# duckweed-eating fish



## hubbahubbahehe (Sep 13, 2003)

hehe, i know goldfish eat duckweed, but are there any tropical fish that eat it?? please let there be one... if not, any suggestions for removing duckweed..... when i use the net, i pick up little fry babies and duckweed gets entangled in the net....it's just not working... i'm looking for another method.


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## aquaverde (Apr 15, 2003)

If I were to uselessly guess, I'd say American Flag Fish or rosy barbs. I don't have duckweed (thanks to Rex- he keeps it all for himself :wink: ) so I can't verify that.


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3515


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Im not sure if this is a serious question or not but I will take a shot at "duckweed removal"...  

First, you remove your lights, then remove tops and/or canopy so you have an open tank. _Now here is where it gets tricky_...get a net (4" preferably) and scoop out as much of the duckweed as you can see.
After using the net you need to visually inspect the top of the tank, now because duck weed floats, it shouldnt be anywhere but the top. At this point, if you see any more duckweed just grab it with your fingers until you see no more floating.
Then just replace the tops and lights and you should be OK after that. :wink: 

I have found that this method has worked pretty well for me.....as far as fish eating it Im not sure.


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## TNO (Dec 2, 2003)

My flagfish like to graze on the on the roots. They'll suck them down like spagetti until the plant is against their lips, then blow them out. Sometimes they eat immature duckweed, but not very often.


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## Opiesilver (Nov 3, 2003)

Silver dollars will eat it in bulk, but then they eat anything that is plant material in your tank. I don't really know of a fish that is specific to eating duckweed and nothing else.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I know goldfish also likes it, bu would'nt recommend them for your aquarium...


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## hubbahubbahehe (Sep 13, 2003)

i'm considering putting a feeder goldfish in there just for duckweed, what do you think?


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## 2la (Aug 18, 2002)

Personally, I think you go with Buck's advice. Make sure none of your plants reach the tank's surface where the duckweed can get caught, and scoop away, using the filter flow to your advantage. Twenty minutes of work and your problem goes away, without having an unwanted fish on your hands that also runs the risk of introducing a disease into your tank. Too many people rush out to get a 'utility' fish and neglect to quarantine them first.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

What does duckweed look like? is that the itty bitty floaty stuff?

I think that getting a goldfish for that would probably not work out happily. After all, just because there's duckweed in the tank is no assurance that that will be HIS favorite plant to nibble. And depending on your substrate size, he might uproot everything. And unless you have a pond or some place for the fish when he's done, you'll have to be evil and dispose of him, and that isn't very nice!

Try a few pink gourami (if the tank is big enough). They like bite-size greens, and they don't mind nibbling on algae, either. If duckweed is what I think it is, I transfer it from my weedy tank to my gourami tank and it magically disappears.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Haha, then you end up with a few huge pink gouramies... I am all for netting the the duckweed out.
:mrgreen:


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## hubbahubbahehe (Sep 13, 2003)

lol......you guys are right.........i'm going to end up with a ton of utility fish..hahah i already have black mollies for surface skimming...3 turned into 23....lol...... ok i'm going to net them out...but i need to be careful around the fry cuz idon't want to kill any... perhaps i might even give up on the yoyoloaches as pondsnail and ramshorn snails eater.... i dunno yet....


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

LOL, hubba...

I used to have the same problem, but instead of resorting to a fish, I just did what Buck does, net it out (using a brine shrimp net and then disposing it in the trash, not into the waterways plz...). You might have to spend a bit of time with it, but it isn't too bad. Also, sometimes duckweed gets tangled in plants :roll: . Just rinse them out before you place them in the tank and you're set.

There's really nothing wrong with having some snails in the tank. It's just when they start to really multiply, then it becomes an aesthetic problem. Managed to pick some ramshorn snails from something recently and I think I'm gonna leave them alone for now.


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## hubbahubbahehe (Sep 13, 2003)

lol eric, you prolly got the ramshorn from me hahah..i got a ton of those in my tanks...!!! 

the pond snails are a real problem in my 55G.. you seen em...o dear....it's all over my plants..there's noway to pick them all out cuz they are in between the java moss, riccia, etc.... what to do what to do....


