Noble Fissidens

Fissidens nobilis

A large, stiff moss whose shoots look like little fern or palm fronds — the leaves sit in two rows in one plane. Slow, striking, and often confused with its smaller relative.

Light: low–high
Difficulty: difficult
Temperature: 18 – 26 °C (64 – 79 °F)

Plant type: epiphyte
Growth rate: very slow
Tolerates light: low – high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 10 °dKH
Placement: on stone and wood +2 on stone and wood, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Unbranched shoots about 2–6 cm long and up to a centimetre wide, with lance-shaped leaves in two flat rows. The shoots are firm and hold their shape out of the water; the smaller moss sold under the same name is soft and collapses when lifted.

Keeping

Difficult and very slow. Light can be dim or bright, but the growth is so slow that algae in an unsettled tank will overtake it, so this is a moss for an established aquarium with clean water. It attaches to wood and stone and should be tied down until it grips.

Placement

Tied to wood and stone in the front or middle of the tank, where its unusual shoots can be seen close up. Suits a nano layout.

Propagation

By division: separate a piece and tie it down elsewhere.

Water conditions match

The water suits 974 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Zebra Mbuna

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Other varieties: Fissidens nobilis in Vitro

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Fissidens filicinus Dozy & Molk., Fissidens japonicus Dozy & Molk., Fissidens schismoides Sakurai, Fissidens sp. ''Japan'', Fissidens filicinus, Fissidens japonicus, Fissidens schismoides
Fissidens nobilis: Griffith
Family: Fissidentaceae

Noble Fissidens

Tank conditions

Care and keeping