Digging Up Plants

[Daz]

I'm having a nightmare at the moment, everyday when I come home from work, I find at least two of my plants floating on the surface. The fish keep diging them up every five minutes. I'm not sure if they like munching on the roots. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can stop them digging up their garden. It's driving me mad.

 

[heresmike]

What kind of fish do you have? Some are notorious for uprooting plants (and enything else that's not bolted down), especially african cichlids.

 

[charliecanskatesome]

What kind of fish do you have? My oscar rips anything to shreds in his tank except for rocks. Its impossible for me to keep plants in my oscar tank.

 

[Daz]

I've got a couple of Rams, but they don't seem to bother with the plants. I've caught my Clown Loaches gill deep in the gravel though.

 

[pendragon]

Do you still have the little weighted ties on them that were around the plant stems (if they had any) when you bought them? If the bases of your stems are bundled together with those things, even if the fish dig the gravel away from the plants the weights will still hold them in place and keep them from floating. After a short while, they'll begin to develop root systems and will pretty much hold themselves down.

I didn't like the weighted ties and took them off my plants at first, but after a couple of weeks of exactly what you're describing, I put them back around the stems just below gravel-level. No problems since, but I don't have any of the particularly persistent plant-diggers/destroyers either. Yo-yo loaches are the worst culprits I have, and although they dig at them a little now and then, they aren't too bad.

pendragon!

 

[guppygirly]

My clown loaches do the same thing! And even though those weight things don't look too great, I have to use them to keep my plants down.