Floating plant advice for large indoor pond?

[Groombridge]

Hello, Can anyone who has had any success with floating plants advise me on selecting a useful hardy species of floating flora! The pond is an indoor (12 X 4 X 3 ft) tropical pond heated to 28c and houses rainbow fish and a fly river turtle....... I have tried Water lettuce twic with no success, Amazon Frogbit with little success....! (have used liquid fertilizer)
The enclousre has full spectrum lighting via Murcury vapour lamps..... would any tropical lillies no better?
Best regards
Carl

 

[Ed Seeley]

You could try tropical water lilies in pots like an outdoor pond. You might also want to give water hyacinth a go as that is very rampant when it gets going. It does like a lot of light and no condensation dripping onto it though.

 

[Steve Smith]

No real advice but I'd love to see some photos of your indoor pond

 

[ghostsword]

Simple one to fix. Closed cell foam, then hydrocotyle , rotalas or Indian fern.

Dose ferts and you can pretty much grow anything floating.


.

 

[Gill]

**Water Hyacinth - Great for ponds and is a very very hungry feeder - great for filtration - Great success in heated/unheated outdoor/indoor ponds. Also roots are Great spawning mediums for lots of fish.
Elodea left floating does very well.
Hydrocoytle again does very well floating and its roots provide great hiding places for fry.
** Azolla - Amazing plant, grows super fast with dense roots. Can get a bit out of hand if left alone. Also a Great source of food for turtles.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I think Eichornia is probably easier to grow than Pistia, but it does need a lot of light. There are a few really good plants for a tropical pond, Cyperus papyrus is a great emersed one, you should be able to find it fairly easily, but if you can't PM me. Others that are good are the tropical Nelumbo/Nelubium and Nymphaea species, I had some for a while and they are easy and quick from seed (bought via Chiltern seeds - <http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/>). If you can get a plant of Nymphaea 'Daubeniana', it is a good easy one, and really easy to propagate as the leaves form viviparous plantlets (some other Nymphaeas do as well).
Any of the forms of Nelumbium nucifera are very good, another possible Water Lily from seed is Euryale ferox. Other possibilities are Ludwigia sedioides or Trapa natans, although I've never seen the Ludwigia for sale in the UK.

A final possibility is Taro, Dasheen or Eddoes (Colocasia esculenta), you can buy them as vegetables in larger Sainsbury's etc and they are happy to grow with their root submersed. Have a look here <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7593> for some more Aroids.

A final really good one, again if you can source it is Hydrocleys nymphoides.

cheers Darrel