Moss Ball

Marimo or moss ball is a species of filamentous algae I have been craving to try in my aquariums.

October 5th, 2017
 I bought Moss balls, scientific name Cladophora Aegagropila, from a local Petco store.

There are 3 balls in this package.
I kept them under observation in the package for a couple days before moving them into aquariums.

Moss ball is squishy as a sponge.

One ball is going into my HD aquarium.

 The other 2 moss balls I put in separate nurseries.

Also, there are some tiny pieces of moss ball remain in the package.

The package can be used as a nursery for them ;)

 Moss ball looks very nice in bowl shaped aquariums.

I turn the moss ball once in a while to let it grow on all sides.

November 12th, 2017
 Moss ball is one of the slowest growing species I have ever seen!

January 20th, 2018
 4 months passed without any noticeable growth in this nursery.

January 27th, 2018
Here you can see a moss ball in an aquarium with a fast growing species of filamentous algae.
It took just a couple months for some strings of the fast growing filamentous algae to fill up all available space in this nursery.
At the same time, the moss ball, which is also a species of filamentous algae, grew very little if at all.

I am moving this moss ball into my newly built 3D aquarium.

But first, I have to physically remove strings of filamentous algae from the moss ball.

Here you can see seed shrimp lurking inside of the moss ball.
Moss ball serves as house and hiding place for different types of tiny critters and microorganisms.

March 27th, 2018

Guppy fry on the look out for critters hidden in the moss ball.

It takes a really long time for moss ball to grow.

 July 29th, 2018
 Moss ball, as all algae and plants, grows toward light.

I keep this moss ball always on the same side - no turning it.

As a result, the top part of the moss ball grows faster than all other sides, changing the ball shape into a column.

September 29th, 2018
 Eventually, the moss column collapsed under its own weight in an arch shape.
That is a very cool shape for moss ball :)

 I left it as it is.

Here is the same piece of moss ball on January 28th, 2019

Once again, only the top, exposed to the light part growth.
It likes light.

Slow growing moss ball, which is not moss and is not always a ball, makes an interesting addition to aquariums.

Have fun and happy aquariums :)