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So I went to a local koi/pond store today, and they just got in their shipment of water hyacinth this morning. They were only $3.75 for a good sized plant, so I picked up 4.

I was going to give the turts 1 plant each tonight, but since they're big, I thought I'd try to break it in half. Didn't work so well, and I more just broke off the bulbs. So I gave Ralph the bulbs, and Frankie the piece with all the roots, since I knew it'd have a better chance of surviving in her tank.

Well, of course, Ralph went after his bulbs right away. But he tries to grab the bulb, and it goes shooting across the tank I've heard of people using ping-pong balls to entertain the turtles, but the water hyacinth is even better! They have to exercise to get get their meal!
A couple pics:




So the good things about water hyacinth:
1) Good nutrition
2) Turtle exercise
3) Incredibly entertaining for anyone watching

I need to buy some of those!

It took my turtle a good while to track down the blueberries I gave him. He'd try to bite them and they'd slip out of his mouth and go floating away from him. It was really funny to watch.

I like water hyacinth for the cover they provide in ponds/stock tanks (helps keep the water temp down) and for their beautiful flowers. Last summer the painteds pretty much left them alone and they multiplied beyond belief. When they came inside last fall, their stock tanks were full of the plants, but they quickly started dying off for no apparent reason. When I pulled up the plants to look at them, all the bulbs had been bitten up to the point that the plants died. They did love to snack on those bulbs...

Yeah, I heard they can multiply fast. That's why I got extras. I was hoping I'd have a supply for all of summer. Right now, the extras are just in a bucket, but I'll put them around the yard in various fountains and such.
Can the flowers be eaten as well?

The guy said that they like a lot of fertilizer, and what's a better fertilizer than nitrogen rich turtle water

Frankie only discovered hers this morning. She checked out the roots first, but wasn't too interested. Then she discovered one of the bulbs. She liked that I love the crunch it makes when they bite into it

I've never seen any of my turtles eat the flowers. And secretly, I hope they don't because they're so beautiful. They don't last very long once they bloom--only a few days at most. Then the flower withers and turns downward into the water.

I had hyacinths back in canada and I think roca disliked the taste, since there was always hyacinth in his tank.

the dead bulbs I pulled off and played with them. They're pleasantly spongy and fun to kick around.