Duckweed Woes, Salad Time For Betta

[soritan]

The pet store gave me some duckweed. Duckweed is considered a pest plant to most aquarists, but I rather like it. I've been having difficulty establishing it in my 10gal tank, mostly because the current blows it to never never land and I can't find it again. I know it's in there, but I can't find the thing.

So, the pet store actually just gave me the duckweed, as they have such an abundance of it and can't talk anyone into actually paying for it. Only one or two little pads, and very small ones at that.

I put it in Sori's bowl, because I wanted it to grow a bit before I put it in my 10gal so that a single little leafset wouldn't get blown all away.

And Sori ate it.

Well. Glad he likes it. That's another point in duckweed's favor.

><; next time, I'm putting it in an empty glass and setting it on the window sill.

 

[nino]

I kinda of like the looks of it too, atleast in the smaller betta tanks. Mine don't eat it though.

 

[soritan]

It seems like it'd be handy to have around, in a tank that might not have enough light to keep up other plants. I was sort of hoping to establish it in my 5gal, since my 10gal is going to wind up heavily planted with hornwort, anacharis and java moss (I'm hoping for crypts, when I get paid next).

I knew bettas enjoyed a varied diet, but I didn't expect him to slurp up the duckweed. Maybe he just assumed that since I put a floaty thing into the tank, it surely must be some kind of weirdly shaped and colored Hikari pellet?

Huh, I wonder if it'll have the same effects on his system that a pea would have.

 

[nino]

It might not be all bad for him. I know goldfish love it so it must be tasty

 

[Silverlady]

It might not be all bad for him. I know goldfish love it so it must be tasty

I wish mine did,I have a pond full of the B****** stuff,my fish dont touch it.
I am allways neting it off the Pond so they can have some air.

 

[jollysue]

Thanks, soritan, I got a good chuckle. I would say that Sori may want more greens than you have been doling out. Actually I think Thai Betta breeders find the weed useful too. I got some from a farm. The bubble nesters are suppose to like to use it in building their nests. I haven't noticed it being that useful that way yet.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I like it, I'm planning on stealing some from the Biology department They won't notice a few missing leaves

 

[soritan]

You're lucky. My LPS takes their plant tank apart, regularly, and cleans it all to bits, because... for some reason, their plants simply don't do well. So about once a month, the tank is gorgeous as they get their new freight in, and then it all dies off. It's quite ugly. They treat the duckweed as a pest plant, so it's hard for me to come by it locally.

I'm going to wind up buying it from petfish.net or aquabid or something.

 

[jollysue]

Do you ever order anything on line from betta sites? I ordered my duck weed when I had 3 bottles of Almond Leaf Extract sent to me.

 

[soritan]

I find buying most things online is cheapest for me, and most reliable.

I was just trying to be a penny-pincher and get away with *something* free. Hah.

So, Sori got frozen blood worms today AND duckweed. Sometime before I go to work, he'll have his water changed, too.


"Like a king," he said, and fell fast asleep.

 

[SRC]

They gave you one or two leaves...of duckweed? Honestly that doesn't sound like duckweed..it's super duper tiny, in 1/2 a cup of duckweed there would be about 500+ leaves. Getting only 1 or 2 leaves ...it would take you years to establish any sort of colony lol...even though it does reproduce fairly quickly..it doesn't reproduce THAT quickly

Is this what it looked like?

I mean, I know some species, like wolffia, get larger..but even the largest variety is still relatively small, considering.

You can collect it from local ponds (during the warmer months of course) and wash it, quarentine it, and use it (Aquarisol works well in disinfecting it)..no one will care for you taking it..I'm most sure..as most places abhore it being in their ponds in the first place lol.

It does need an abundant amount of light though, or it will turn brown...and it also needs a good source of food, what I had grows very well in my community tank..it keeps me from having to change my water so often...it keeps all my levels down longer...I just vaccum (but the entire top of mine's surface is pretty covered too, because of my Syno and tetras).
If you put some tall plants (that poke out of the water a bit) in the tank..they will catch onto that and form their own little boundry over a short period of time...and they won't float and get blown around so much...but some will always do it though (but you have to have a substantial amount of it in the tank to get that effect).

 

[soritan]

Yup. It hitchhiked on some plants they'd ordered, and tiny bits of it was floating near the top. I only got a few leaves, because that was all she was able to catch in the few seconds out of her work day she was willing to allot someone who was asking for free plants.

I actually had some duckweed in my tank before I turned on the bubbler. The bubbler kicked out so much surface agitation, the duckweed went away. Who knows where. 1 little leafset turned into 3 leafsets in about a weeks time, for me.