duckweed... (Lemnacaea) rated or hated?

[compulsion]

I added some duckweed to my tank today, altogether there is only about a 6x6" patch but it does spread readily we all know that. for those of you who dont know what it is.. check out this link..

Its the biggest plant in the middle, makes 1-3 fronds per plant and floats on the surface, IMHO it looks pretty natural with the roots hanging down and is also a great indicator of excess copper, removes metals and stuff from the water and once established for a week or two it becomes teaming with infusorians which as we know are great for fry. but it can cover your surface quick....? im not sure about this. ive sectioned a few stems in a ring of airline to watch the growth.

so common guys and gals... duckweek... rated or hated?

personaly, i rate it (in small amounts)

[m.lemay]

The stuff is a bloody curse. Rates right up there with algae and ick.

[jart]

I take it Marcel doesn't care for it :-)

It clogs filter intakes and coats my arm when I do maintenance; I get a rash soon thereafter. It also blows around in the filter outtake.

But I agree it is great at reducing excess nutrients. Might be OK to have in a smaller tank.

[Nolan W.]

I agree with Marcel wholeheartedly. That stuff was nearly impossible to get rid of. If left unchecked, it can cover the entire surface of the water in a few weeks, shading the plants below. If you leave just ONE LITTLE LEAF, it's enough to produce hundreds of plants. And, like jart said, it coats the aquarist's arm when they do tank maintainence. Although it does look natural, I hate it.

[compulsion]

aw gents dont be like that its cute

must admit it does get all over your arm... but when i put it in i did so with the confidence that ide remove every bit if i had to. isnt there anyone who likes this poor unwanted neglected species

[Urkevitz]

I especially like the way it looks in my nano tanks. If it gets out of control I just scoop some out.

[jimjim]

I've kept duckweed for years in a 10 gal tank just to feed my rainbows with. You cant believe how big they get with DW and flake food. I sold all my big rainbows to set up a Lake tanganyikan biotope tank along with a BIG bunch of plants, except, you know. That was three weeks ago. Now I've found another use for it, raising Ghost shrimp. went to feed my tanks and saw hundreds of little things swimming around eating the fry food I give to the larger shrimp. Magnifing glass shows all eyeballs and legs, but they're shrimp...Jimjim

[Sterving]

I keep it in my 10 gal tank. Angels like it. Even mystery snail found a taste for it. Just added some to the new 29 gal tank to help with cycling. I can't believe it's being so villified for being such a fast grower. How difficult it is to scoop out from the surface? I say it's a great plant.

[ming]

Not only does it get on your arm, but it gets caught in other plants with lots of fine leaves and it destroys to nice look to the tank. I tried to like it by having it in my nano tank, but even that turned out bad so I hate it.

[Tino]

I had it, liked the look of it, but it created too much of a maintenance mess...

[Stu]

I have it in my small tank. In that situation it works perfectly, as it's a low light, unfiltered tank that I hardly touch....very natural!
I'm sure it's started to multiply faster after I installed the additional white cold cathode recently.

I'm thinking of getting a few more "natural" floaters for that tank to mix in with the duckweed and break up it's blanketing effect for a bit of variation.

I can also see how it would cause a little nuisance in a tank that you had to maintain often..... same with any floating plant really as it gets in the way!

I agree with Sterving that it's hardly difficult to remove when it gets numerous though.

So, I neither love or hate it; I respect it.

[TINNGG]

It doesn't survive surface extractors very well....

[freeflyer]

I heard goldfish like it. Imo its good for people who cant grow anything else and will be happy with having just that.

[compulsion]

well so far im very happy with it, it looks the nuts, hasent really spread much since i added it and hasent ended up in my filter or stuck all in my plants.. and i dont really feel the need to stick my arm in to much it maintains itself pretty nicly, i have some snails that also seem to like being up there..but i dunno what they are.

what are the other suggestions for floating plants?

[Nolan W.]

It's probably the next day in the UK by now, but happy birthday, compulsion!

Now that I think about it, it might look nice in a small tank. No way I want it covering the entire surface, though. My 40-gallon looked like a nightmare last year.