duckweed

SinCrisis

I saw some of this stuff at a new lfs i started visiting and i was wondering if anyone could tell me the pros and cons of having it? Ive never ahd floating plants before and it seems like ti would make a decent addition to my tank. Thanks

Twistersmom

I found it a little messy in my aquarium. I did not keep it long.

FuzzAz

It grows like mad under the right conditions. I find myself scooping cupfulls out and tossing them. I would say the population doubles every day, 10 of them would become thousands and cover the entire surface of the water within a few weeks. Some fish like to eat them, my pearl gouramis love them. It could be used as a type of algae control, I like Duckweed better than alga. It is not difficult to control or remove completely. It tends to stay in bunches, I allow it to grow to cover about 20% of the surface, then scoop most of it out with a cup and allow it to grow out again.

onefish2fish

it grows like mad under any conditions IMO.
its pros would be shelter for baby fry and its cons would be how it blocks light out to the plants below

you can however, round it up in a low flow area (so none gets out) with a string- kind of like how they round up oil spills.. make sense? and just keep it in a small area of the tank.

IMO it is a pest and i personally would avoid it.

SinCrisis

hahaha well after my post i somehow ended back at that lfs and got some Duckweed anyway. The owner just gave it to me for free. Anyhow i put it in the tank and this morning they were all gone. I guess some fish ate them?

onefish2fish

sounds that way to me because if you dont have fish that will eat them you wouldnt have a problem growing it , what kind of fish do you keep? Goldfish will def. eat them

SinCrisis

uh a 2 giant danios, 3 long finned danios, 4 hatchet fish, 7 pygmy cories, 1 SAE, 4 Otos, 2 platys, 3 black skirt tetras, 2 red eye tetras, 1 peppered cory, and 1 apply snail... I dont think any of these normally eat Duckweed...

Lupin

Duckweeds are soft leaved plants. Any Apple Snail will eat them as a treat. If you have apple snails of the canaliculata complex, no doubt they will eat every plant you put in their tank.

SinCrisis

my Apple Snail doesnt touch my plants. also my current was too strong for teh snail to get the Duckweed. I didnt get that much, in case it was a bad plant to have. there was, maybe enoght to cover 1/6 of the surface of my 46 gallon. and my current had them moving in a vortex in the middle of the tank so, i would venture to say maybe teh danios ate them?

daisycutter

Duckweed pros and cons:

pros:
fast growing
asorbs a lot of nitrates for its size
creates shelter for fry/shy fish
cuts down on light
very avalible
soft and edible(for fish before you ask)
will be used by some fish as nesting matirial

cons:
fast growing can take over
can clog up filter intakes
will out compete other plants

you may want to try fairy moss as apposed to common Duckweed its a more interesting looking fern like plant with simalar attribrutes and ivy leaf Duckweed if you can find it(i cant)