I think one of my local fish guys has gone insane...
A few weeks ago my LFS got a bunch of java moss and were selling it for 4.00 a handful. Unfortunatly they had it in with some unhealthy looking camboba so it looked like junk with all these needles sticking to it. While I wanted some in my tank, this bunch didnt look all that great so I decided against it. Any handful out of that tank would be half garbage anyway.
I was about to leave the store when I noticed that they had more moss in two molly tanks, a big pile of it in each, perfectly clean and beautiful. I asked the girl that was on duty if she could sell me the stuff from the molly tank, and how big is a "handful"? She cleaned out the entire tank for me, every thread, and charged me the 4 bucks for what I thought was a pretty darn good portion.
I tied it all to driftwood in my big tank, put a few scraps in my brackish F8 tank and got to thinking the puffer could use a bigger chunk of it, as well as my planted tank at work.
I went back last night to see if the other bunch in the molly tank was still there, lo and behold it was. The fish guy on duty was someone who I always assumed knew the most about fish in the store. He's full time, keeps several tanks himself including brackish and marine, so what happened next was quite surprising.
He looks me dead in the eye and says, "Oh, thats not java moss! Thats some kind of nusance algae."
"Huh!" I says.
"Yup. It just showed up one day, no one knows where it came from."
"Ok" I reply, "They why does it look exactly like the scraps of the javamoss that you have left over in the camboba tank"
He shrugs.
"Well" he says, "I'll sell it to you if you want it."
He scoops out all the "algae" from the tank and puts it in a bag. this bunch is about twice as big as the one I got the day before. He ties the bag, and writes $1.00 on it.
I walked out of the store felling somewhat confused, but figureing I got a pretty darn good deal.
I am forced to conclude that one of two things is going on here:
1) the most senior fish guy at a reputable LFS has never seen java moss before
or
2) There was some sort of "Sure <winkwink>... I'll sell you this "algae" <winkwink>" Which doesnt make much sense to me. Since its not like I've ever dropped big bucks in there. 10 dollars here and there, but nothing to make me deserve this treatment...
Anyway, I was amused so I thought I'd share.
And a picture of the "algae" for good measure. All in all I guess from the two trips I probably got a clump that if you squeezed the water out of it would be about the size of a baseball... pretty good for 5 bucks total
A few weeks ago my LFS got a bunch of java moss and were selling it for 4.00 a handful. Unfortunatly they had it in with some unhealthy looking camboba so it looked like junk with all these needles sticking to it. While I wanted some in my tank, this bunch didnt look all that great so I decided against it. Any handful out of that tank would be half garbage anyway.
I was about to leave the store when I noticed that they had more moss in two molly tanks, a big pile of it in each, perfectly clean and beautiful. I asked the girl that was on duty if she could sell me the stuff from the molly tank, and how big is a "handful"? She cleaned out the entire tank for me, every thread, and charged me the 4 bucks for what I thought was a pretty darn good portion.
I tied it all to driftwood in my big tank, put a few scraps in my brackish F8 tank and got to thinking the puffer could use a bigger chunk of it, as well as my planted tank at work.
I went back last night to see if the other bunch in the molly tank was still there, lo and behold it was. The fish guy on duty was someone who I always assumed knew the most about fish in the store. He's full time, keeps several tanks himself including brackish and marine, so what happened next was quite surprising.
He looks me dead in the eye and says, "Oh, thats not java moss! Thats some kind of nusance algae."
"Huh!" I says.
"Yup. It just showed up one day, no one knows where it came from."
"Ok" I reply, "They why does it look exactly like the scraps of the javamoss that you have left over in the camboba tank"
He shrugs.
"Well" he says, "I'll sell it to you if you want it."
He scoops out all the "algae" from the tank and puts it in a bag. this bunch is about twice as big as the one I got the day before. He ties the bag, and writes $1.00 on it.
I walked out of the store felling somewhat confused, but figureing I got a pretty darn good deal.
I am forced to conclude that one of two things is going on here:
1) the most senior fish guy at a reputable LFS has never seen java moss before
or
2) There was some sort of "Sure <winkwink>... I'll sell you this "algae" <winkwink>" Which doesnt make much sense to me. Since its not like I've ever dropped big bucks in there. 10 dollars here and there, but nothing to make me deserve this treatment...
Anyway, I was amused so I thought I'd share.
And a picture of the "algae" for good measure. All in all I guess from the two trips I probably got a clump that if you squeezed the water out of it would be about the size of a baseball... pretty good for 5 bucks total
