![]() A round and bright green Marimo is more likely to be healthy than one which looks dirty or faded. When buying Marimo Moss Ball you should look for a well-rounded ball that does not have patches of discoloration or long loose strands. This means they take full advantage of the daylight and at night Marimo will settle again. When exposed to light continuously, they release oxygen which gets trapped in their filaments and rise up to the surface. Many describe them as smart because of a peculiar behavior that can be seen in the home aquarium. In the wild some Marimo have grown to over 3 feet, but this has taken 200 years for them to get to this size. Most will grow at an average rate of 0.2 inch per year, which is slow but fast enough to recover from any small bites taken out of it by your curious fish. Inside a home aquarium these moss balls can be as small as 0.25 inches or as big as 6 inches. To grow naturally in a ball shape takes very specific requirements, but free-floating filaments can be rolled into balls by hand and these are often sold instead of wild forming Marimo. Because they are algae and not plants, they do not have leaves or roots and instead roll gently with the currents. When smaller Marimo can be bright green and as they get larger they tend to go a darker shade of green. They feel very much like wet velvet and can be squished in your hand to drain them of water. Marimo Moss Balls are soft and almost fuzzy in texture. They were initially sold across Japan before they entered the fish keeping hobby in America and then the trend spread to the whole aquatics hobby. The Marimo traditional festival was started in 1950 to raise awareness about their need for protection.įortunately this has given them the fame needed to keep them safe. They are famous in Japan because of a festival held in their honor near Lake Akan every October. In the wild they are most commonly found as long filaments, but in aquariums they are commonly kept in the ball shape. Interestingly they are not moss at all and are actually made from algae. Their botanical name is Aegagropila linnaei and their common name Marimo came from the Japanese words Mari (which means a ball) and Mo (which means algae). Marimo Moss Balls are originally from Japan, however they are now also found in the cold waters of Iceland and Estonia. Keeping reading to learn more about this unusual organism… Overview If you are looking for a unique and easy to care for addition to your tank then the Marimo Moss Ball is a great choice. They are easy to keep and make great conversation starters which make them a popular choice for fish keepers. Although they are called Moss Balls, they are actually balls of algae that grow slowly over their long lives in the bottom of lakes and rivers in the northern hemisphere. Marimo Moss Balls are adorable little green growths.
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