Ideas for keeping riccia fluitans down.

[chadders8903]

I am currently using cheese cloth wrapped around rocks to keep it down, but the fish in my aquarium seem to have developed a taste for the cheese cloth and have been nipping at it until it breaks.
Anyone have any suggestions for keeping it down that the fish won't nip at?
The fish that are doing the nipping are Dwarf Gouramis.

 

[rhettdepauw]

i used a plastic netting that was meant to be a bio filtration bag. also i have used fishing line and that works great but it probably wont be ideal for riccia

 

[chadders8903]

Any other suggestions?

 

[FSM]

If you have a bunch of spare fish nets you could use on of those.

 

[chadders8903]

I was thinking that I could maybe use tights . It would definitely be form fitting to the rocks and I don't think the fish will be able to bite through them.

 

[chadders8903]

I think I found a winner. I was walking through the store looking for things that could work, and I found a mesh sponge (see image below) in the bath section for 60 cents. I removed the string and it is just a big long tube of the mesh that I could place the rocks in and just twist it around. It is made of plastic, so the fish shouldn't be able to bite it and it also fits a lot closer to the rocks so it won't be easy for them to bite it either.

 

[timwag2001]

go to your local arts and crafts store and buy the stuff that girls make their wedding veils (spelling) out of. i use it. for $10 you will have enough to last a lifetime

 

[mgamer20o0]

both ideas will work. the thing is it will still grow and come out. it doesnt root its self so the fish can very well still pick and it and break it off.

 

[flowerpower]

fish net stockings?

 

[ghengis]

That bath sponge thingy is probably the best idea, though a little pricey for how much you get. I use fishing line. Take the rock in your left hand (or other non-dominant appendage), place a clump of riccia on top and secure with thumb. Take fishing line and hold loose end on underside of rock with index finger. Begin winding line around rock/riccia, going over the loose end of the line a couple times initially to secure it. As you work, turn the rock between your fingers, so the line goes all over the rock (in a sort of pie-cut configuration). Tie off tightly on underside. I bought this roll of line for about $3, 2 years ago, and still have 2/3 of the roll left...