water lettuce roots

[Orange Crush]

Can I trim the roots on my water lettuce? they are so long that they catch on my other plants which prevents proper water circulation on the surface (which causes a film to form on the surface). Also, the plants under it end up with constant shade.

[KingFisher]

I just grab a couple handfulls out every week. Grab the bigger ones with the longer roots and you'll be all set.

[Orange Crush]

I want to keep the larger lettuce though. They are more attractive (to me, I know the fish don't care).

[Orange Crush]

I cut the roots short on all but one of the H2O lettuces in case it damages/kills the plants - I wanted to make sure I would still have some plants (because trust me that one will become MANY in short order). Will let you know what happens to them later.....

[korith]

Trimming the roots is fine. Though by cutting the roots, you'll be encouraging them to grow out more. Water lettuce grows fairly quick, so experiment with trimming. It's a nice cover plant in the tank, I probably have to thin it out every 1-2 weeks, by taking out a handful or two.