anyone else have African water lettuce???

[Magnum Man]

got mature pictures??? I recently bought some... most of the plants melted, as I think they got pretty cold, & a long shipping, boxed up... but the roots have been growing like crazy & they have been leafing out very well...

I was re-reading the info I have on them, & they are listed as being able to grow 10 inches in diameter... which is fine with me, I just need to let them grow, rather than fill in with baby plants, if they continue to grow as rapidly as they have since I put them in the tank...

just curious if they get that big under LED lights, or if they only get that big in outside ponds... and also curious how big the roots will get... this have all grown in the last week...

 

[Back in the fold]

I had some of that outside in a tub one time and it went ape ! The roots were an underwater jungle . Had Bettas spawn in it and never fed the fry and they grew like mad . Gotta do that again . That’s a Jim dandy plant .

 

[Uberhoust]

I have had some for a while now, but they don't like to grow under glass, from my personal observations. The leaf tops seem to be very sensitive to too much moisture. I have had the roots extend 15", I find for me they don't work well in shallow tanks. Without a glass cover they seem to grow much better but I have to keep a cover on the tank or the humidity in my home climbs well over 80%, especially with the wet winters we have.

 

[Magnum Man]

I currently have mine in an open topped 45 gallon tall…

 

[Uberhoust]

I currently have mine in an open topped 45 gallon tall…

I love open top tanks and would have all my tanks with them if I could. You might want to check the RH in your home though, with open tanks I got condensation on the walls just above the tank, and they were interior walls.

 

[Magnum Man]

I’m good, with central air in the summer, and very dry air in the winter… right now I do a water change weekly, and add an extra 5 gallons per tank for evaporation… I don’t have to do that in the summer… but in the winter, it’s at least 5 gallons of evaporation per week… it’s a 100 year old farm house, so enough dry air from outside leaks in, that the humidity never gets that high ( yet ) I make it more air tight every year, so sometime I’ll have to worry about it…

 

[Uberhoust]

I have a newer, sealed home, I lose about 1/8th to 1/4 inch of water between changes. I used to have a house from the 50s with a wood stove, and I felt the air was better and drier than my home now.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

They never did a thing for me, but I had them in a covered tank. Sounds like open air and bright lights are the way to go! I think huge floaters would be really fun. Good luck!

 

[GaryE]

I never knew the plant called Pistia around here was African. I knew it as water lettuce as well. It's the perfect Betta plant, except Bettas wouldn't meet it in nature.

That's cool info.

I have done well with it outdoors, but it seems to do poorly even in uncovered window tanks here during the short days of winter.

 

[Back in the fold]

They never did a thing for me, but I had them in a covered tank. Sounds like open air and bright lights are the way to go! I think huge floaters would be really fun. Good luck!

This is one of those plants that everyone should keep outside in a tub or pond just once to see it grow to its full glory . The roots have to be seen to be believed. Not sure but I think it’s a heavy feeder and fish are a necessity to its growth . Mine threw off lots of babies too .

 

[Magnum Man]

@GaryE … in my research, I read somewhere, that it’s originally South American, but became an invasive species to Africa… when I bought it, it was listed as African water lettuce

Mine as I mentioned, melted several of the outer leaves, again probably from the cold, and it took 2 extra days to get here.. but the inner leav s have taken off, and in the root picture I posted, the roots have doubled from that in less than a week, so at least right now it seems to be thriving…

I think in a tall 45 gallon, with an open top, it’ll do fine opposite the filter

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

I keep about 7 different species of plants per outdoor patio tank/mini pond, and water lettuce is in two of them. It’s a great plant, tho water hyacinth will always be my favorite. Water Lettuce is more attractive to look at than water hyacinth, and it’s a good contrast to dark green plants. What I have found is that for some reason Dragonfly Nymphs enjoy hatching off of them. Having still-water plant-filtered ponds/tanks, I get a lot of dragonfly nymphs. The last time I took apart one of the patio ponds I had about 30 dragonfly nymphs in 40g of water. For some reason I find the most emerged nymph skeletons on the water lettuce.

Water Lettuce can also collect a lot of aquarium ‘dust’ in its roots, so just make sure you aren’t over feeding your fish, otherwise when you move the water lettuce it will rain detritus

 

[Aqua67]

I have some dwarf water lettuce. This is my second attempt at keeping it. Mine turned a little yellow the first time and just didn’t seem to thrive. Either too low nitrates or too high light. I’ve adjusted the light down and sometimes just leave the light off altogether. My aquarium is open top. I also have a few in each of my closed top shrimp tanks. I hope to be over run with them by summer. We will see.

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Yeah water lettuce from my experience will always have some imperfections, can have some little pigment differences or some dead leaf tips.

 

[Magnum Man]

Well honestly I’m not doing well with my red root floater in my South American tank ( maybe too much water movement ) but I bought 4 water lettuce plants, for my African tank and they are throwing out babies like a strawberry plant I have 18 to 2 dozen, in just a few weeks… they must like the African tank, which has a huge amount of water flow, plants are kind of stacked up opposite the Tidal 75… I made the mistake of adding them to this tank, before completely removing all the giant duck weed… talk about a holy tangle… I netted everything thing out and rinsed them in dish pans ( aquarium use ) in my sink… I got at least 99% of the giant duckweed out and into my tilapia breeding tank I took out the plant baffle, while I was netting and they packed in pretty tightly, when I put them back … I may put the baffle in again to take away some of the rapid surface flow, allowing them to spread out some…