Riccia fluitans/ floating crystalwort/ riccia moss

Description

Quantity: Small pouch

Origin: Asia

Light requirement: Low & Medium

Plant positioning: On driftwoods, Rocks, floating, etc.

CO2 requirement: Low & Medium

Plant difficulty level: Easy

Plant Propagation: Cuttings

Takashi Amano, the famous aquarist popularized this particular liverwort in the hobby. This plant is considered one of his favorites. This is a plant that is hard to keep submerged unlike other moss species and they naturally tend to grow upward in the aquarium. So regular pruning and trimming are needed to keep it compact. In addition, one also needs to re-tie it several times to a surface as there is a great chance for it to get dislocated from the surface being a very thin and delicate moss.

Riccia moss in nature is a perfect hiding spot for many fish fries. Once they settle, in comparison with other mosses and liverworts, their growth rate is phenomenal and they multiply so fast that it may completely cover a space given to grow to shadow other plants in the aquarium.

For propagation, it’s best recommended to keep it floating( in fact in its name fluitans means floating in Latin). Floating causes the plant to trigger exponential growth forming a mat. But be cautious not to overcrowd a tank as it is found to have hair algae infestation when crowded.

In India, we can sell Riccia fluitans aquatic plant via online delivery systems to many states including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha (Orissa), Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and  West Bengal.