So I understand we can't get the extremely cool pistia that Deepsound has in his tanks. What floating plants can we get here, and where do we get them? I don't recall ever seeing any for sale.

well duck weed if your that way inclined, indian fern does a nice floating plant and Riccia are the only ones I can think or apart from mosses.

and I have only seen them on here, though you could try hitting up Theplantlab or what every the username is on Tm, they usually have some plants you don't see in LFS

I can probably bring some indian fern up for you next month if you can't find anyone with any up there, though it is quite common

Hey I can get you some duckweed(azzola?) if you want.

Azolla filiculoides is a native free-floating fern. Likes high light (which is convenient being right under the lights!) and no surface movement.

Turns red under strong light or green otherwise (is the plant that turns many farm ponds red)

Actually has a completely awesome symbiotic relationship with a type of cyanobacteria. The azolla provides a nice safe home for the cyano, and takes advantage of teh cyano's nitrogen-fixing properties)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla_filiculoides

Do a google image search.

(btw I recommend getting only a few plants then allowing them to take over. It is easy to harvest great handfuls then turn your tank into a mess of dropped roots. A really good way to harvest it without breaking the plants up is to dip a flat surface like cardboard or an icecream container lid into the water and lift it out with a few plants, then float them off in your tank)

('Duckweed' refers to a lot of different plants, floating and non-floating, so is a very confusing term. Lemna is the one that consists of tiny green platelets.)

got heaps of indian fern that anyone is welcome too, it just re grows

Pahaha I couldn't grow the indian fern Zayne gave me! TBH I struggle to grow java moss with my turtle!

ah that may be the problem =p might need anti turtle barriers around the plants =p

We had some sturdy pond plants in our turtle pond out side back home along with grasses and low lying plants.

Could work with the turtle (grasses and low lying out of pond)

Azolla filiculoides is a native free-floating fern. Likes high light (which is convenient being right under the lights!) and no surface movement.

Turns red under strong light or green otherwise (is the plant that turns many farm ponds red)

Actually has a completely awesome symbiotic relationship with a type of cyanobacteria. The azolla provides a nice safe home for the cyano, and takes advantage of teh cyano's nitrogen-fixing properties)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla_filiculoides

Do a google image search.

(btw I recommend getting only a few plants then allowing them to take over. It is easy to harvest great handfuls then turn your tank into a mess of dropped roots. A really good way to harvest it without breaking the plants up is to dip a flat surface like cardboard or an icecream container lid into the water and lift it out with a few plants, then float them off in your tank)

('Duckweed' refers to a lot of different plants, floating and non-floating, so is a very confusing term. Lemna is the one that consists of tiny green platelets.)

That looks pretty good, where do you get it?

some random pond somewhere.... Not entirely sure! it is really common though - farm ponds, lakes, ditches, wetlands, urban lakes where there is riparian vegetation for it to get caught in.

I think I have seem some along with the comoon green one in the himitangi stream about 20-30 up from the beach

water hyathis ? spelling green and has a few leavs per plant and it grows pups off them, is great for breeding/feeding goldfish with but it is an illegal weed but it is around idd love some more.

That looks pretty good, where do you get it?

I have two small plants of azolla, but I know where plenty is if you want me to post some to you. Send a PM if you do.

water hyathis ? spelling green and has a few leavs per plant and it grows pups off them, is great for breeding/feeding goldfish with but it is an illegal weed but it is around idd love some more.

As you say it is an illegal plant to possess.

We do not want it to get into the waterways more than it already is. It is know to cause many problems.

Azolla is very common as Stella mentioned.

Go for a drive along the rural roads and look for roadside ditches. Im sure you will find some there.