What is your favorite floating plant and why? Poll.

[EllRog]

Red rooters 100%. I do have amazon frogbit and water lettuce also though lol

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

Yes, I've seen numerous pictures of them, but only from the top. I would like to see what the roots look like.

look like salvinia roots

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

makes sense, my first light was too dim, 2nd light too bright. LOL
my current light is ok...
should i try variation floaters again? (like different species)
i think my tank is understocked so ill use my liquid ferts too

what size is the tank and what fish do you have? also yes you can mix water lettuce with other floaters

 

[Sgooosh]

what size is the tank and what fish do you have? also yes you can mix water lettuce with other floaters

75g
a lot of baby guppies and and a few large ones total probably the high 20s
9-10 cories ( i lost count bcuz i bought a lot during a sale.)
2 swordtails
3 mystery snails
2 nerite snails
a whole bunch of rams horn and bladder snails
2 amazon swords, 1 flowering
2 anubias
a whole lot of a random plant thing
a handful of elodea/anacharis/waterweed
duckweed (i keep removing it so theres not an amount
4 red crypts (baby)
3 big white ribbon plants(submersed)

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

75g
a lot of baby guppies and and a few large ones total probably the high 20s
9-10 cories ( i lost count bcuz i bought a lot during a sale.)
2 swordtails
3 mystery snails
2 nerite snails
a whole bunch of rams horn and bladder snails
2 amazon swords, 1 flowering
2 anubias
a whole lot of a random plant thing
a handful of elodea/anacharis/waterweed
duckweed (i keep removing it so theres not an amount
4 red crypts (baby)
3 big white ribbon plants(submersed)

maybe add a big and peaceful centerpiece fish to add a bigger bioload.
also, I would suggest removing a lot of the other floating/stem plants that could be stealing nutrients from your water lettuce. with these 2 changes and a few months, the aquarium should sort itself into a balance where the water is clean for the fish and all the plants live in the right numbers with enough nutrients.
also, can I see a pic of the random water plant to try identifying it?

 

[Sgooosh]

maybe add a big and peaceful centerpiece fish to add a bigger bioload.
also, I would suggest removing a lot of the other floating/stem plants that could be stealing nutrients from your water lettuce. with these 2 changes and a few months, the aquarium should sort itself into a balance where the water is clean for the fish and all the plants live in the right numbers with enough nutrients.
also, can I see a pic of the random water plant to try identifying it?

i don't have enough plants for many big fish....
maybe a pair of molly after i get enough plants?
or some gourami?
rainbowfish?
ok, i dont have a whole ton of plants.
this is it.
all i know is that it is part of the ludwiga family and it is a root feeder.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

i don't have enough plants for many big fish....
maybe a pair of molly after i get enough plants?
or some gourami?
rainbowfish?
ok, i dont have a whole ton of plants.
this is it.
all i know is that it is part of the ludwiga family and it is a root feeder.

View attachment 137372

for the pic, it looks like water starwort.
also you could get as a centerpiece fish a golden nugget pleco or a tilapia

 

[ArmchairAquariest]

is it called meal because you can eat it?
also is it the one that looks like little beads, pls tell scientific name

Scientific Name for the genus is Wolffia which contains the duckweeds and the water meals -- I don't think there is a rigorous or scientific cuttoff point where the given species size causes it to transition from duckweed into water meal, but at some point it gets so small that it really doesn't look like duckweed any more, and the smaller it gets the more things seem not merely willing but actively interested in eating it.

The stuff I bought, multiple times was from this supplier here. Whichever species it was, it was very small and apparently tasty enough that everything in the enclosure would come by to snack on it. Even little tiny pest snails would do this thing where they would float on their back just under the surface of the water, treating the surface like it was just another pane of glass, and they would "Roomba" across the patches of watermeal from just under the surface consuming as much as they could fit inside themselves. The water meal grew as freely and easily as duckweed, but it just was relentlessly fed upon and so it always disappeared completely after like a month or so the three times I tried it. I asked the supplier about how they maintain it, and they said they always have to keep a separate container of it with nothing larger than daphnia in there or else it all gets consumed.

