Don't dismiss this as a food source. Plenty of fish need to eat plants and algae. This plant grows quickly enough to keep up with the harvest-by-eating technique.

With enough light, a small culture of this plant will cover the surface of a tank in a couple of weeks. We usually start folks off with enough to comfortably cover a 5 gallon tank. If you are raising fish which like to nibble on plant material (Some Rift Lake Cichlids...Goldfish) you might find that they will eat the tailing roots of this plant until the roots are barely visible. Normally the roots will grow back in a few days.

There are several kinds of duckweed here in the hatchery but the cultures which seems to be eaten the most is a small variety which we find to grow quickly and in an array of conditions...none of which have to be perfect. The only significant challenge with this food source (other than is ability to out produce any demand for it) is that when the surface of the water is covered by it, any fruit flies and Springtails which you may be feeding to the fish are given an opportunity to crawl out of the water tension...not a good thing.

Not only can this plant be a good source of food for specialized feeders, it can be a habitat for livebearer fry and a shade cover for light sensitive fish.

"We grow food not bait"