Water Lettuce

Description

Water Lettuce, or Pistia stratiotes, is a great floating plant for aquariums and ponds. The roots provide great hiding places for fish and small snails, while also working to eat up the nitrates in the water produced by fish waste.

**PRICE

($3.00) SMALL option- you will get three to four very small plants.

($4.50) MEDIUM option- you will get one medium sized plant.

**Care

Water Lettuce is an easy to grow aquatic plant if provided the right conditions.
It does not require CO2 injection and will grow in most lighting conditions.
The ideal temperature range is between 70 and 80 F, but it will grow outside this range. It will not survive freezing temperatures.
Avoid letting water pool up in the center of the water lettuce because this can lead rotting.

Water Lettuce does not grow well in water with a high flow. It prefers to sit stationary or move very little.
If your pond or aquarium has a lot of water movement there are a few tricks to overcome this.

You can create a little corral out of some airline tubing, fishing line, or something similar that will keep the water lettuce out of the flowing water.
Alternatively, if your water lettuce has long roots you can position rocks/driftwood/plants in such a way that the roots cannot pass over them, which will keep the water lettuce in place.

For example, my main aquarium has a HOB filter and a power head so there is a pretty strong current. However the back corner of the tank is a dead zone for water currents so that is where my water lettuce started out. It then grew and grew and eventually there were enough water lettuces that they could hold on to each other and avoid being moved around by the current. The water lettuce then spread to the other side of my tank where it’s roots were long enough to get stuck behind some driftwood which kept it in place.

Water Lettuce can eat up a lot of nutrients so you may need to add some liquid fertilizer if your plant is not growing well.

**SIZE

The maximum size for Water Lettuce grown in an aquarium is around 6-8 inches in width. If grown in a pond, it can grow even bigger. The roots can grow 6-12 inches long.

Water lettuce multiplies by sending out runners which then grow into more water lettuces. If grown in the right conditions, this plant can multiply quickly! If you need to get rid of some please do not introduce it into any local lakes or streams as it may take over and have a negative effect on the ecosystem.

**SHIPPING

The plants will be shipped priority mail with a 2-4 day arrival time. I won’t ship below freezing temperatures.

The water lettuce is grown in tanks with snails and duckweed, but I will do my best to make sure none of this ends up in your order!

**REFUND POLICY

If the plants arrive dead, send me a message with a picture of the plant within 24 hrs and I will issue a refund.

Please send me a message if you have any questions or concerns!