Plants For A Cichlid Tank

[jtnova13]

hey all im looking to plant my currently fake planted tank. Which plants would go the best with a green terror, a red devil, and a common plec? I dunno what lighting i have but on a scale of 1-10 i would say i have about 6 or 7. If you could just suggest some candidates for plants i would really appreciate

my tank is a 4'x1'x18" 60 gallon tank.

thanks!

 

[africantigerfish7]

That tank is quite small for the fish you have(or somebody please correct me). Anyway, cichlids I've kept don't care for plants, but you plec would happily eat them !

 

[vancouver]

Yea the tank really is too small long term..

but as for plants, I think your fish will just decimate them.

 

[Boids-n-more]

something you can try is to mix some fake plants with the real ones. That will trick the plec and give your plants some extended life. The green terror and red devil won't eat your plants to death but could very well dig them up. you can add plants but it will be a lil work to keep them planted. You can mount some ferns to drift wood for example or some java moss. Also how many watts of lighting do you have for your tank. Depending on the plants you want you will need 1 to 4 watts per gallon so thats 60 to 240 watss of lighting. Also check the plant forum , theres more knowlegable people there about plants than me.

 

[jtnova13]

the RD and GT are now about 6" and 5" respectively, and there is no problem thus far. IF there is a problem in the future they will be sent back to the LFS and replaced with community fish.

So with planted tanks, pleco's are a no no?

 

[RadaR]

No. You can keep plecs with plants.

 

[brittlestar]

No. You can keep plecs with plants.

IMO my plecs I've had over the years have ALWAYS taken huge chunks out of plant leaves

 

[RadaR]

No. You can keep plecs with plants.

IMO my plecs I've had over the years have ALWAYS taken huge chunks out of plant leaves

Really, me and people i know have never had problems. I guess you just cant predict what a plec is going to do

 

[14gtr14]

your tank is not 60 US gallons. It is 45 US gallons. It is the exact same dimensions as my tank.

48 inches multiplied by 18 multiplied by 12 = 10368 inches cubed

10368 inches cubed equals 44.8831167 US gallons (last calculations entered into google as 10368 inches cubed to US gallons)

 

[jtnova13]

its 60 gallons, maybe i didnt give the right dimensions haha i filled it with 12 5 gallon bucket fulls.

 

[KathyM]

No. You can keep plecs with plants.

IMO my plecs I've had over the years have ALWAYS taken huge chunks out of plant leaves

I have four plecs (a gibby, a Royal, an ancistrus and a rusty L077) in a planted tank with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I think larger plecs can sometimes "bulldoze" newly planted plants in the tank, which can be annoying, but in general plecs fed a proper diet shouldn't pose a problem with eating them.