As for the "meal" I think that name comes from the fact that it looks like finely ground grain which is also known as "meal" -- see the definition w on "noun 2" here: "a product resembling seed meal especially in particle size or texture."

^ That said people can definitely eat it though I have never tried. Its supposed to be fairly high in nutritional value (as all aquatic species I have seen come in contact with it seem to implicitly know) but that doesn't mean it necessarily tastes any good. Apparently it is a popular ingredient for certain dishes across the Malay Peninsula where some species of it grows rampant and thus provide a good source of nutrition that can be obtained from even relatively small wet ditches that can't hope to offer anything else useful for human consumption other than possibly minnows.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

Scientific Name for the genus is Wolffia which contains the duckweeds and the water meals -- I don't think there is a rigorous or scientific cuttoff point where the given species size causes it to transition from duckweed into water meal, but at some point it gets so small that it really doesn't look like duckweed any more, and the smaller it gets the more things seem not merely willing but actively interested in eating it.

The stuff I bought, multiple times was from this supplier here. Whichever species it was, it was very small and apparently tasty enough that everything in the enclosure would come by to snack on it. Even little tiny pest snails would do this thing where they would float on their back just under the surface of the water, treating the surface like it was just another pane of glass, and they would "Roomba" across the patches of watermeal from just under the surface consuming as much as they could fit inside themselves. The water meal grew as freely and easily as duckweed, but it just was relentlessly fed upon and so it always disappeared completely after like a month or so the three times I tried it. I asked the supplier about how they maintain it, and they said they always have to keep a separate container of it with nothing larger than daphnia in there or else it all gets consumed.

As for the "meal" I think that name comes from the fact that it looks like finely ground grain which is also known as "meal" -- see the definition w on "noun 2" here: "a product resembling seed meal especially in particle size or texture."

^ That said people can definitely eat it though I have never tried. Its supposed to be fairly high in nutritional value (as all aquatic species I have seen come in contact with it seem to implicitly know) but that doesn't mean it necessarily tastes any good. Apparently it is a popular ingredient for certain dishes across the Malay Peninsula where some species of it grows rampant and thus provide a good source of nutrition that can be obtained from even relatively small wet ditches that can't hope to offer anything else useful for human consumption other than possibly minnows.

cool, might use it as tilapia feed for a future project. Thanks a lot!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

look like salvinia roots
View attachment 137369

I have only kept Salvinia minima, which has very short roots. What variation of Salvinia is that?

Here is my favorite picture of Frogbit/Salvinia:

Here is a picture of the roots:

 

[Sgooosh]

for the pic, it looks like water starwort.
also you could get as a centerpiece fish a golden nugget pleco or a tilapia

huh, i thought plecos cannot live in hard water?
it does not look like starwort a lot, but similar

 

[ArmchairAquariest]

cool, might use it as tilapia feed for a future project. Thanks a lot!

No problem, glad I could help.

Interesting idea. I have never kept fish that large. I would almost be worried that the water meal might be so small that only tilapia fry would be interested in it. I certainly can't confirm one way or another, but I think people use full-on duckweed to feed tilapia. For all I know water meal works too, I just worry they might consider it "too small" for their taste.

 

[MammaBearinTN]

Red rooters 100%. I do have amazon frogbit and water lettuce also though lol

Thanks so much for the pictures. I'm definitely getting some red root floaters!
What are the dark green leaves in the first picture? It looks like some type of anubias.

 

[EllRog]

Thanks so much for the pictures. I'm definitely getting some red root floaters!
What are the dark green leaves in the first picture? It looks like some type of anubias.

It is lol, its anubias stuck to the stump of the wood, half in, half out lol. Anubias nana bonsai to be exact

 

[MammaBearinTN]

It is lol, its anubias stuck to the stump of the wood, half in, half out lol. Anubias nana bonsai to be exact

Looks nice! I have several anubias on a large piece of mopani wood, but it's such a heavy and dark piece. I'm thinking of moving it over to manzanita wood, but I hope I'm not making a mistake.