Plants/fish - fish/plants

[gadazobe]

Hi all, haven't been around for a while - had visitors for a while. Hope everyone's OK. I'm not sure if this should be in the plant section or the fish section :but: Every time I put new plants in my community tank, they get uprooted within a day or so. About a week ago I went to a great LFS - Swallow Aquatics - brilliant place not too far from where I live, and spent a small fortune on some new plants. Real nice ones, rescaped my community tank - it looked fintastic - fishies loved it - going in and out of the "jungle". Today it looks a mess :what: Most of the new plants are floating on the top of the water. It seems that the red plants attract the fishes attention more than the green :0 Can fish diferentiate colours? The green plants are fine - still in place and growing nicely - but I've lots of "bald" patches where the reds ones used to be. How can I stop the fishies from uprooting them

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Sorry I know you have listed them somewhere, but what fish are in your tank again so we can piont the finger

 

[gadazobe]

180 litres : 1 pleco, 3 sailfins, 6 cories, 5 guppies, 4 platties, 2 dwarf gouramis, 1 female betta, 2 swords and a few tiny fry of various kinds

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Ah,
Right most fish don't bother about colour, but they can tell by plant, so they'll go for the tasty soft plants.
There is no cure, except to tie them onto wood, rocks and having real big root systems.
Rose will be best on this subject, But I'd say the plec is causing the damage How big is it?

 

[Dragonslair]

Just a post script that I would like to add.
How deep is your substrate and what type of filtration are you using? The reason I ask is recently I've had to top up my substrate to three inches in certain areas in order for the plants to anchor their roots. I have 2 weather loaches in the tank and the're bloomin good shovellers. Before adding the extra gravel and sand mix to the tank, I got plenty of floating plants too. So I buried the roots in deeper substrate, and plants like the cambomba I've weighted down with pebbles tied with fishing line and buried also. My plants are thriving. As you say it's like a jungle. I called mine, Fern Gully.
The matter of filtration, if you have a UG filter, this can be detrimental to the plants roots.

 

[gadazobe]

Who do I tie - the plants or the fish
The pleco is about 5-6 inches long and I think you're right, he lays on top of the newer plants before they have a chance to take root properly and "wriggles" in them. He must think that they're a new bed for him :grin:
I have a Juwel tank - the filter is in a column on the side of the tank and the substrate is about 3-4 inches in places and about 2 in others. I leave the plants in the little pots that they come in to give them a better start in rooting - but that doesn't help either. Ah well, the LFS does a booming trade from me - I guess I'll keep buying and Simon (the pleco) will keep destroying

 

[Davy Reynolds]

to tie them, I've used elastic bands (but they rot) thread, and fish line. Fish line is clear and most inert. Once it's bonded to the wood you can untie it

 

[Dragonslair]

Yes I too have a Juwel aquarium, and since I've tied the PLANTS TO THE PEBBLES I've had little trouble. The bristle nose plecs (4 of those) tend to push the plants to the side somewhat but they haven't been able to uproot or damage them. Recommendation for planting, is to insert the plant at 45 deg. into the substrate for better anchorage.
Like a bonsai if you decide to train the plant onto bogwood you must ensure the roots bite into the wood before untieing any wire/lines. Once the security is taken away, the plant must be strong enough to withstand bulldozing by your plec.I would suggest a minumum time of 6 months before undoing any lines.

 

[ostrow]

Pardon my stupid question but how do you tie plant roots to pebbles? : :hmm: :hmm:

 

[adeyc]

with string!! lol. you need to have reasonably sized pebbles first though. I just usualy plant mine in the gravel, without tying.

 

[ostrow]

:what: :what: :what:

Thanks, Sherlock!!! :0 :0

I've got pea-sized pebbles, so I don't see tying the plants to those. I've only got a 6 Gal tank, remember, too, so I've got what, an inch and a half to two inches of pebble.

I'm thinking of doing something weird 8) 8)

I'm thinking of tying the plants around a plastic plant used like a stick, and burying said plastic plant under the pebbles. Dunno if that'll work.

Or going into the yard and finding a medium sized rock ... any dangers therein that I'm not aware of???

 

[adeyc]

:laugh: what you could do is get a small net bag, put some of the gravel in it then put the plant in the bag and place it back in the tank after a while the roots will have attached themselves to the gravel in the bag so you can bin the bag and replace the pland/gravel back in the tank.
you should have a reasonably deep enough substrate to just put the plant into the gravel anyway, but if not a stone from the garden should be fine just boil wash it first. Oh yeah try puting some vinegar on it if it fizzes don't use it and try to avoid any of the stones/rocks that have any metalic looking bits on them (chances are they will have ore in them and that will polute the water)

 

[Dragonslair]

Hello Adeyc, long time no hear, nice to have you back. Where have you been? Hols.
The other addition that I would like to add to adeyc's comments about garden stone is, dependant on the type of stone it could leach toxins and chems which may alter the water quality. What I did was when I set up my tank, I went down to my local river and aquired some unusual shaped stones that had been well weathered by river erosion. I brought them home,disinfected every nook and cranny with aquarian disinfectant and then washed and scrubbed them. Then I arranged them in the aquarium,knowing that some had to do the job of anchoring plants. My tank looks like a reasonable replica of the fishes natural habitat.

 

[adeyc]

I've been vandelised. good to be back
No chance of hols yet. may get a weekend in Oct'(see the agm post in general chat)

 

[Dragonslair]

Vandalised as in vandalised???
Was much damaged or taken or was it just sheer want and damage. Are you O.K?