Back in June 2010, I got my wife a 10g tank and she picked out a betta for it. She asked if live plants would work in the tank, and I said that I didn't think they would unless we upgraded the stock lighting (a single fluoroescent bulb) but there was no harm in trying... so we added a bit of java moss and some water sprite cuttings from my planted tank.

Well, I was right. The water sprite wilted and died, and the java moss turned brown and succumbed to algae. Oh well, no big deal. I removed all the dead plant matter.

Two years pass by. The betta is an old man now, spending all his time between meals sitting around on the decorations. For two years I have not added any plants, and there has not been any sign that I m issed removing any of the dead stuff. And then...

One day I notice some green fuzz on some driftwood. I watch it grow, and, over the course of a few weeks, turns into this: java moss, clinging to the driftwood at the filter outlet. Pretty thin and wispy, but nice healthy green.

Somehow I must have missed some of the java moss, and that little bit that I missed was dormant for two entire years, surviving who knows how, until one day for some reason it decided to spring to live and start growing again. Pretty amazing stuff.