Marimo

Yay I'm on my laptop for the fifteen minutes it takes to get things done that my tablet can't handle. Fingers crossed it doesn't overheat and blow up. (Completely serious here, I need a new laptop, this one never did like going online and heats up like crazy.)

Anyway big news, I got a marimo. What is a marimo? You ask. Well it's a ball of algae that grows in some lakes in Japan, it's going extinct in the wild but booming in captivity. I'm not going to go and do a bunch of research to get exact names (fearing for my life, my laptop is in danger of melting soon) so you're going to have to do a little legwork yourself.

Personally I enjoyed reading up on marimo, no I'm not the type who usually enjoys studying up on something but finding out they can live up to 200 yrs and people in Japan have been known to pass them down from generation to generation like some would expect to be done with a turtle or a parrot is actually amazing. Here is a plant that only needs fresh water, not salt water, some sun or even just some indoor lighting, the same kind we humans use. There's no need for food but you do need to clean the tank but not as much as a fish, about every two weeks to a month, whenever the water gets visibly dingy.

Baths, yes that's right, you get to give them baths, how cute is that? It's easy, you fill a bowl with water, tap water if it's filtered or bottled water but no fizzy stuff. I bet rainwater would be great. Anyway bathwater is the same quality that they live in. Take the marimo in hand and transfer it to the tank. Lightly squeeze it, then turn it to squeeze again, the object of this is to get out any dirt and debris that may be stuck inside your little marimo. Just give it a bath whenever you change the water in the tank.

Careful not to give them too much direct sunlight, they can burn. Also they like their water on the cooler side but never freezing. If it gets too hot, I heard you can put them in the fridge, as silly as that sounds it will keep your little marimo from roasting. Also an ice cube should work if you don't want to stick the tank in with your food.

I just got my marimo a week ago, mine is super small because I bought it cheaper at a local fair for only a dollar, it came in a vial that I had to break to get it. They are slow growers, expect a golf ball sized marimo to be a few years old. You can find them on Amazon easily enough and they aren't that expensive, mine was incredibly cheap and probably a once in a lifetime find for me.

Floating marimo, this is caused by photosynthesis. The more sunlight they gather the more oxygen they release and the more oxygen they make, they begin to float because all those little bubbles cling to them, rising them to the top for more sunlight. I've yet to see mine float but then again I only recently put mine in it's new home. I had fun taking some pictures to share.

Yes that's a wineglass. I found it at a thrift shop for a dollar, only paid a quarter, it was on sale from original price. I didn't have any fancy fish tank gravel which I would have loved to have, maybe purple, black or red, so I used some river rock that I had laying around. It worked out but my little marimo isn't very visible.

Also I heard it's popular to name your marimo, they're treated like pets, lazier fish I guess since you roll them around to keep their shape, they do need some attention and to be played with but they're an easy to grow slow growing plant. Anyway I'm stumped for names. Anyone got any, I'm waiting a couple of weeks and I will announce the name here on my blog if anyone is interested in helping out. Twitter was no help. Anyway Scruffy is the backup name if nobody comes up with a better one so I challenge you, come up with a name for my little Marimo and forever know that you named my marimo (if your name was chosen)

If you have need any help finding links or pictures for marimo, my marimo board link is here.