[WallaceGrover]

It seems like people HATE duckweed, or to a lesser extent any other plant that bears a resembelance. I wanted some duckweed and frogbit in my biotope, but is it a bad idea to try to grow these?

 

[Eldachleich]

I love duckweed!!! And frogbit.... Water lettuce is gorgeous as well as dwarf water lettuce.... I do prefer greater duckweed to lesser duckweed... I have it in all my tanks.... Especially in between some prettier floaters... I guess one of the main problems is that ity grows really fast... But I just scoop out a couple handfulls while I'm trimming and it seems to keep it in check...

 

[Rainer]

I've had experience with salvinia, Amazon frogbit, RRF, azolla, and duckweed. The azolla was interesting but not really suitable for an aquarium - nor for a pond full of hungry goldfish either. I still have the frogbit and salvinia; the small amount of RRF didn't make it for whatever reason. Wish I had some more.

Duckweed - despise it. Aquatic herpes.

 

[firefiend]

I've had duckweed in my 10 gallon and took it all out when I rescaped. It's not that I don't like it. It's just too time consuming to thin out because it replicates so quickly and blocks a lot of light.

So for my purposes it just wasn't a good fit.

I love floating Hydrocotyle though!

 

[hydrophyte]

If you can find it giant duckweed is nicer stuff. It is a lot easier to remove than the small duckweed. It also has several roots hanging down, which looks cooler.

 

[WallaceGrover]

I would like to find it, but sweet aquatics doesn't have it which is where I want to get my plants...

 

[Rainer]

I would like to find it, but sweet aquatics doesn't have it which is where I want to get my plants...

Try the SnS forum here on the board. I've bought almost all my plants there and at least one member keeps that plant.

 

[madness]

I love Amazon frogbit and there is a strain of floating water sprite that I got from a local fish store that I really like as well (though I haven't been able to figure out exactly which type it is since there are several types that tend to be poorly identified by sellers and rooted and floating versions of the same plant look so different anyways).

 

[mach_six]

i threw in at least 3 overgrown 5G buckets surface area and within a few days half of it was gone. My Amanos and tetras love it.

 

[vespers_]

It seems like people HATE duckweed, or to a lesser extent any other plant that bears a resembelance. I wanted some duckweed and frogbit in my biotope, but is it a bad idea to try to grow these?

people don't like it because it gets out of hand really fast and it gets stuck to the glass and dries on it. it is also extremely hard to get rid of when you don't want it anymore. it also blocks light and prevents air exchange.

if you can get over that, it is really nice. i like it, and plan to make a nice mat of it in the viv i am building. the good thing is you really only need about 3-4 little leaves of it (maybe even 1) and it'll reproduce so fast it'll cover the surface.

i wouldn't buy it, as you need so little and it grows so fast. sometimes it'll hitchhike in on other plants. i got mine in a clump of java moss i bought.

dwarf water lettuce is pretty cool too, but idk if it would fit your biotope.

 

[kuni]

Nothing wrong with good floating plants.

People prefer frogbit/giant duckweed/Salvinia over normal duckweed, because the other plants are bigger and easier to remove if they start to take over the tank.

Is this for a stream biotope, though? Floating plants like these aren't typically found in streams - the water washes them away.

 

[WallaceGrover]

Nothing wrong with good floating plants.

People prefer frogbit/giant duckweed/Salvinia over normal duckweed, because the other plants are bigger and easier to remove if they start to take over the tank.

Is this for a stream biotope, though? Floating plants like these aren't typically found in streams - the water washes them away.

I'm using MongoBay as my primary resource and they had it on their list, I thought they were pretty accurate. http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope.htm#South American Clearwater Stream

 

[kuni]

I'm using MongoBay as my primary resource and they had it on their list, I thought they were pretty accurate. http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope.htm#South American Clearwater Stream

Ah, they mention slower patches. You might find duckweed there, but it's more common in lakes and swamps. I'd leave it out - it's a mess and they don't list the nicer floating plants like giant duckweed, salvinia, and frogsbit.

 

[mountaindew]

Glossostigma gelatinoids makes a great floating plant and it grows much slower.
mD