Algae in Marimo Aquarium

Maybe aquarium is too lavish a word to describe where my Marimo lives, but he doesn’t seem to know or care about that. Maximus, as I’ve named him, was living rather contently in his little jar on my desk until late last spring. That’s when the position of the sun shifted in the sky and the morning sun began to shine through the window and hit the desk on the other side of the room. Because I was busy with the Amaryllis bulbs and seed starting I didn’t really pay attention to my Japanese “moss ball” and where it was sitting in relation to the sun. If you’ve ever kept an aquarium you know where this is going, right? Algae!

Marimo, Japanese Moss Ball

A year ago I came across a mention of Marimo somewhere on the net. I had forgotten about them until a couple of weeks ago I found myself in an aquarium store and saw some in a fish tank. Since this was a serious kind of aquarium shop they were labeled "Japanese moss balls" but I recognized it right away as a "Marimo." Being one of those suckers born every minute I had to have one if only for the plant geek points. Lately I've been sort of uninspired with collection of indoor plants and have had the strangest urge to grow mosses and ferns. Which is partly responsible for the lack of updates here. I don't know why but lately but plants that are little more than boring green mounds have seemed like something I want to grow.