Added 4 live plants in 5 weeks

[pandapops001]

Ok

so i'm adding live plants into my aquarium but the fish keep eating them, sometimes they just bite the leafs til they come away, and dont eat them at all, (destructive little monkeys lol), is there anything i can do? live plants are so much better for the tank, more natural looking, better for nitrates and oxygen in the water.

But they just dont seem to last long enough, are there any live plants that fish dont eat? i'm definately feeding them enough, twice a day and food does sink to the bottom (gravel cleaner a godsend).

The other question, how can i get live plants that are big enough for my tank, they only sell live plants upto 10" at my lfs, and my tank is 18" high??

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[Crookster]

Certain types of plants won't get eaten. I believe Java fern is one of them. Also try really broad leaved plants. If you ask at your lfs they should be able to tell you which ones won't get eaten.

As for the height, the ones you get will grow, I'm always having to trim mine. HTH.

 

[Crookster]

BTW, there's a plants section lower down

 

[Doggfather]

What type of fish are they?

 

[pandapops001]

Sorry Crookster, accident i promise

I have mollys, platys, swordtails guppies and a plec

 

[Phantom Thief]

Well, in my experience, platies and mollies enjoy munching on plants. But i dont think too many others do though, just mine. Java ferns are very good, i have one, and its been there for ages and not a single leaf has been eaten. Also, be careful before you take the advice of a lfs.

P.T.

 

[Lateral Line]

Keeping aquarium plants is a hobby in it's own right. Sure there are fish that will mow a planted tank flat in a week, but what you have are far from the worst. Is it possible your plants are dying for some other reason, and your fish are taking advatage / the blame?

Post your tank specs, water parameters, and most importantly, your lighting on the Plant board and we'll try. (I am away for a week now though but there are some good people there!).

 

[endparenthesis]

Hornwort shouldn't get eaten either.

 

[Bol]

Hornwort shouldn't get eaten either.

That may be true in general, but man, I recently got a couple of mollies, and they decimate hornwort.

However, they're unusually polite about it. They'll completely clean one "stem" of it over four or five days, and then move on to the next one. Fine with me, as the hornwort grows much quicker than that, so I'm still "in the hornwort black" .

 

[Rusty_S]

Hey, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I read somewhere that clown loaches are "merciless plant destroyers". Is this true because I've just had a shipment of new plants today and I have two clowns!