# duckweed? good or bad?



## northey87 (May 24, 2009)

I was reading an artical in Fish magazine about plants and fish. It mentions that rainbows will eat Duckweed as a part of their diet. So, would it be worth the risk of never getting rid of it just because my rainbows may eat it? I don't relly know if really want to try it or not. What do ya'll think?


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. The worst thing I ever did was introduce duckweed to one of my tanks. You can completely clear it out and it'll come back because it drops 'seeds' to the bottom. One lousy tiny piece and a few weeks later you'll be cursing the day you got it.

But I still think it's pretty and is an excellent sponge of nitrates. Doesn't like a lot of surface movement, though.


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## feral13 (Jan 17, 2006)

You will find that many (understandably) loath the stuff.

While I agree it probably doesn't have a place in show tanks, I rank it as one of my favorite plants. Many many years ago, Duckweed was one of the few aquarium plants you could find in my area. It was a very welcome addition to tanks whose only filtration was under-gravel filters with air-lift tubes. 

I have kept it in all my planted tanks except for my current one (which has too much water flow). I always thought it was easily controlled by skimming a fish net across the tank surface a couple of times a week. Others do not share that view.


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## GitMoe (Aug 30, 2010)

Don't do it. Its fun for the first few weeks then it just never goes away....


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Goldfish will clear the stuff. I skim what I can and throw it in my pond.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

i like it as cichlid food, and koi food, thats all though


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## Lngtall1 (Jan 27, 2011)

Don't know about Rainbows but my goldfish eat it like candy. I have bought it several times and it doesn't spread in there, the goldies eat it too quick.


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## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

It's funny because I've actually tried to grow some but they always died on me or they always ended up getting stuck in the filter.


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## antbug (May 28, 2010)

My 50g was covered in azola. Two rainbows ate ever last one. My friends does this with duckweed too.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

[STRIKE]Why does everybody hate duckweed?
I kinda like them specially the roots hanging down giving the tank a more jungle-ey look.:icon_smil
Nice hangout spots for shrimps too.:hihi:[/STRIKE]
Whoops! edit post..
All the while I thought I had duckweed 'til I saw sewingalot's post.
It was salvinia minima I had all along and I thought it was duckweed.:smile:


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

My experience is that if an aquarium resident will eat plants at all it will eat duckweed. Seems to be very popular with vegetarians.

I had regular duckweed, got sick of it and totally removed it from my tank, wasn't that hard. That some of the fish were eating it helped. Later on I got giant duckweed as part of a four plant species package on aquabid and I like this stuff a lot better, have no plans to get rid of it.


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## sAroock (Oct 26, 2010)

I find it hard to understand people who say "I cant get rid of it", " i'll stay forever". Its not fine dust particles, snails or something of that sort. It floats the the surface and is big. A net and 2 minutes is all it takes. I can remove or add duckweed completely in my tank with ease. 

Yeh rainbows do eat duckweed. Its a fun plant.


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## Cottagewitch (Oct 22, 2009)

I have duckweed in my 3g and just added it to my 10g. I like duckweed. It doesn't get out of control for me at all. It seems it sticks to my hands when I take my hand out of my 3g tank and that's enough to keep it in check. My 10g has more light so it might grow faster but I can always throw the excess in my compost or RAOK it.


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## northey87 (May 24, 2009)

Thanks, for all the comments. I still am up in the air if I am going to try it or not. I think Im leaning towards trying it out.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

I like it. Fish that like to eat plants seems to be the only way to get rid of it easily. Im a fan of floaters and this one is my least favorite one because of its invasive nature. Try seperating your floaters while theres duckweed mixed in and you'll see what people mean when they say you cant get rid of it.


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## PhotoRobert (Jan 29, 2011)

northey87 said:


> Thanks, for all the comments. I still am up in the air if I am going to try it or not. I think Im leaning towards trying it out.


 
It's beautiful at first. At first you'll be thinking "Wow, this is beautiful." 

Later ... Any circulation will make duckweek easily submerge and flow with currents where it will get stuck to the bottom of driftwood or anything else. It will get tangled in plants. Where it can no longer get light -- where it's stuck under water -- it will form sort of a clump and die. It will get stuck all over your hands and arms making you dread having to get into your aquarium. It will block your filter intake. It will get into your filter and block your filter media (where it will also die). And wherever it's growing it will keep spreading forever. 

So you'll think, "Well I'll just keep it in check." But you'll find that it only takes very very little to cause problems. 

It's a mess. A total mess.


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## seadreamer (May 6, 2007)

I think it depends on how perfect you like your tank. It'll lodge in your other plants even if you skim it off the surface. You can then wave a net amongst them to dislodge a lot of it, which can create its own mess. 

You'll still have duckweed here and there though so it depends on if this type of thing bothers you if your fish don't eat it. 

That's my experience. I'm actually in the process of allowing a small patch to gather on the surface again as I do like it and my pygmy gourami likes it but plan to watch it like a hawk.


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## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

Hmmm, this is a little scary to find out. I just got some duckweed specifically for the tank (free ofc) 0_0


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## seyone (Jan 13, 2011)

I don't think duckweed is that bad. You just need to control it. To much of it makes a real mess and will block out most of your light so that the bottom gets little to none. You will be surprised how fast it will reproduce if not removed regularly.


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