# April's Moss Ball from home



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

We"ve had this. Ok MOss ball, not Miss ball! Can someone fix my title?
Moss ball for about 5 years. Actually we had two. One made thousands of babies and this one has kept on growing. My theory is he's daddy moss ball lol. 
The bottom of our 60 gallon tank is covered in babies and dad sits in the corner . Bushynose pleccos breed and we have hundreds of cherry shrimp. The moss balls filter and use the nitrates. We so a wc maybe twice a year. Subdued lights with closed curtains .
Here he is. It's actually my other halfs moss ball. Not for sale























Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


----------



## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

i stopped flipping and rotating mine, i let them all sit in one area of the tank, now they've all grown into one, ... not even remotely ball shaped, yours definitly has that roundish kind of shape that is known for the marimo moss ball


----------



## coppercloud (Apr 14, 2012)

Oh cool they really grow, I heard eventually they just fall apart


----------



## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

i'm sure if the inside rots out they will fall apart,

but if they do fall apart at any size, trim off the bad parts, (or i'm sure a toothbrush would work), and then you have several smaller ones instead of one big one


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

The one did fall apart. This one has lasted.we turn him sometimes. He's definitely too big to move about on his own! You can see all the small ones on the bottom.


----------



## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

how long did it take to get that big ?
... or ... how old is it ? (how old was it before it fell apart?)


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

That big one in the photo hasn't fallen apart. We've had it for about 5 years. The other one did. My theory is the other was a female and had kids. . This one is the boy lol. It says when you read about them that they send off small off shoots or pieces to make new ones.


----------



## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Moss balls grow slowly so that one could be 15 years if I had to toss a dart at the board... Probably the hardest algae to maintain, lol!


----------



## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

it's not algae by any definition i've come across other than the closest resemblance to cladophoria, ... a few years ago in the biological classification community (whatever they are called) they had another look at it and removed it from the cladophoria algae group, ... within the hobby many still blame marimo moss balls for introducing clado, ... personally i think it's more coincidence, and/or the moss balls where carrying clado


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

I've never had clado from ours but we have very low light. Only tanks I've gotten clado in were ones in a window. Way too much light. When I got those moss balls they were maybe plum size.


----------



## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

i originally got two, i cut one up into 8, ... those grew and now as i left them all in one spot, they've turned into a blob 10" x 4" x 4" i am estimating, ... going to leave it in the tank as other plants have taken root in the thing
i got it about 2 years ago, ... started out as 2 balls about 2-3" each


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Well they definitely act like filters. We only use a hydro sponge and. Hundreds of moss balls and only do a wc maybe twice a year. The bushy nose have batches of babies almost monthly and the cherries keep on breeding .no heater .


----------



## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

for substrates, i've thought of putting a thin layer of these moss balls down, (cut them up into 1/4" pieces), ... then always decide against it as it's going to get dirty really fast , ... 

then the idea crosses my mind again ... it's like a carpet for your fish


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

That's what we have but siphoning is difficult. 


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


----------



## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

One of my moss balls blew up into a million pieces out of nowhere once. And it got all in my filter intake lol it was a moss bomb.


----------

