# how does duckweed multiply?



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

I had like, 2 pieces of duckweed come in with some other plants I bought. It's cute that they're like tiny leaves with tiny roots attached. But it definitely has multiplied slowly because I see random pieces here and there around my tank... so how does it multiply? They just look like individual leaves with roots? Just curious.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Not sure how it multiplies but mine grows back SUPER fast! I took about half of it out of my 10 gallon tank and within a week the entire surface of the tank was covered again. Duckweed has one single root and one leaf whereas there is a similar looking floating plant with larger "leaves" and has more than one root attached to each piece (I forget what it's called but I have both)

*Edit* The similar plant is called Salvinia


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Duckweed will soon take over your tank surface. One day you have two itty, bitty leaves and the next an explosion! 

I'm slowly eradicating mine as it gets in the cracks of the driftwood, deprives other plants of light and, worse, gets all over the internal filter. It is even trying to choke out my Red Root Floaters because I got lazy about removing it.

I posted a thread a while back on how to contain floating plants to one area of my tanks and got some really creative ideas.

I agree, it's really cute, though. ^smile^


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

The weird thing is that I didn't see the first tiny cluster until 3 weeks after I got the plant that I think it came with. That was about 3 months ago and I've only seen about 6 additional small clusters since then.


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## lilyth88 (Mar 15, 2012)

I harvest mine once a week. By the next harvesting time, it's covering the entire surface of the water again. I don't mind it, and my shrimp love to skitter upside down through the roots.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

We bought some duckweed with our first order of plants. I put it into a few tanks and decided I didn't like it. Removed it from all of them. A few months later it exploded in one tank - no idea where it came from since i did get it all out, I thought. Now it's in every tank in the house.

I have a bunch of various floaters - duckweed, greater duckweed (beautiful and better than small duckweed), frogbit, salvinia, antler fern and 1 piece of dwarf water lettuce that I hope spreads. With the exception of the small duckweed I really love all the floaters.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

i tend to that they clone themselves. the minor species make little butterfly shspes before breaking off.


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## darkangel (Jun 11, 2013)

they reproduce asexually by budding.

one of the examples used my biology exam along with hydra. ^^


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## Aluka (Dec 25, 2012)

They are like the aids of this hobby. There is no way to get rid of them! I added a tiny bit to ONE of my tanks 7 months ago, regretted it in 2 weeks, and removed them all. 7 months later, they are in every one of my 9 tanks.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Yeah it's not easy to get rid of. It clogs my filter almost every day in the new sorority tank beacuse some of it gets caught in the big current and then gets sucked into and stuck in the intake.


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## Naladari (Jan 4, 2013)

If you have frogbit its essentially the same type of reproduction. Luckily duckweed doesnt thrive in my tanks lol.


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## Aluka (Dec 25, 2012)

you must tell me your secret, how to be duckweed proof?


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## Mankey (Mar 29, 2012)

Hmm... why does it seem like my duckweed is growing a lot slower than you guys'? Is it possible that I actually have giant duckweed but I don't realize it because I find it hard to believe something that small could be called "giant"?


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