Duckweed

[BenA]

Duckweed found its way into one of my tanks and into one container therefore I believe that it is only matter of time before it will move into my main tanks. So the question is how beneficial is it, Is it worth having? Pros/Cons?

Thanks

[Mmiller2001]

Don't do it. Pick every piece out!

[Diving Aquarist]

Some people love it, others hate it. I'm one of the latter. This stuff grows so fast that you can't control it, and when you get sick of it, you will be removing that stuff for months. Some duckweed made its way into my outdoor tubs, and I'm fishing it out like a madman. 1 small leaf you missed is all it takes to reinfest your tanks.

It is awesome for removing nitrates etc from the tank, so it absolutely has benefits.

[Griznatch]

  I have a love/hate relationship with it. It sucks up nitrates like crazy, but tank maintenance is a hassle because it sticks to everything, and can clog your filters pretty quick. My shrimp and guppies love it, as do my goldfish. I feed a lot of it to the goldfish pond. I have a gallon freezer bag full of it currently and will be making fish food out of it soon.

[Fonske]

On 7/24/2021 at 9:10 AM, Griznatch said:

I have a love/hate relationship with it. It sucks up nitrates like crazy, but tank maintenance is a hassle because it sticks to everything, and can clog your filters pretty quick. My shrimp and guppies love it, as do my goldfish.

Same sentiment, although I had giant duckweed, which is a bit easier to deal with. It had so many positives but the maintenance hassle eventually out-weighted them and I got rid of the duckweed (it's not that hard with the giant variety). 

[sudofish]

Fish like floating plants. Things like duckweed help make them feel secure and discourage jumping if you wanted to go topless. It has the same benefits as other plants and anybody can grow it. I like having it for my betta tank. Now plant sellers aren't going to like it because it's one of those just get a teaspoon or so of leaves and you have a lifetime supply of it. There's not much profit in that. The fears/horror stories are way overblown as well. It doesn't replicate THAT fast. If you don't want it in a tank it's not that hard to get rid of, just scoop it out. Now it is messy when you stick your arm in the tank, but it doesn't take long for it to sort itself out and go back in place and you can of course just clean your arm off. I think the pros outweigh the cons but it's a preference thing.

Edited July 24, 2021 by sudofish

[Aqua junky]

I also have a love hate relationship! Once the surface of my tank was completely covered in duck weed my Java fern, Anubis and Subwassertang Took off like crazy!  My shrimp are always Surfing upside down on it. My fish eat it

[Guppysnail]

I was recently introduced to frogbit by someone on here. It’s cheap largegrows very fast is beautiful my fish adore it and it annihilates nitrates. It’s like putting a nitrate super pac man in the tank🤣

[BenA]

Thank you all, seems that most of you don't like it. I can't say that I am much in love but can see the benefits. I will put some in a mesh bag and introduce it to another container and see what happens. If it stays in there then I will put some bags in the main tank.

Thanks again

[Anton]

I'm with Guppysnail and Sudofish on Frogbit! I guess for the meticulous, manicured aquarium it might be worse than an infestation of bladder snails, though. However the field of bright green it creates is also not unattractive, far from it. 

In more informal biotope type tanks it's a star.  Highly beneficial plant food for fish as already said. I collect buckets and buckets of it, solid buckets full and dump them in my large pond. In a matter of a day its all eaten. I can't collect enough. In this large reservoir are many goldfish and zillions of super red rosy barbs. The colour on both is extraordinary electric, partly genetics but also green water and a high veg diet and loads of sunshine. The one we get is the tiny one, thinks it's L. minor. 

Lemna trisulca and Wolfia globosa, also members of the broadly named duckweeds are other favourites of mine. Even little rice fish get very excited if you offer them W.globosa, watch those tails wiggle.  Cleaned small bags are sold fresh at aquarium shops as fish food in Asia where it's also eaten as a veg. Not sure how it would behave in an aquarium but I reckon it's very likely to be all eaten before it becomes a problem. Like minuscule sweet fresh peas.

Lemna trisulca, is up (or down depending on your use) there with guppy grass but easier. You can confine it to make a fantastic filter, well at least I have done, this also prevents fish eating it. Let it grow rampant confined to a quarter of the area. I used a mesh divider, fry love getting in there. Keeps the water crystal clear all on it's own, you just need to circulate the water gently. Unlike the others It grows submerged just bellow the water surface rather than floating on the surface, as such it looks utterly beautiful top view, like soft drifting etherial fields of submerged Irish clover or ivy, gives brilliant depth. Just net a bunch when it gets too dense. I also used to gently roll it into shape to clear space as its very malleable, dip net out any fragments and all set to go for a month.

