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I just got done cleaning all the Java Moss out of my tank. Never again will I add that stuff! What a nightmare!
It clogged up my filter intakes and made a mess in the tank.
Now I need something to replace the moss. I have alot of natural DW and would like something else to tie onto the wood and that will grow in low light conditions and is fairly maintenance free. I thought of Anubias but its hard to find locally and its kinda expensive online when I need as much as I do.
Any suggestions?
Todd

Haha, I have the same problem . Java fern will grow pretyy well to driftwood, is a low light plant, pretty maintenence free, and is beautiful! You could try dwarf hairgrass, is simmiliar in some sorts of ways, but im not sure how it does on DW. Hope this helps!

I just bought some hornwort, have that floating around the 20g, looks very natural, sort of hanging down. I also bought a bunch of wisteria that will tie nicely to the DW I have. I also have a new bunch of anacharis that will tie nicely to the DW. Tie the bunches with fishing line,and if you do try to stick them into the substrate, dont bury the roots too deeply....

I am told and have read that all three of these plants are fairly hardy, and dont seem to require any special lighting.

I have 15w light Lifo Pro 2 18" in my 20g hood about .75w per gallon.

you could always send me some java moss

Thanks for the suggestions etc.

Sorry, I was so mad at the moss I ditched it. Never thought about passing it on.

I will tell ya that if you want some nice stuff there is a guy on ebay that sells really nice stuff and is very honest as well. He has a nice big bag of Moss with free shipping now. Item number is 250153848474
He is in another country so shipping takes a lil while but the wait is worth it.
I had bought 4 Marimo balls from him last time and they arrived the size of baseballs and very healthy! I love em!

Hi zookeper

I'm in Aus & I just bought a whole heap of goodies from that ebay seller. They haven't arrived yet, but it was good to read someone on here give him a good wrap. Makes me feel better about the purchase, as I ended up buying quite a few things.


Cheers
TW

No Prob, What did you buy?

As I said it took awhile for my plants to arrive, about 2 full weeks but they did arrive in perfect condition and the plants were gorgeous and BIG!
I once ordered from another guy that sells alot of plants from Houston and he ships free, dont buy from him!
My plants arrived dead and mushy and really poorly packed.
And even if the plants would have been alive I wouldnt have been happy as the plants were so tiny tiny it wasnt funny!

Well - I bought far too much cause he had lots of good stuff. Let's see, I bought 2 sponge filter guards (to protect the fry I hope to have soon), riccia mesh, 2 x Rhinox 5000 C02 glass diffuser, C02 Tubing, a set of aquatic gardening tools.

Now, on to the plants. Only a few, to see how it goes, but I ordered some Narrow Leaf Java fern & some Needle Leaf Java Fern. I've never seen either of these plants here in Australia - I wanted them for a while. I only ever see ordinary Java fern here, so I'm pretty excited & hope it survives the shipping. I have hope now I know yours was healty after a 2 week postage time.


Cheers
TW

Hi Zookeeper;

I had ordered plants from this guy in Houston as well and had the same experience! They had a big succcess in getting it all messed up:

- dead plants
- wrong plant
- tiny plants that were totally overprized

They shipped again after I complained but it was not much better. A warning to all - don't buy from this person!

On the other hand I've heard only good things about aquaticmagic - I am curious to hear how Robyn's experience with live plants turns out. I am reluctant to order live plants from someone so far away

Hmmm, seems it's lucky I live too far away to have made the mistake of ordering from Houston. Malaysia is a long way from me, but closer than Houston LOL

Zookeeper, I scrolled his stock again tonight. He has lots of plants, plants I've never seen here, that he says look great on driftwood. Have another look & you might find something you like to replace the moss

I'll let you know how my plants fare the trip.

Cheers
TW

Hey Robyn,
If you order from the guy again make sure you buy some Marimo balls! They are so cool!
I only bought 4 but wish I had bought more.
Its funny that when I have visitors or friends over they ooh and ahhh about the weird balls but say little about the fish.. LOL
I am going to buy some more plants soon from him and picked out some nice Wisteria, Java Ferns and some Dwarf Anubias and will of course buy some more Marimo balls. LOL
PS.. If you worry about the shipping time from Maylasia you can ask him to ship priority air etc. You will pay more but he is nice and will do it.

I have just taken a look at the seller that you guys mentioned on eBay. It just sounds too good to be true...
I might have to buy something!

Hi friedrice

For sure buy hardware off him, but not plants. I ordered plants, but today received a notice from customs that they have been destroyed. He mustn't be declaring them or sending them correctly, so I wouldn't risk it. Seller has told me he will refund though my money though, so I think he is honest in that way - but I don't think you should risk buying plants from him if you live in Australia.

Cheers
TW

i thought they would be seized by customs, robyn! i'm pretty sure it's illegal to import plants (aquatic or otherwise) into australia.

justin

Yes, I found that out the hard way. But they emailed me this afternoon saying they will refund via paypal.

I thought that since they openly advertise they ship to Australia (worldwide in fact) that they would have things declared & all above board. Silly me.

Still, they are good for hardware, I think.

Cheers
TW

Bizarre and sorry to hear that you did not receive the plants, you were so much looking forward to the java ferns. I still think that it is possible to import plants into Australia 9if you can receive plants in the US with all their paranoia, AUS shouldbe possible as well). He probably never started the paper work to get everything started in thefirst place. What a mess.

Apparently Aus has some of the strictest quarantine rules of any country. I have even noticed that Aussie ebay or on-line plant sellers state they cannot post to Western Australia or Tasmania (2 states within Australia). So you can't even post them freely internally, let alone receive them internationally.

I did think this ebay seller would have had the paperwork to be an exporter of plants to Aus (if he advertises selling there) but I don't think so at all now. The hardware came in a package that was named with the company. The opened envelope that our customs agency sent me had the return address of a private person, so I believe the intention was to sneak it through customs as a personal letter. Our customs officers are pretty cluey and I really don't think things could sneak through that way.

In one way I would say the seller is very honest to deal with as a customer, as I have already received a refund in my PayPal account. I would buy hardware from him (C02 diffusers & what not) but not live plants. Seems you're luckier in the US and are able to receive his plants.

Cheers
TW

Sneaking in as a private, letter, tzzz... Do they open private letters on a regular basis in AUS? Sounds worse than here but with respect to past environmental problems your country has a good reason to be strict. I am not so interested in plants but in some of his hardware ... the filter intake and outflow in my tank is such an eyesore that I am thinking about replacing them with lily pipes (in the long run). hOWEVER, I am still hoping that someone will offer them made of clear plastics, but this will probably not lucrative enough. Well, I hope you will eventually manage to get some narrow leaf fern from an LFS in AUS. looking forward to your new log!

Do they open private letters on a regular basis in AUS?

No, they don't. But we have a TV show here something on the lines of "Border Patrol". It shows how the customs officers are specially trained to be able to pick items mailed from overseas that appear suspicious to them. Obviously, this envelope look suspicious to them & they opened it.

I haven't seen plastic lily pipes. Mine didn't come from this guy, but elsewhere.

Sorry, zookeper, to have hijacked your thread.

Cheers
TW

Oh too late! I have already ordered. I better get a refund.

Thanks for your advice. I knew it was too good to be true thats why i only ordered a little bit. Hmmz oh wellz.