# Dwarf Water Lettuce or Frogbit



## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I keep Water Lettuce, while it does grow rather fast I can not call it aPIA to live with unlike Duckweed.

I keep it to offer some shaded parts of a tank and because it's a great nutrient mop during new tank cycles or for the Q-Tank when needed.

For maintenance I simply toss the mother plants once they produce some baby plants. Give away to friends or compost them. There isn't much of a market, if there was I'd be rich. :hihi:


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

I keep both so either one would be good. DWL produces some nice looking roots while frogbit has nice and glossy leaves. Either way, just make sure you don't have too strong of a surface current.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

its for an open top 90?
why not just do both? that way you get some visual contrast with your floaters and more biodiversity


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

i'd also recommend both to contrast since you arent lacking in tank space... plus if you get a small portion, it will take a while to spread.


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## rodcuda (Jul 25, 2012)

They are inexpensive so do both and decide if you like one or both!!


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

Both! 

And if you have high light, red root floaters!


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## Knotyoureality (Aug 3, 2012)

I picked up a mixed order of floaters a couple weeks ago to add to my existing frogbit. 

Phyllanthus Fluitans (red root floater): recovered nicely from shipping, really great leaf growth and color, but no roots to speak of to date in any of my tanks (moderate, low and no flow)

Hygroryza Aristata (asian water grass): awesome looking stuff, but fairly slow growing and it's size makes it better suited to a pond, large riparium or much much larger tank--preferable with hanging lights to give more room at the surface than I have. 

Salvinia Oblongifolia (giant salvinia): this actually has the best root system of the group so far and is handling the moderate surface agitation in my main tank beautifully. There wasn't much in the way of growth for the first two weeks, but it recently took off and I'm getting a new node (two leaves, instant roots) every three days. Under higher light it might grow tighter, but I'm getting a 1/4-1/2" gap between nodes that tends to catch the smaller leaves of other floaters creating lovely little mixed islands of plants. My GBR spend most of their surface time prowling under this stuff. 

Salvinia Cucullata (asian water moss): took shipping really poorly, I sincerely thought they'd all rotted--just a dark green/black mess. But, after a week, I started seeing gorgeous little silver leaves along the edges, tightly massed and almost furry looking. Easily the most beautiful leaves, perfectly sized for my nano tanks and planted vases. Does best with little to no surface agitation. Very easy to separate the nodes and develops a very dense root mass that ties in popularity with floating riccia with my cherries. 

If I had to recommend just one? It's be the Silvinia Oblongifolia. But mix it with frogbit for the contrast in color, texture and leaf shape.


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## rainbuilder (Sep 21, 2011)

Most floaters in general grow pretty quickly. Frogbit can look very nice and personally I like it more than dwarf water lettuce. You could also look into red root floater, or hygroryza aristata for some different looking choices. Just make sure you don't get duckweed!


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