51 Ferns and Mosses
Description
This article is from the Aquaria: Plants FAQ, by multiple authors.
51 Ferns and Mosses
Azolla (floating fern) [HIGH] [FLOATING]
Floating fern that grows out in triangular "rafts". Buy at
water garden stores.
Bolbitus heudelotii (African water fern) [LOW]
Slow-growing creeping rhizome with dark green, 8" (20cm) lobed
leaves. Tie roots to bogwood like Java fern. Don't bury the
rhizome in the gravel. Can be grown emersed with fast-moving
water.
Ceratopteris (water sprite) [LOW] [FAST GROW] [FLOATING]
Up to 20" (50cm) tall. Exists as rooted or floating specimens.
Good fry shelter, shade plant. Baby plants grow on older
leaves. Confused with Hygrophila difformis sometimes. Several
different species and/or forms, which may require more light
than others.
Microsorum pteropus (Java fern) [LOW] [HI pH]
"It's actually Microsorum but everyone writes it as
Microsorium," says Arie De Graff (FAMA, 1991). This is one of
the more hardy aquarium plants. It roots itself to solid
objects like bogwood and rocks (attach with a piece of string
or rubber band to hold it in place at first) and has a creeping
rhizome which may be divided for cuttings. Young plants will
also develop directly off spores, attached to old leaves, and
can be cut off and rooted. In high light, it produces tough,
plastic-like leaves; under low light the leaves are more
delicate. Fronds are up to 8" (20cm) long and undivided, though
on older plants are trilobade (three lobes to a frond).
Riccia fluitans (floating liverwort, crystalwort) [MED] [FLOATING]
Big tangly glop like Java moss; good livebearer fry cover.
Grows fast under high light.
Salvinia (floating fern) [FLOATING]
Small floating fern that grows in long chains of two oval
leaves and a "root-like" third leaf. Easier to control than
duckweed. Buy it at water garden supply stores, as it's too
cheap for most aquarium shops.
Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss) [LOW]
Grows in branching strands, tangling around other plants. Dark
green. Makes good spawning medium and cover for young fry. Min
temp 75F. May dislike salt.
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