Does anyone else have a moss ring? I bought this thing from Petco and it had a fern in the center. It looked great when I bought it, but that's probably because you're seeing them soon after assembly, aka they got it in recently. 😂 I bought a java fern attached to driftwood with java moss and the same thing happened. It was beautiful when I got it, but they tied the rhizomes way too tight and the ferns slowly died. Luckily they propagate quickly, so I was able to take some of the smaller plants and replace the mother. It'll look bare until they grow back, but at least they will live this time. 

So same with this little fern in the moss ring, the rhizome was too tightly tied. It's my first decoration like this and my curiosity about it's build got answered. The center of it is just foam (which I'm sure plenty of you know. 😂) When she removed it from the tank to bag it, she broke the foam ring unbeknownst to me until arriving home. So, I had to sew it back together with it's own funky frayed ends of fishing line while breathing deeply... lmao It looked amazing. But then I noticed the telltale signs the rhizome was suffering and it kept popping up every few wks. Then I had to removed all the leaves, gently scoop the sand out of the way with a spoon, then remove single grains with a paintbrush very slowly while meditating deeply. 🤣 After several attempts and cussing, I would get it resecured. The foam would pull against gravity again for awhile and pop loose again... 🙄 

Not the best design. Warning to others who haven't tried them, don't bother. At least using it as intended. Gravity will win eventually and you'll have to restick it and it needs to be stuck to the bottom to work. It can't be used on the sides as the foam will fight and right itself. 

This time I removed the dying fern and put it on a rock. Until I decided what to do with this useless ring of moss, I put it in the shrimp tank floating... with pleasantly shocking results! My shrimp are getting pregnantante en masse and hiding out here. So, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this with a moss ring and shrimp. 😂 I'm bummed the kuhlis lost it. I didn't think they would bother with it but they loved it and were always doing funny acrobatics on it. It's obvious the shrimp love it even more! So while I wouldn't recommend it for it's intended use, I would recommend floating it for shrimp. I put it in a few days ago and had 2 berried shrimp. Now? All these female shrimp on the moss are berried... 👀

This is fascinating!