Dwarf Water Lettuce in Cup

The popular shell flower Pistia stratiotes comes from the family of the Arum family (Araceae) and occurs in nature in America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Shellflower is a floating plant that floats freely on the water surface with dark green to gray-green felt-like hairy leaves, some of which look almost plush. With time it grows to a stately size of over 10 cm in diameter. Under a lot of light it reaches a height of 5-7 cm. The long bright root beards make a very attractive picture. Here shrimps and small fish find a place to climb or great hiding places.

Due to its rapid growth, the mussel flower deprives algae of the opportunity to use excess nutrients for themselves. This tends to prevent algae plagues. It also shades parts of the tank somewhat, which is very positive for fish, crabs and shrimp that need the security provided by cover.

Pistia stratiotes is a fairly hardy floating plant. In the aquarium and pond it soon forms dense carpets of small plants on the water surface. It does not like condensation very much and therefore prefers open aquariums. Otherwise Pistia stratiotes is an undemanding, adaptable and attractive floating plant for small to large aquariums, in summer it can also be kept in the pond. In small aquariums, the largest plants should possibly be collected from time to time and only the small offshoot plants should be kept in the tank.

It ispropagated by cutting off the small daughter plants, also called filaments, which are on short stems attached to the leaf rosette.

The optimal temperature range is between 10-28° Celsius, the mussel flower has no special requirementsto the other water parameters.

NANO mussel flower is small offshoots, which in time grow to a size of up to 10-15 cm.

Content: 1 portion in a cup (cup size: 60ml)

Profile
Scientific name:
Pistia stratiotes
German name:
Mussel flower, water lettuce
Origin/Distribution:
worldwide
Growth habit:
2-7 cm long green to gray-green, heavily hairy leaves with clearly visible ribs growing rosette-like from the root and standing above the water surface, usually also offshoots sitting on short stalks at the leaf origin, long light, well-branched root beards under water

Growth height: About 5-7 cm
Growth rate: Fast
Placement in the tank: Floating plant
Light requirement: Medium
CO2 fertilization: Not Necessary
Water hardness: 0-25 °dH
Temperature: 10-28 °C
Propagation: Separation of daughter plants