for its general easy of care level. The scientific name for these is Pistia Statiotes
and they are a perennial plant that grows well in tropical and subtropical
environments in places like the Nile River. It actually got the nickname Nile plant because of
this, but they do grow around the world also being a dwarfed cousin of the much large water lettuce.
Now compared to other floaters I have tried those being red roots and water salvia I
have noticed that these dwarf water lettuce are slightly more picking when it comes to getting
wet. As in once they get wet the leaves start to turn yellow and die, compared to the red roots
and spangles that were able to take a little moisture. Now similar to that of red roots
the dwarf water lettuce is going to provide shelter to your fry and top swimming fish,
one of the reasons I love it for bettas. The roots are also much longer on these getting
about 4 inches long providing another layer of cover for fish. Along with diffusing some light
in your tank as well the gaps between these will also be a bit wider to allow for more space when
feeding compared to things like red roots,
spangles or duckweed. The plants will also pull things from the water like ammonia and nitrates
to help it grow and will be a good barometer when things are good or bad. If they are thriving it’s
a safe bet your nitrates are high and they are feeding on them, if they start to die off you
might not be getting enough nutrients in your tank for the plants and will need to add things
like a liquid fertilizer. Now in the wild these can grow up to 10inches wide but in tanks they
are typically much smaller at around 3-4inches in diameter. Water parameters wise these do
best in tanks with a range of 72-86 degrees and in a ph of 6-7.5 and in softer water with a Kh
of 4 to 5. You will want to keep these under a semi moderate lite or a low light for longer
periods of time. Personally, I use a moderate white lite for 8 hours a day and you will want
to again keep you water level atleast an inch below the rim of your tank as being
too close to the light can burn the plants. The lower the flow the better these will do,
no flow at all being the best for them, I keep my hang on back on the lowest setting and my sponge
filter barley bubbling for mine. This plant is more for smaller fish and not fast swimmers,
tetras, rasboras, guppies, endlers and bettas will love them whereas faster swimmers like danios,
mollies, platies and sword tails will not do as well because of how long the root
structure is. If you want something cool to add to your surface level in the tank
then these are definitely for you, though do to them being slightly more likely to die from
getting wet im going to give them a 9.0 out of 10 As always thank you all so very much for
the support on the videos and remember to hit that like button and leave a comment down below
let me know your thoughts and of course if you are new and enjoy this type of cotent please thinking
about hitting the sub-button as well. Thanks again and I will see you all in the next video.