Duckweed.

[Microman]

I wanted a cheap floating plant to act as cover in all my Apisto breeding tanks
so decided upon Duckweed.I know this was not a very good choice but it was
free.
After putting the Duckweed in all the tanks all the roots became detatched from the leaves,all seemed to break off overnight.Quite a mess in the tank.
The temp in the tanks is 79 and the ph varies between 4.8 and 6 within the different tanks.
Is the temp and low ph the problem.
Advice on cheap alternatives please.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Mark.

 

[mummymonkey]

I use Ceratopteris in most of my tanks. It grows very fast and the trailing roots provide shelter and food for young fry. It's often sold as Water Sprite or Indian Fern.

http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=005

 

[fishgeek]

i would bet that your duck weed will survive , it may well be a pH shock
duckweed in my experience is impossible to get rid of , it can be dry on the cover glass for months and will regenerate once back in water , i am sure yours will adapt and become a nuisance


andrew
riccia is another option i find it grows very easily at the surface

 

[cdawson]

I use Ceratopteris in most of my tanks. It grows very fast and the trailing roots provide shelter and food for young fry. It's often sold as Water Sprite or Indian Fern.

http://www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=005

ugh... it's just as bad...

Other invasive plants are salvinia, riccia, amazon frogbit, water lettuce. Try any of those, I find they keep the water pretty clean in all of my breeding tanks. However they're a bloody nusiance in any of my show tanks. I have to remove about a pound of the crap from my 135g planted tank every week or so.

 

[Randall]

Bothersome invasive plants

Hello friends,

If bothersome, invasive plants become a nuisance, add a Tilapia and let it take care of the plants for you!

Good luck!

Randall Kohn