Introduction. We stumbled across these plants accidentally.
Adam, one of our much more than regular customers, cleaned the excess plants
out of one of his aquariums. He brought in these as well as some val
and some sag. We'd never seen these before, so we left them on our
fish-bagging counter in a green tub. The counter was very well lit
with those 32 watt very bright All-Glass bulbs made in Germany. LA
LA
Very much resembles water lettuce except in size. Very fast grower in
full sun.
One Week Later. Our
unknown plants seemed to grow thicker and started crowding each other.
After pondering these guys (unintentional pun, believe it or not), we
decided they had to be a dwarfed form of water lettuce. In the past,
we'd never seen water lettuce survive under aquarium lights. However,
this was before the advent of those high lumen All-Glass bulbs. In any
event, we moved them into our front window where they enjoyed the morning
sun.
LA
Same plants in larger quarters
Checking the Effects of Sunlight. We
doubled their water surface and gave them the morning sun. We're
checking to see if these little guys are a different variety altogether or
just the regular water lettuce dwarfed by insufficient illumination.
LA
Under aquarium fluorescent light, leaves stay small and roots grow very
long.
In the Meantime. We looked at
the root systems on these guys. Prodigious. Just like the roots
on regular water lettuce. A tank covered with these plants would
provide excellent baby livebearer cover. The surface of these roots
would also harbor numerous tiny animacules that would fatten up the
livebearer fry.
LA
Obviously a great remover of soluble fish wastes.
LA
Removes Nitrogenous Wastes. Roots
like these suck nitrogen and other digested fish wastes out of the water.
They help purify the water. This means they will need water changes
and/or fertilizers to prevent them from consuming all the nutrients and
burning themselves out. Adam solved this particular problem by
reducing their population. He brought in this large quantity of
floating plants for us to try to figure out.
LA
Fast-growing roots make a great baby saver.
LA
Typical example compared to thumbnail. Note new daughter plant on the
right.
Reproduces Like Water Lettuce. If
you've grown water lettuce, you know they reproduce by sending out little
"runners" that generate "daughter plants."
LA
Next example -- daughter plant developing second leaf.
LA
Example 3 -- You can see the roots developing on the daughter plant.
They Grow Lots of Runners. If
each plant throws three runners which develop daughter plants and each
daughter plant throws three plants ... You can see where these little
guys reproduce exponentially.
LA
LA
Even the little guys start throwing daughter cells.
LA
Three daughters on this one.
LA
Lots of little babies here.
LA
Tiny hairs cover each leaf and help it repel water. They appear to
shine when submerged.
Why They Float. The
leaves obviously have air cells in them. However, their leaves are
also covered with tiny hairs that repel water. You don't need to
"plant" them green side up. They right themselves if you just toss
them in the water. Ditto, if you pour a bucket of water into their
container.
LA
Leaves start standing up when crowded.
LA
Makes a nice contrast to other plants.
LA
1.5-inch festivums looking for snacks in the roots.
LA
Two plants that were in a tank of barbs.
Root Eaters. The above
plants were floating in a tank containing rosy barbs and spotted barbs.
I've watched the spotted barbs out eat oscars. They stripped the roots
from these guys in two days. No prob. We moved the plants to
another tank. They'll probably re-grow their roots. Aurulius
barbs, Odessa barbs, goldfish, and most African cichlids also enjoy
devouring the roots.
LA
Same plant three days later -- well on its way to recovery.
Plant Eaters. We put a
dozen or so dwarf water lettuce in our 29-gallon turtle tank. We
couldn't get turtles for several weeks so we used our well lit turtle tank to grow a few more plants.
Then someone traded in two western painted turtles -- well known plant
eaters as adults. They made short work of the dwarf water lettuce.
LA
Overcrowded dwarf water lettuce starts looking like this.
Overcrowding Results in Chlorosis.
As mentioned earlier, dwarf water lettuce reproduces exponentially.
In unfertilized containers (like a growing flat in strong light), it sucks
all the nutrients out of the water. First the leaves turn a pale
green. This condition is correctable by moving the plants to new
surroundings. If you ignore them, their leaves will turn yellow.
The yellow leaves die and so will the plant. Remove any pale leaves
and move the plants before they die. Chlorosis is unlikely in an
aquarium with fish in it.
LA
Upside-down dwarf water lettuce gets very confused.
Green Side Down.
If one of your dwarf water lettuce plants accidentally gets turned
upside-down, it tries to right itself (like water sprite). The
daughter plant makes it, but the original plant deteriorates under water.
This is the only upside-down example out of 150 or so plants.
LA
Small fish enjoy wending their way thru the roots.
LA
The roots make an ideal lurking site for butterfly fish. His weird
fins blend right in.
LA
LA
Last Words.
Looks like another aquatic plant has entered the aquarium decor arena.
Attractive, easy to raise, and economical. If you're looking for a
surface plant that also reduces the excess light that encourages algae
growth, you'll appreciate
dwarf water lettuce even more. LA

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LA Productions
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