Aquaponics duckweed is found in fresh waters worldwide. It usually takes the form of a blanket-like growth on slow moving waters. Duckweed grows and multiplies at a very alarming rate if you have the correct conditions. There are benefits to giving your fish duckweed to eat and they include: It can be eaten fresh by the fish and it will not clog up your tank as it floats. You can grow and find it in local areas. It is very high in protein. It is not in any way expensive.
Aquaponics duckweed is well known as a good replacement for the 'pellet' based fish food that is normally used in an aquaponics system. Due to it's popularity it has also been tried out as feed for ducks and chickens with great success - this is mainly down to the protein content. Duckweed is thought to be one of the smallest flowering plants in the world.
Growing aquaponics duckweed is a relatively easy task. Basically, all you need is some sort of 'pond' device. The actual depth of the pond is not at all important as aquaponics duckweed tends to spend it's time floating on the surface of the water. If you want a great crop of duckweed then you should always keep in mind the temperature which it will thrive at - between 18 and 30 degrees celsius. Therefore the water should really be kept at any temperature between these to figures.
If you have no pond you can simply use a bucket or an old bathtub to grow your aquaponics duckweed. If you do happen to grow to much aquaponics duckweed then you can dry it out and drain it properly to be frozen and then stored. This is a technique that they use to create duckweed pellets for fish food. For storage in a freezer all you have to do is compress the duckweed and put it in simple plastic bags.
So, at the end of the day the choice on what you feed the fish in your aquaponics system is down to you. Many people find the bog standard commercial fish food easier to use. Personally and for organic, green reasons - I would choose aquaponics duckweed for feed every time.
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