Duckweed?

[hotspurdotus]

What are the general thoughts on duckweed? I have some growing in a fountain that I occasionally feed to the fish as a treat (it never lasts more than a day).

I figured out that I could put some in my top pool, where I only have a couple of small fish, and it would do well there. Is duckweed beneficial to a pond like other floating plants? I'm basically using the top pond as a filter, and I think some duckweed would be a nice addition.

I realize that it can quickly take over a pond, but I have a small setup and I can simply remove what I don't want, or feed it to the fish. Basically, I can have as much or as little duckweed as I like in the pond.

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[fishin4cars]

Other than it taking over a pond and causing the surface area to completely cover causing the gases in the pond not to be able to escape it's a good plant. As long as you don't allow it to make a complete sheet on a pond it's a great filter, and great food for koi. Just treat it like you would Ice in the winter, You want to make sure you have some area that is free of it so gases can exchange.

 

[j.w]

I have to keep mine in floating rings and dole it out to the gold fish or they would clean the pond of it in 15 mins
I have Azolla also................do fish eat that too? I haven't given any of that to them yet as I don't have much of it :twisted:
And what is it good for?

 

[vertigo72]

It grows in my iris filter bed, which is pretty much covered by it. And some of it is constantly flowing to my pond where its swiftly eaten or captured by my skimmer. Its perfect like that!

 

[fishin4cars]

I have to keep mine in floating rings and dole it out to the gold fish or they would clean the pond of it in 15 mins :lol:
I have Azolla also................do fish eat that too? I haven't given any of that to them yet as I don't have much of it
And what is it good for?

same as duck weed, My koi love eating Azolla, litterally by the hand fulls! great thing about Azolla here, It grows best in the winter!

 

[DrDave]

Duckweed grows very fast under the right conditions. I supply a lot of Tilapia growers that use it for feed. My Koi don't bother with it, at least if they do, it is not enough to notice.

 

[fishin4cars]

Duckweed grows very fast under the right conditions. I supply a lot of Tilapia growers that use it for feed. My Koi don't bother with it, at least if they do, it is not enough to notice.

Dr. Dave, It may be the picture, not sure but that appears to be azolla not duckweed, Like I said very hard to tell from the pic. Duckweed is a single leaf plant, Azolla has multi leaves originating from a center point. Both are equally eaten by the koi in my pond, but then again, they eat just about anything green! LOL

 

[j.w]

My azolla is a red color.........didn't know the fish would eat it. Guess I'll have to let it build up in quantity and give them a treat now and then

 

[fishin4cars]

Mine turned redish in color through the winter but as it warmed up it turned bright green, Now that the water temps are well over 80 degrees It's almost all gone, just a few in the shade near the waterfall.

 

[j.w]

Maybe that's why it's red...........it feels like winter here now

 

[addy1]

jw pond a warm 84! lol

 

[j.w]

Be nice addy, I'm sitting here on my pc w/ a sweater and sweat pants shivering...........not gonna turn the heat on either.............IT'S ALMOST JUNE FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!

 

[DrDave]

You are 50% correct. It is actually both. I have attached an enhanced and regular macro photo of them. The Azolla looks red in the enhanced photo.

 

[fishin4cars]

LOL, yea that explains it! I though I saw azolla! 50%, not to bad I guess! lol

 

[DrDave]

I sold a lot of it this weekend alone. The word is getting around amoungst the tilapia growers where to buy it.