Floating plants for aquariums: benefits and care

[Slybird]

Hi all,

Need some help here.

I've been doing a lot of research on fish care and I keep seeing people recommend floating plants.
I don't have any real plants in my tank yet, planning to get some eventually, but not there yet.
I'm pretty clueless about live plants at the moment.
Are there any easy-to-care-for floating plants I can start with?
I've come across water lettuce, but is it any good?
Any advice or info would be great, thanks.

[boomer]

Floating plants have it easier, I think, since they're closer to the tank light and brightness isn't usually a problem. They've got what's called the aerial advantage - their leaves can assimilate CO2 from the air, which is about four times easier for them than taking it from submerged leaves. This makes them fast growers, so a liquid fertilizer might come in handy, but not always.

Light's important here, not just intensity but also spectrum. If you could describe your current lighting setup, that'd be helpful. You might need to swap out a tube or bulb for your existing fixture.

Now, about the plants. There are three that are pretty widely available and grow in a similar way, with dangling roots under the floating leaves. Fish love these, as the roots provide a food source and some species even spawn in them.

My personal favourite is Water Sprite, or Ceratopteris cornuta. It's a beautiful plant, and once it's settled, daughter plants will form on the alternate fronds. It can get quite large, covering the entire surface, but it's easy to remove some of the daughter plants and discard the parent plant periodically.

Water Lettuce and Tropical Frogbit are similar, but they propagate differently. Water Lettuce sends out little runners with daughter plants, while Tropical Frogbit does the same. There are smaller floating plants like Salvinia species and Duckweed, which can be useful in some tanks. But for display, one of the three larger plants is probably a better choice.

Some stem plants, like Brazilkento4 Pennywort, can grow nicely when left floating.

[Koralin]

Hi, I recently got some sevenflake shrimps and they came with these interesting little plants - I think they might be some sort of floating plant. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what they are and how I can encourage them to grow. I've already put them in my tank and I've attached a picture.

I've been doing some research on taking care of my fish and I came across some comments about floating plants being really helpful, so I'm hoping these little guys will do the trick. I don't have much experience with live plants yet, but I'm eager to learn.

Any advice or info would be great, thanks.

[marston]

I've got experience with frogbit, and it's been a real winner in my tank - spreads super quickly. I'm actually having to cull it back every other week or so, just to keep it under control. If you're in the US and interested in getting some, I'd be more than happy to send some your way.

[flamberg]

That's duckweed, Lyuba. Grows incredibly fast, barely any effort needed. It'll cover the top of your tank in no time. Looks nice, in my opinion.

[goldminer]

I've got a good balance of floating plants in my tank, some might say I've overdone it but I think I've got it just right.

[flamberg]

Your tank looks great, by the way. I've been eyeing duckweed for a while now, but I'm hesitant to try it out since I have a HOB filter - I'm worried it'll just get pushed to one corner and clump up.

[goldminer]

I also use a HOB filter. I found a simple solution to prevent the duckweed clumping in a corner - using straws. Memo to self: get clear straws next time, they're super cheap, only $2 for 100.

[flamberg]

I appreciate the suggestion, thanks for sharing your experience with floating plants, I'm going to look into those options.

[Koralin]

That's duckweed, Lyuba. Grows incredibly fast, barely any effort needed. It'll cover the top of your tank in no time. Looks nice, in my opinion.

Looks like I've got duckweed. Thanks for letting me know, flamberg. Does it need a lot of light to grow well? I'm glad I can keep it - it does look nice. I've also got a filter that hangs on the side of my tank - do you think I should make a similar setup to prevent clogging? I wasn't sure if the duckweed would just pass through the filter or not.