Adding a moss ball

**icefreeze57** · 12-27-2011, 04:02 AM

Hey all,

I have a few questions about moss balls

My cousin had a moss ball in a 2.5 living by itself. It pretty neat.

I'm thinking about adding one to my 40g. I currently still doing my initial stock (tiger barbs and a red tail shark is the initial plan) so how do a add a moss ball to my tank?

Should I wait till my fish are all in before adding it? Does it need anything special?

Thanks

**DylanisHawttt** · 12-27-2011, 04:45 AM

I've never had a Marimo Moss Ball but from what I've read on the Internet they're fairly easy to keep. You can place them under stock lighting (if you have a T8 I'm assuming) and just let them sit there.

I would assume that they are just like live plants, give it a quick rinse and set it in the tank. You have to make sure you move it around every now and then otherwise the side that it's sitting on will slowly begin to die off. If you provide it with enough lighting, it should begin to split. After that, you can either part it into 2 smaller Moss balls or use it to cover a piece of driftwood (I couldn't begin to explain how to do it, I've seen driftwood covered in Marimo Moss on Aquabid).

**Waterfroggy** · 12-27-2011, 06:51 AM

I put a moss ball in a 2.5 gallon before I knew what I was doing and now have two in my 33 and they're doing great!

No special needs that I know of.

**icefreeze57** · 12-28-2011, 12:00 AM

thanks for the help

**smaug** · 12-28-2011, 12:19 AM

My wife has had one in her 19 gal for a few years. Its as big as a grapefruitaybe a few hrs and started out about apple size. The light is actually a small incandecent bulb that is on for 2 or 3 hrs a day. Easy as it gets. They are actually and algae I think.

**Countrylovin4evr** · 01-28-2012, 08:57 PM

They are pretty tough- don't think you can kill one really. I bought one and GENTLY split it myself and spread it over my driftwood- stuck a rock on top as I didn't have string and only where to rock is its not growing of course- but the rest has been getting longer/thicker as I recently stuck some ecocomplete between moss and wood and it's just boomed. I even took of chunks of it and rolled up to give to mom. They are supposed to help keep algae away. Not sure if mine does or not

**Goes to 11!** · 01-28-2012, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by smaug

They are actually an algae I think.

As smaug mentioned they are an algae not a plant but no special care is required and if you have decent flow you need not turn them as they will get shuffled around.

I got a golf ball sized one as a gift 2 or 3 years ago and immediately split it into four chunks and now I have 5 or 6 similar sized or bigger ones and I have given at least that many chunks away.

They are fool proof - Just add water.