Bog Moss

Mayaca fluviatilis

Soft flexible stems thickly set with narrow bright-green leaves, like small pine sprigs in the current. It looks like the demanding feathery plants but keeps far easier.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 15 – 30 cm (5.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 18 – 30 °C (64 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 4 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 6 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +1 background, midground, nano tank
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Stems 15–30 cm tall, very soft, covered in narrow light-green leaves. A group of stems moves in the flow and gives a tank a light, airy look.

Keeping

Moderate demands: it prefers soft, slightly acidic water but grows in medium-hard water too. Very pale shoots are its way of asking for iron. Growth is fast, so it needs regular pruning.

Placement

The back and middle of the tank, in a group; the smaller stems suit a nano tank.

Propagation

Cut a stem into pieces and plant them — each roots and branches on its own.

Water conditions match

The water suits 841 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

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 Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

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

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Mayaca aubletii Michaux, Biaslia vandelli, Coletia madida, Mayaca aubletii, Mayaca aubletii aubletii, Mayaca aubletii wrightii, Mayaca caroliniana, Mayaca fluviatilis, Mayaca fluviatilis fluviatilis, Mayaca fluviatilis wrightii, Mayaca longipes, Mayaca madida, Mayaca michauxii, Mayaca vandellii, Mayaca wrightii, Syena aubletii, Syena fluviatilis, Syena mayaca, Syena nuttalliana
Mayaca fluviatilis: Aubl.
Family: Mayacaceae