# Duckweed in shrimp tanks



## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

My frog bit multiplies like crazy. I throw out a bunch each week since it seems to take over the tank. I love floating plants since they take out a lot of bad stuff from the water and they provide feeding surfaces for my shrimp. You can see in the pic that a CRS is hanging out on the root.

You should try growing frog bit again since it's almost impossible that you killed this stuff.

The roots on these things are about 8-10 inches.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Hmm... I'm not sure if I got the same frog bit you have. I got some more today and put them in the tank. They are no bigger than a penny (with two or three "leaves" together). I was looking for something with longer root and bigger size, do you know if mine are just baby and will grow? What's the scientific name of yours?

PS: Like how it looks in your tank.
PPS: really like the looks in your tank.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

randyl said:


> Hmm... I'm not sure if I got the same frog bit you have. I got some more today and put them in the tank. They are no bigger than a penny (with two or three "leaves" together). I was looking for something with longer root and bigger size, do you know if mine are just baby and will grow? What's the scientific name of yours?
> 
> PS: Like how it looks in your tank.
> PPS: really like the looks in your tank.


I got them from this seller on aquabid a few months ago....such a great great seller in how he packages his plants. They arrive the same way you see them in the pic.
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?liveplantsf&1329826204

Mine had small roots as well and they eventually grew into what they are right now. Just be patient, give them lots of light and they take off. It's also good not to keep messing with them if you want the roots to grow nice without you breaking them off.

Here is a pic from the top and my fingers to use as size comparison:


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Here's mine in my cube. Mine grows great in my snail tank (not the pic below). I pull out a handful and feed it to my turtles it's been growing so much. No ferts have ever seen the tank, inert substrate, just snails.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

I'm with Randyl. I have the same frogbit (I'm not even sure it comes in different species) in a 1g shrimp bowl. I actually just took a handful out today because the roots of it basically became the entirety of my tank. And I literally do nothing to this bowl for maintenance.

It's considered an invasive species if I'm not mistaken, in that it grows like crazy wherever it is. I honestly don't know what could be going wrong, if yours is coming out brown.


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## kurosuto (May 20, 2009)

Mine is growing like crazy too. Started with a handful in a 10g and 2 weeks later it went from maybe 20% to 85% of surface. Roots are starting to reach substrate. Used it to cycle new tank

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

Started with a pinch of this and thta and now only 2wks later the water surface of my 30g long is covered.


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## OiZO (Feb 2, 2010)

if you don't give them enough light they will die off rather quick. I used to transfer them from a high light tank i had over to a really low light tank because they slowly rotted away under the low light.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for all the input, really appreciate it.

What about surface flow? Mine is a bit strong for a 85 G (I use a fulval 105 canister for this tank). I do like the frog bit but my concern is the duckweed.

No one has touched my main question yet... will the decaying duckweed or frog bit do any harm to the water in my shrimp tank?


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## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

I think my shrimpy friends enjoy playing with the Duckweed. It is so comical to watch a shrimp go to the surface, grab on to a piece of Duckweed and then float down to the bottom with it upside down.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

randyl said:


> Thanks for all the input, really appreciate it.
> 
> What about surface flow? Mine is a bit strong for a 85 G (I use a fulval 105 canister for this tank). I do like the frog bit but my concern is the duckweed.
> 
> No one has touched my main question yet... will the decaying duckweed or frog bit do any harm to the water in my shrimp tank?


As with any dead organic matter, you want to remove it so it doesn't pollute your tank. The shrimp and snails should be eating it as well but too much is not a good thing.


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## SlammedDC2 (Jun 4, 2011)

One thing I have noticed about frogbit, higher flow=smaller roots.
My 15g has long long roots with low flow
my 125g has almost no roots with high flow.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Frogbit won't do as well is a current. So that could be a reason why it is dying but he duckweed doesn't. I would remove all the duckweed asap as it is much more annoying than frogbit. Also, you can pm h4n about buying frogbit for cheap. He carries the ones you see in the pictures above with huge roots and leaves.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

diwu13 said:


> Frogbit won't do as well is a current. So that could be a reason why it is dying but he duckweed doesn't. I would remove all the duckweed asap as it is much more annoying than frogbit. Also, you can pm h4n about buying frogbit for cheap. He carries the ones you see in the pictures above with huge roots and leaves.


So there are different types of frog bit? Anyone knows the common names or scientific names for them? 

I'll have fun today cleaning up the duckweed and my younger son will be so sad (he loves them).


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## splur (Nov 26, 2011)

randyl said:


> Thanks for all the input, really appreciate it.
> 
> What about surface flow? Mine is a bit strong for a 85 G (I use a fulval 105 canister for this tank). I do like the frog bit but my concern is the duckweed.
> 
> No one has touched my main question yet... will the decaying duckweed or frog bit do any harm to the water in my shrimp tank?


Duckweed is hell, got all over everything. I transferred it to my cichlid tank, they got rid of it in a week for me. My frogbit and water lettuce seems to flourish in my shrimp tank. Medium light, only under water flow not at the surface. If you have super high lighting like 4 T5HO bulbs shining on the frogbit it may kill it.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

I didn't have super strong light, only a 13w 6500k clipped-on. But being so close to the water (like 6") and a small tank, that, plus the strong surface flow, may explain why they didn't do well. I got more frog bit yesterday, and will clean up the duckweed today.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

randyl said:


> So there are different types of frog bit? Anyone knows the common names or scientific names for them?
> 
> I'll have fun today cleaning up the duckweed and my younger son will be so sad (he loves them).


I believe there are different types of frogbit, but amazon frogbit is the most common.

As for the light level near the surface I don't think that's a problem. I have 2x 15W 6500K bulbs literally ~1inch from the surface of my tank. I was getting tons of algae problems (expected right lol) so I covered the entire surface of my tank with frogbit. Now I don't have near as much algae issues (going to swap them for 2x 10W) but the frogbit is thriving, even so close to the light.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

My snail tank where the frogbit grows nice has 2x13w CFL's at the surface and it grows fine. Very little water movement though in the tank and it has root the ground. I have to trim it all the time.


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## SlammedDC2 (Jun 4, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> My snail tank where the frogbit grows nice has 2x13w CFL's at the surface and it grows fine. Very little water movement though in the tank and it has root the ground. I have to trim it all the time.


 My 15g is exactly the same way. 2x13w cfl approx 1" from water surface, with little flow and the roots will reach the floor in a matter of days


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