Java moss

Care at a glance

Java moss is the workhorse of aquarium mosses: a tangled, light-green tuft that attaches to anything, keeps growing at almost any temperature and light level, and needs no substrate or CO2. You tie it on with fishing line or glue it to wood or stone, and after a few months the attachment is invisible.

Its greatest value is below the surface: the dense structure teems with micro-life and is the best nursery you can give shrimp and newly hatched fry. Trim it regularly, because a thick, dense cushion clogs up inside and starts rotting brown in there. Detritus that collects in it simply rinses out during a water change.

Related species

• Amazon swordEchinodorus grisebachii
• Java fernMicrosorum pteropus
• AnubiasAnubias barteri
• VallisneriaVallisneria sp.
• CryptocoryneCryptocoryne wendtii
• BucephalandraBucephalandra sp.