# Tell me why I should buy a moss ball.....



## valleyankee (Oct 21, 2011)

Why do I need one of these? How do you care for them?


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## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

=D woo +1 to the moss ball army

you don't really need one per-se .. but the benefits of having one are:

1) marimo ball (moss ball) is a type of algae that grows in the shape of a ball they grow off the nutrients in the water that all algae will eat .. one of the reasons to get a moss ball is because if you have one .. it will eat all the nutrients that other types algae thrive on and could effect your tank .. so .. if you have a moss ball eating up the nutrients .. it makes your tank unfavorable for other types of algae to grow

2) they are very low maintenance .. low light algae .. and easy to care for .. all u have to do is once a week .. preferably with your water changes is to take them out .. rinse them under water to get visible debris off it .. squeeze it to get the stagnant water out of it .. and roll it in your hands like when rolling play dough so that it retains it's round shape .. and that's it

3) cus they are addicting and just as cute as having a betta =D .. they are aliveeeeeeee .. hehe j-k ^_^ .. but they do float around .. make bubbles (called pearling) .. and a nice place for bettas to sleep on as well


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

4) Some bettas love them because they are soft and smooshy and every betta deserves to have a soft and smooshy chair to rest on.

5) This is not really a reason, but a warning: These are gateway plants. You buy one, and the next thing you know you buy a few more. Then you realize you can keep them alive and the next thing you know you are buying every living thing that is green. When you go into a petstore, once you are done looking at what bettas they have, you look at what plants they have. And unlike bettas, you can add as many as you want to a tank. You notice a tiny, cute little crested java fern that looks like an angry baby version of your big java fern. That lucky bamboo has such a cute little curl to it's stem and would look perfect sticking out of "instert name here"'s tank! The list goes on...


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## valleyankee (Oct 21, 2011)

quit while you are ahead....


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## ShyDog (Oct 15, 2011)

+1 to gateway plants


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## Sassington (Oct 29, 2011)

OMG I'm laughing so hard!! 

Gateway plants FTW!!!!!

P.S. I'm soooo glad I haven't yet spotted these cute angry little ferns... I may go broke and all the people at PETCO would point and laugh at crazy-java-fern-lady and then they would be the enablers for my new found addiction.


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## bastage (Oct 16, 2011)

lol.. My Gateway plant was Duckweed that I got for free.. Now I hate amazon for shipping my new lights so damn slow.


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## ekwerle (Oct 10, 2011)

LOL @ reasons 3 & 5! So true. They are cute and squishy. Except for this one time I took mine out and squeezed it and it smelled like rotten egg...but it only happened one time. I forget why it happened and how I fixed it, so obviously it wasn't too bad. =)


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## valleyankee (Oct 21, 2011)

I don't really like touching the fish water when I clean.....


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## MorganC2010 (Jul 7, 2011)

Sorry if I'm invading in on this thread but where would someone buy on of these? I don't think I've seen them in any local pet store. I'm interested in buying one now lol.


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## ekwerle (Oct 10, 2011)

MorganC2010 said:


> Sorry if I'm invading in on this thread but where would someone buy on of these? I don't think I've seen them in any local pet store. I'm interested in buying one now lol.


I found mine at Petsmart right near their betta display for $7 or $8. I'm not sure I've seen them anywhere but there. =/


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## MorganC2010 (Jul 7, 2011)

ekwerle said:


> I found mine at Petsmart right near their betta display for $7 or $8. I'm not sure I've seen them anywhere but there. =/


If possible do you think it would be ok if I ordered on online?


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## valleyankee (Oct 21, 2011)

I always see them at Petco and Petsmart. They are usually near the Betta's.


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## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

MorganC2010 said:


> If possible do you think it would be ok if I ordered on online?


so far i've only seen nano balls sold online .. but i think some members were able to find the bigger sized ones off ebay


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## omyard (Jul 6, 2011)

MorganC2010 said:


> Sorry if I'm invading in on this thread but where would someone buy on of these? I don't think I've seen them in any local pet store. I'm interested in buying one now lol.


I've seen them at Petsmart in the tanks before. In fact earlier today I saw some in cups right next to the bettas cups.


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## MorganC2010 (Jul 7, 2011)

Ok, thanks everyone!


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## Draug Isilme (Aug 7, 2011)

MorganC2010 said:


> Sorry if I'm invading in on this thread but where would someone buy on of these? I don't think I've seen them in any local pet store. I'm interested in buying one now lol.


yeah, they definitely have them at PetSmart ^.^ If you can't find them, you might want to ask as I've seen them by the betta cups in an inconspicuous location, on top of the fridge they have that has frozen foods (which is pretty tall and out of the way), and some under the cricket cage >.>..... Yeah... I don't know why they have them out of the way so much, but they do.... They had some in the tanks as well, but I know my PetSmarts tanks are infested with snails, so I usually don't bother going through the trouble of de-snailing....
Other than that, I've read plenty of people talk about aquabid as they have some pretty good deals sometimes... Otherwise, e-bay is pretty good about them. There are various websites that sell them, but just be careful when browsing around. Make sure you know what you're getting and if you can check out some reviews 'cause some people are douchebags and like to try to sell fava fern covered ping pong/golf balls.... So yeah ^.^


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

the ones i've seen at petco aren't real marimo balls, just moss on a styrofoam ball. petsmart has them in little betta cups though :3

however it's perfectly fine to order them online in many sizes :3


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

They have some fairly sizeable ones on aquabid from AquaticMagic.


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