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

You just need a spare tank to store your utility fish in! I'd loan you mine if you lived near me. Of course I might "forget" to pick them up...

On a completely unrelated topic, my pink gouramis and goldfish enjoy munching on snails, although they can only handle them up to about a half-inch diameter. If a snail gets bigger than that, it's a pet.


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## PredsfanJ (Mar 13, 2018)

I have a 20 long that I grow duckweed in and transfer it to my 75. It doesn’t last long at all. I have 4 giant danios, various west African cichlids, various barbs, and some serpae tetras. Not sure who’s eating the majority of the duckweed, but somebody is loving it. I’m okay with it. Free food.

However, with the fish I have, I don’t think the fry would last long either.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

when you've netted out all the duckweed, be sure to lower the water level a bit and wipe under the rim with a paper towel. I always find some got stuck there and it will refill the tank in no time if you don't wipe it all off. Repeat every day until you don't see any more, and even then it can creep back sometimes, all it takes is one little piece! (My tank got one single leaf of duckweed hitchhiker home with a fish from the pet store, and it covered the top of my tank in a month's time. I liked it for a while...)


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

I've had good success getting rid of duckweed without scooping. Just get another floating plant that will out compete it. In the 20 gallon I have at work I started getting a duckweed problem. I got some red root floater for it and that stuff grows so well in the tank you might see a little duckweed in the open spots in between but it never takes off. In my bigger tank at home I have a really bad duckweed problem. I put in a lilly plant and the lillypads started taking over the one side and the duckweed started thinning out. I put some hornwort on the other side and it started going away on that side as well. There still is some, but just small amounts of it and it doesn't really spread


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I can't believe that even after fourteen years, the obvious answer has not been proposed! 
To get rid of duckweed, you use a duck! Do this a couple months before Thanksgiving and then switch out the duck for the turkey! No more duckweed, no more duck! 
But if the OP has not solved the problem by now, he has likely gone on to other problems?


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow it totally slipped my attention how old that original post was. Haaaaa haha ha ha.


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## SquigglyThing (Oct 15, 2017)

hubbahubbahehe said:


> i'm considering putting a feeder goldfish in there just for duckweed, what do you think?





hubbahubbahehe said:


> lol eric, you prolly got the ramshorn from me hahah..i got a ton of those in my tanks...!!!
> 
> the pond snails are a real problem in my 55G.. you seen em...o dear....it's all over my plants..there's noway to pick them all out cuz they are in between the java moss, riccia, etc.... what to do what to do....





Mori; said:


> On a completely unrelated topic, my pink gouramis and goldfish enjoy munching on snails, although they can only handle them up to about a half-inch diameter. If a snail gets bigger than that, it's a pet.


A goldfish will solve your snail and duckweed problems. Mori's goldfish must be under 6", or they'd be eating bigger snails. Goldfish tend not to like to eat moss, I've never had one that would eat it at all. Depending on the goldfish's personal preference, they will eat different plants, but they all love duckweed. They also all love to dig, but if you put down fist-sized stones around your plants, they won't be able to dig them up.



PlantedRich said:


> I can't believe that even after fourteen years, the obvious answer has not been proposed!
> To get rid of duckweed, you use a duck! Do this a couple months before Thanksgiving and then switch out the duck for the turkey! No more duckweed, no more duck!
> But if the OP has not solved the problem by now, he has likely gone on to other problems?


This does not work. I have ducks (7), and tried to feed them duckweed. They will not eat it.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

SquigglyThing said:


> This does not work. I have ducks (7), and tried to feed them duckweed. They will not eat it.


I..... what?

@PlantedRich I thought it was funny at least.


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## SquigglyThing (Oct 15, 2017)

Not funny, but true.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

mgeorges said:


> I..... what?
> 
> @PlantedRich I thought it was funny at least.


Anybody watching a flock of ducks in a pond full of duckweed and not finding it funny may just be way too serious? :laugh2:


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

use a surface skimmer such as the eheim skim 350 you may need to empty it a few times as it becomes clogged with duckweed and repeat the skimming several times but worked for me to clear a 2ft tank with the surface pretty much covered with duckweed.

You can even diy something if you have a spare internal powerhead -


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Fish eating duckweed is much worse than duckweed eating fish.


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