Feeding and Nutrition :: Which Aqautic Plants does your RES eat

[tjurhs]

Hi guys,

My RES likes to eat ground grown veggies like dandelions (his favorite), red lettuce (his 2nd favorite), plantain, green leaf lettuce, carrots tops and bottoms.

But so far I haven't found which aquatic plants he will eat. I've tried amazon sword, anacharis, water fern, water hyacinth, and water sprite. I have a high-tech aquatic plant tank setup so I can grow just about any aquatic plant.

What aquatic plants does your RES like to eat?

[ljapa]

Duckweed. It definitely grows like a weed, and it's messy, but my RES loves it.

[steve]

I'd like to know too... maybe looking to start a simple planted tank

[ljapa]

Tobi's a pig. She'll eat anything.

Of the aquatic plants tjurhs listed, I've fed Tobi anacharis and amazon sword. Anacharis and duckweed definitely seem to be the two she likes the best. Anacharis is the messiest to feed. It sits in the water column. When she bites, bits of leaves float off to be sucked up by the filter. Definitely one to consider for a separate container.

Amazon sword is tougher than lettuce, so it doesn't make much of a mess. It's also pretty slow growing, so it isn't a great choice for growing your own. Before I added the duckweed to my refugium, the anacharis grew pretty fast.

Duckweed floats, but it's tiny and sticks to everything you pull out of the water, including your arm. It's a mess. However, because it floats, not much ends up in the filter. Also because it floats, it pulls oxygen from the air and nutrients from the water. That means it can grow amazingly fast if the water has tons of nutrients. I feed duckweed two or three times a week, and it grows back.

Frogbit is a larger floater that's supposed to be good for turtles. Unfortunately, when I tried growing it, it all died off. But, because it's much larger than duckweed, it should be much less messy.

[tjurhs]

Thanks!

I'll definitely give both duckweed and frogbit a try. I know for certain I can grow it.

What do you think about Water Lettuce?

I had the same results feeding with Anacharis as you did, so I don't plan on growing it again.

Steve, if you are interested in putting together a small aquatic tank let me know. Eventhough I spent time searching through "The Planted Tank Forum" I couldn't get a set of step by step instructions on how to do it. But now I have it up and running and doing really well.

Todd

[ljapa]

Never tried water lettuce, but I'm curious. If you try it, definitely report back.

[tjurhs]

right now I'm trying to see if I can grow dandelions in my aquatic tank either submersed or immersed

[steve]

thank tjurhs, I'll check them out. There are a handful of successful planted tank on this forum too, its great to know more people are doing this.

[tjurhs]

Well Thor wasn't enticed by the Hornworth

I'm going to keep growing it just for "decoration" and it gived Thor something to tear/play with.

Next up will be Frogbit...

The other thought is maybe at 2-3 years old, he's still interested in meaty meals. However he will eat Dandelions and Red Leaf Lettuce

[steve]

Dandelions and Red Leaf Lettuce are both great if he's not taking to the other veggies.

[tjurhs]

so Thor will eat just about any land based veggie, but not aquatic one?

I spent a bunch of $ to get an aquatic tank up and going, so far I've tried 11 different plants - nothing but the snails I'm growing for him

I guess Frogbit is next....