Floating plants for rift lake cichlids

[AmyKieran]

Tried several with no success

Duckweed - eaten
Hornwort - destroyed
Frogbit - destroyed

Any other suggestions?

 

[Wills]

Tried several with no success

Duckweed - eaten
Hornwort - destroyed
Frogbit - destroyed

Any other suggestions?

How is your parlour palm doing? Just wondering if more plant roots could be a way forward, things like Monsterra, Philodendron and Peace Lillys could work well.

Wills

 

[AmyKieran]

How is your parlour palm doing? Just wondering if more plant roots could be a way forward, things like Monsterra, Philodendron and Peace Lillys could work well.

Wills

Doesn’t seem to have grown much but still nice and green, remember I have dogs and ide be concerned if some of them are toxic

 

[AmyKieran]

How is your parlour palm doing? Just wondering if more plant roots could be a way forward, things like Monsterra, Philodendron and Peace Lillys could work well.

Wills

Also, below is a picture of the top of my tank. There isn’t a great deal of room at the top (without cutting up the lid) for plants

 

[Wills]

Also, below is a picture of the top of my tank. There isn’t a great deal of room at the top (without cutting up the lid) for plants

Could you cut a strip from where the filter pipes go in to where the plant is and fill that area with plants? I think that far towards the back you wont need to worry about the dogs getting them? Most of them would grow over the lid of the tank or upwards.

Do you have any floor lamps or ceiling lights near the tank? You could put a grow bulb in that fitting and point them to the tank - even if you swapped the lamps on the corners of the tank for a desk lamp sort of fitting and pointed the light back at the plants.

Wills

 

[AmyKieran]

Could you cut a strip from where the filter pipes go in to where the plant is and fill that area with plants? I think that far towards the back you wont need to worry about the dogs getting them? Most of them would grow over the lid of the tank or upwards.

Do you have any floor lamps or ceiling lights near the tank? You could put a grow bulb in that fitting and point them to the tank - even if you swapped the lamps on the corners of the tank for a desk lamp sort of fitting and pointed the light back at the plants.

Wills

I could cut a strip yeah. The fish seem to leave the parlour palm alone. Only thing is, my parlour palm is pushed into the corner so that stops it from moving, tied together with an elastic band. How would I keep the plants in a fixed position there?

Yes I have a bright, cool white ceiling light pretty much directly over the tank. Aswell as double patio window doors across the room with light onto the tank

 

[Wills]

You can make planters that can hang on the edge or wrap the stem with wire and hang that over the edge of the tank.

This guy is great for this kind of thing - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5gnqQgvgz_M8apUVQRjMQ

Wills

 

[AmyKieran]

You can make planters that can hang on the edge or wrap the stem with wire and hang that over the edge of the tank.

This guy is great for this kind of thing - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5gnqQgvgz_M8apUVQRjMQ

Wills

Okay thanks

 

[GaryE]

They are very plant friendly fish - they find plants very tasty indeed. Mbuna have no plants in their habitat, though peacocks, with their different environment and needs often do.


Putting plants with mbuna is feeding them. Tough leaf plants like Anubias, java fern or Bolbitis survive them, but aren't natural to the fish (and only float if you've done something badly).

 

[StevenF]

My suggestion is to keep trying floating plants. Eventually you may find one which they don't like You could try water lettuce, salvinia, redroot floater.

 

[AmyKieran]

You can make planters that can hang on the edge or wrap the stem with wire and hang that over the edge of the tank.

This guy is great for this kind of thing - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5gnqQgvgz_M8apUVQRjMQ

Wills

I’ve bought some plants today, I’ll update soon