fissidens
etc

Right now im thinking of a fissident type carpet but still looking for alternatives

[Anubia]

Hey guys,

I'm suddenly getting an urge on setting up a moss only tank. Just wondering what you think is the best moss to use as a carpet?

So basically moss 'type' plants such as
typical moss such as peacock
riccia type plants
pelia's
fissidens
etc

Right now im thinking of a fissident type carpet but still looking for alternatives

Ditto your thought process.....Fissidens provides such impact but can be classed as a slow grower....Still beautifull though...!!

[Danken]

I also ditto your list. It is a great start and you will like all of those plants. I personally think the best looking carpet would be the fissidens. Here is a pic of my fissidens splachnobryoides:


It comes in a flat portion that is tied down to wood, as Anubia said it is a slow grower, but the micro leaves look great. And to avoid the waiting you could always purchase a large amount of it and have an instant carpet.

Really they are many options and you are only limited by imagination. Plants can be pruned and trained to look how you want them to. A stem plant can be convinced to grow sideways, so in theory if you were to continue to trim the upward growing stems you could create a carpet effect. It may have an odd look, but it just shows that there are many things you could try.

[Danken]

I don't mean to go off topic since your thread says carpet moss, but I made a carpet or green field with a wisteria plant. I planted it like normal and when it rooted I gently bent the stems over across the substrate and put a rock on the tip, after a couple weeks it made many roots up the stem and I was able to remove the rock. This pic is a couple months after I started:


The plant continues to grow sideways and also will send shoots upward every few inches but I have been cutting those away. Again this is just to show your options are limitless.

[Red Bee Shrimp Fan]

For moss ground cover, I really like Fissidens fontanus (Phoenix Moss) and Riccardia chamedryfolia (Mini Pellia). Another great foreground plant is Utricularia graminifolia. Just my personal preference.

Best Regards,

Stuart

[Cipher]

yeh im just sticking to a moss type for now since my background plant is eleocharis 'japan' aka japanese hg and its spreading to the front and if im typing a moss down, it would be on a steel mesh, hopefully once the moss has covered the whole mesh the hairgrass won't grow around that 'area' well i guess its an experiment for me, will definetly go with fissidens, fissiden fontanus is available here in Australia so i guess should be great

[Fidelity]

i'll go for Fissidens fontanus, the shrimps like it and it looks great..

[koji™]

I will go for Fissidens as well. But they are slow grower though. But at the other hand, I love mini christmas moss on rock and spiky on branches which will mass up and weight down abit for the shelter feel.

[foxpuppet]

i am experitmenting with different mosses, i like the idea of a moss only tank. currently have java, flame, peacock US fissidens and a few other fissi's to plant yet.

[leek86]

Does the us fissidens need high medium or low light?