This weekend I was out visiting a lake and surrounding countryside north of New York City. The leaves are all down in the streams and the water is very cool.
I collected some aquatic moss samples from a stream and a lake. I believe they are both the same, though the plant growing in the fast moving stream was elongated as a result of growing in flowing water. The moss growing in the lake was in the littoral zone in under 40cm of water. Both plants were attached to rocks.
My initial research suggests these plants could be ascribed to Fontinalis antipyretica. But looking a little further into the classification of these plants indicates there are a number of species with some classification problems to be worked out in the future by specialists.
I managed to take a couple of photos of the plant on the lake shore (excuse the poor quality, my camera is a little Canon Powershot and while it is wonderfully portable and small, it is hard put to produce a good close up shot).
My question for the board is: has anyone used Fontinalis antipyretica in an aquarium? If so, how would you suggest getting strands to take to rock? Any experiences?
The water temperature of the lake varies between close to freezing in the winter to the mid 80s F in the summer, by the way.
My site search seems to indicate that very few people use the Fontinalis sp. mosses. I see them in ADA aquaria photos. But cannot recall seeing them in any American aquaria photos.
For those interested, the folowing link contains a list of these moss types:
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200109/msg00015.html
Here are the photos:
Lake shore:
Sample (ignore the Riccia):
Andrew Cribb
I collected some aquatic moss samples from a stream and a lake. I believe they are both the same, though the plant growing in the fast moving stream was elongated as a result of growing in flowing water. The moss growing in the lake was in the littoral zone in under 40cm of water. Both plants were attached to rocks.
My initial research suggests these plants could be ascribed to Fontinalis antipyretica. But looking a little further into the classification of these plants indicates there are a number of species with some classification problems to be worked out in the future by specialists.
I managed to take a couple of photos of the plant on the lake shore (excuse the poor quality, my camera is a little Canon Powershot and while it is wonderfully portable and small, it is hard put to produce a good close up shot).
My question for the board is: has anyone used Fontinalis antipyretica in an aquarium? If so, how would you suggest getting strands to take to rock? Any experiences?
The water temperature of the lake varies between close to freezing in the winter to the mid 80s F in the summer, by the way.
My site search seems to indicate that very few people use the Fontinalis sp. mosses. I see them in ADA aquaria photos. But cannot recall seeing them in any American aquaria photos.
For those interested, the folowing link contains a list of these moss types:
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200109/msg00015.html
Here are the photos:
Lake shore:

Sample (ignore the Riccia):

Andrew Cribb