These plants create habitat and food for almost everything aquatic and make a perfect clean biotope literally swarming with life. So I guess it all depends on what you want to create.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Anton

[Jungle Fan]

@BenA bags of duckweed added in the main tank will ensure that you will have it to enjoy for a long time, and depending on if you end up liking it, or not that could be a blessing, or a curse.

[Phantom240]

I curse duckweed and the clown that created it. Took over two of my tanks when it hitchhiked on some plants I bought. One tank is certified duckweed free after a long battle, and the second I've literally torn the tank apart, cleaned every plant, and yet still I find a random leaf on the surface, mocking me. 

[Jungle Fan]

@BenAyou see what I mean. Thank you @Phantom240for illustrating my point.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Funny thing for me, I recently took some from my Mum's African Dwarf Frog tank that I set up for her to add to my Betta's tank. I thought it looked amazing. SHE, however, HATED IT. She acted funny/stressed, didn't eat as well and this was only a week. I removed every last bit of it yesterday (thankfully this is a 3 gallon tank so it's a lot easier than a larger tank), I put it in my birdbath outside. 

[BenA]

Thank you very much for the answers, especially @Anton for taking the time to wright such a thoughtful reply. All of you gave lots to think about. The container and tank that got the duckweed are populated with Angels, Tiger Hillstream Loach and  Fishnet Flying Fox, none of them touch eat it. The rest of the fish are mainly  Rainbows but they are in other tanks.

Again, thank you all.

[Tanked]

Do you think Duckweed can spread faster than the Tin Foil Barbs and Silver Dollars can eat it?

One of my adoptees came with enough Hornwort to fill a 29 gallon tank.  The TF Barbs ate all of it in just over two months.  I struggle to keep nitrates below 50, so I've been considering Duckweed for at least one of the tanks. 

[Taco Playz]

Honestly Hornwort grows faster than Duckweed in my opinion.  

[GameCzar]

I have a love/hate relationship with it.   It gets EVERYWHERE, it sticks to EVERYTHING.   It looks quite pretty, and I assume eats nitrates.   
As long as you don't mind cleaning your tank out constantly, its okay!    My go to has been water sprite.

[CalmedByFish]

It's adorable until it's not. And once it's not, you're stuck with it *forever.* 

I wish I'd eradicated it from the first speck I saw, in hindsight. I do still think it's cute. It's just that it's not worth the work work work to tame it. It quickly shades other plants and blocks the water's surface from air. When you try to get it out, it sticks to your hands, net, cup... the inside of the tank, the outside of the tank, the floor... every form of filter intake. 

It's like getting mildew in the shower. You could use a blow torch to clean it, and it'd still come back. *Forever.*

Do I sound like it's driving me nuts? Mm hm. 

[Scott P.]

On 8/4/2021 at 12:57 PM, CalmedByFish said:

 

Do I sound like it's driving me nuts? Mm hm. 

Maybe just a little bit. 🤣

[Jungle Fan]

On 8/4/2021 at 10:33 AM, GameCzar said:

I have a love/hate relationship with it.   It gets EVERYWHERE, it sticks to EVERYTHING.   It looks quite pretty, and I assume eats nitrates.   
As long as you don't mind cleaning your tank out constantly, its okay!    My go to has been water sprite.

When I kept floaters in my open tanks I first learnt the hard way through a duckweed disaster, I then tried different types of floaters and finally settled on red root floaters, they look cool, consume mass quantities of nutrients, and are a lot easier to get someone to take them off your hands than duckweed, unless you compost it. 

[Del]

Some one has experience with duckweed and angelfish? I just accidentally introduced duckweed in to my 125 gallon tank (was doing waterchanges on different tanks at once). Wil my angel fish eat it? Or should I start preparing for a battle? 

[Tihshho]

On 9/20/2021 at 2:47 PM, Del said:

Some one has experience with duckweed and angelfish? I just accidentally introduced duckweed in to my 125 gallon tank (was doing waterchanges on different tanks at once). Wil my angel fish eat it? Or should I start preparing for a battle? 

Play it safe, and net it out ASAP.

[Brandon p]

I I’m my experience angels will eat some, but They will not keep it under control. You may have dip nets some out. I raise snails so the snails will eat sick or dying duckweed. African cichlids wills rend to eat it. I often put extra in

Edited September 22, 2021 by Brandon p

[ARMYVET]

On 8/4/2021 at 12:57 PM, CalmedByFish said:

When you try to get it out, it sticks to your hands, net, cup... the inside of the tank, the outside of the tank, the floor... every form of filter intake. 

It's like getting mildew in the shower. You could use a blow torch to clean it, and it'd still come back. *Forever.*

YOU OWE ME A KEYBOARD!!!  I just spit my coffee all over it when I read that!!!🤣