Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have heaps of them in my spare tank. not sure if they are any good.

thanks for reading.

can you get a pic peashoots?

here is a pic of water lettuce.

I understand that the omnivores love the stuff, so is a good thing in my view. Might be something I can grow in the sump and feed to the perch - is less messy than duckweed. I've not seen it up here - not that I've really looked.

Have you tried feeding to your fish?

my comet eat some of them

The leaf looks fairly thick in the picture. Is this so and is it tough?

is thick, but not very tough.

Its a weed in some areas, and considered a native in the NT.....
I have seen it sold many times in SA (illegally)
http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/factsheets/pdf/pest/pp19.pdf

The big B in watergardens melbourne sell it

oh.

I put in extra lettuce (plants in the GB ) and feed that to the SP, did have duckweed but it takes up too much room IMHO

yeah, Pistia sp. is a pest species in Queensland and so you shouldn't keep it here.
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/cps/rde/xchg/ ... A_HTML.htm

Duckweed is a better option here.

I got a some from my dear old Mum when I last visited, thought they would look good in my pond, so drove them 400k's home, went out the next morning to find my comets had eaten them! The seem to love the roots!

An old topic reborn?

I was visiting a garden center and then a pond/koi/goldfish place and both places, when hearing my plans, recommended water lettuce or water hyacinth for the sump area because it's a fantastic filter/water purifier, and some fish really like the roots etc. This time of year, I can grab them for $1 or so at the pond place, and the garden center was giving away water hyacinth before it died in our location (outdoors).

The pond folk (actually they raise koi and goldfish for sale), gave me a tour. They had large 2'(d)x5'(w)x1'(h) trays filled with the water lettuce and water hyacinth. Apparently, they attract a type of bug the koi and goldfish enjoy eating (not a flying bug) that tends to stay on the surface of the water.

I'm now considering how best to fit these in my setup - alas, they do need more sun, I think, than duckweed and like warmer water.

also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r664NOnXoCw (water hyacinths in a system explained)

They are fantastic filters because they grow and absorber phosphate just likes any other green aqua friendly plants. And my pond used to be full of the stuff and I never noticed any bugs. Since that is the case why not just grow edible plants in the sump?