Weeping Moss

Vesicularia ferriei

A moss whose shoots hang downwards in teardrops rather than sprawling sideways. Tied to a branch it drapes over it like a small green willow.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 3 – 5 cm (1.2 – 2 in)
Temperature: 15 – 30 °C (59 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: epiphyte
Growth rate: slow
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: low – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: on stone and wood, nano tank
Propagation: division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Bright green shoots 3–5 cm long grow downwards, teardrop-shaped and slightly fleshy. On a piece of wood the moss forms a hanging curtain, which is what sets it apart from the mosses that simply spread flat.

Keeping

Not demanding: moderate light and no carbon dioxide are enough. It needs trimming with scissors — an overgrown clump loses its hanging shape and the shaded lower layer dies off. Some water movement keeps dirt from settling in it.

Placement

Tied to a branch or the upper edge of wood, so the shoots can hang free. In a nano tank a single covered branch carries the whole layout.

Propagation

Pull a clump apart and tie the pieces down elsewhere; each grows on by itself.

Water conditions match

The water suits 861 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis 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

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

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.

Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping Moss'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Ectropothecium ferriei, Ectropothecium rotundifolium, Vesicularia apiculata, Vesicularia apiculata major, Vesicularia cuspidata, Vesicularia japonica, Vesicularia rotundifolia
Vesicularia ferriei: (Cardot & Ther.) Broth.
Family: Hypnaceae

Weeping Moss

Tank conditions

Care and keeping