Looking For Duckweed? Discover If Petco Has You Covered!
You can’t always find duckweed for your aquarium at a pet store. Does Petco sell any duckweed? Where can you find it?
Does Petco sell duckweed?
Unfortunately, Petco doesn’t seem to sell it at many locations. It might be available in some stores, but don’t be surprised if they don’t have any. Petco sells other aquatic and floating plants but doesn’t usually sell duckweed.
They often have other live plants instead. Some locations might be different but don’t count on it.
Petco mentions duckweed in a guide for setting up a new aquarium, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to find in their stores. A search for duckweed shows that Petco offers other aquatic plants, but not duckweed. Petco isn’t the right place to buy or order it.
I shop at Petco and get many of my aquarium supplies from that store. However, I have never found duckweed at Petco. I order it online from elsewhere.
While all Petcos sell things like budgies and mosquito fish, some pets and items are sold at the discretion of the store manager, like feeder mice and, yes, duckweed.
What is Duckweed?
Duckweed is a common floating plant many people use in aquariums. It is greenish, has four leaves, and floats on top of the water.
People add it to their fish tanks to decorate them or to control the level of nutrients in the tank. Duckweed can prevent algae from growing by using up nutrients the algae need. It can also purify water.
Where Can You Buy Duckweed?
Other pet stores don’t necessarily have it either, not even if they have other aquatic plants. Ordering duckweed online from Amazon might be the best idea. It is always available on Amazon and there are many products to choose from.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Duckweed is very hard to kill. If something goes a little wrong in your tank, the duckweed will quite likely survive and recover. It doesn’t take much thought or time to keep the plant alive.
There are different kinds of duckweed, with common duckweed (Lemna minor) being what is usually used in aquariums. Arguably, no aquarium plant grows as fast and is as hard to kill as duckweed. It is the best choice for killing algae.
Duckweed Purifies Water
Duckweed purifies water by reducing nitrates and phosphates. Higher water quality is good for your fish and plants. A water filter is necessary, but plants can help clean your tank also.
Duckweed Looks Great
Duckweed looks great with other blue-green plants and sometimes also with plants and fish of different colors.
Duckweed Can Grow Too Fast
Sometimes, duckweed can grow faster than you want it to, especially in larger tanks. However, you might not have any problems with excessive duckweed growth.
Strong Currents Can Kill Duckweed
Despite its resilience, duckweed cannot survive if there is a lot of water movement.
Is Duckweed Common in Nature?
Yes, duckweed is a common plant. Lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers have duckweed. It is found in many countries on different continents. Until relatively recently, there was no duckweed in Australia or South America.
It grows on the surface of the water and forms large mats. People don’t always recognize it as a distinct plant and may mistake it for something else.
Duckweed grows best in the tropics, but you can find it in cooler environments. Light is good for duckweed, but it doesn’t always need a lot of bright light to grow.
Duckweed is Resilient
Duckweed does not need the perfect temperature, light level, or acidity to grow. The ideal PH for duckweed is 7.0, the PH of pure water.
However, the water can be a fair bit more acidic or alkaline than that without preventing duckweed from growing. This makes duckweed a very low-maintenance plant for your aquarium.
Duckweed also grows fast. In exceptionally good conditions, a patch of duckweed can grow twice as large overnight. A small amount of duckweed can spread across a pond in a couple weeks or less.
Why is Duckweed Important in Aquariums?
Primarily, duckweed reduces algae in your aquarium. Algae grows very easily, so it isn’t always easy to get rid of. You can minimize it by introducing other plants that compete with algae.
How Does Duckweed Reduce Algae?
Duckweed reduces algae by using up the same nutrients that the algae plant uses. Duckweed is a nutrient-hungry plant that grows fast and can reduce the levels of some nutrients in a water tank quickly.
Once the nutrient levels drop below a certain point, algae will stop growing. If there is duckweed in your tank, you may never get an algae problem in the first place.
Duckweed Reduces Nitrates
Nitrates are common substances found in many plants and animals. In a fish tank, nitrates are created by common bacteria. Your tap water can also introduce nitrates to a fish tank.
Nitrates can harm your fish and not only your plants. You have to worry about waste building up in the tank and eventually killing your fish. You can use nitrate-reducing products to fix the problem, but plants can also do the job.
What is Natural Aquarium Nutrient Control?
In an aquarium, nutrient control is about making sure plants won’t have enough nutrients and minimizing nutrients for nuisance plants. Many people add nutrient products to their tanks to help certain plants.
Nutrient Control in Rivers
People also use duckweed for nutrient control outside of aquariums. You can use it for nutrient control for more serious purposes and on a much larger scale.
Excessive nutrients build up in some waterways. Duckweed may be introduced to use up these nutrients.
People then harvest the nutrients for fertilizer and animal feed. It may become possible to harvest proteins from duckweed in the future.
Does Duckweed Make Your Aquarium Look Better?
Yes, duckweed can look great if it goes well with the rest of the aquarium. People add duckweed to fish tanks even when they don’t need to control algae.
Is There Another Aquatic Plant That Looks Good With It?
Duckweed goes well with other blue and green plants. Water lettuce and java moss are two of the best common aquarium plants you should try. Dwarf baby tears are another good choice.
Duckweed can thrive at fairly high or fairly low temperatures. Because of the wide temperature range, it is compatible with most other aquarium plants.
Is There Another Floating Plant that Gets Rid of Algae?
Yes, water hyacinth and water lettuce are both good choices. They change the environment in the tank enough that algae cannot grow.
What Other Floating Plants Are Popular?
Some floating plants many people use include:
- Red root floater
- Anacharis
- Brazilian pennywort
- Water sprite
- Rotala indica
- Hornwort
- Water wisteria
You will learn more about what plants to put in your fish tank with experience. Experiment, try different plants, and see what plants and fish go well together.
How Else Can You Control Algae in Your Aquarium?
A lot of the time, a natural method like introducing duckweed is the best way. However, there are many other ways to control algae.
Key Takeaways
- Petco and Petsmart don’t usually have duckweed in stock
- Amazon is a better place to purchase different duckweed species.
- Duck weed grows easily and will thrive in a pond or fish tank.
- Lemna minor, or common duckweed, is used in aquariums.
- Java moss and water lettuce go well with green duckweed.