Plants For An Aggressive Comunity Tank

[jurme]

hi, i have a 30 gallon tank and want some natural plants , both floating and submerged. However i am concerned about how well the plants will fare amongst my belligerent fish. i heard convicts are especially hard on plants.

 

[snowflake311]

Anacharis is really cheap grows fast and can be floated.

Anubias VERY tough leafs will be fine if up rooted I don't even plant mine. I sit it on the bottom and use a rock to hold it down.

Onion plant once it takes root its not going anywhere. The leafs are tough and said to be bitter.

Java fern does not need to be rooted but its leafs are not as tough as the others I mentioned.

 

[jurme]

Anacharis is really cheap grows fast and can be floated.

Anubias VERY tough leafs will be fine if up rooted I don't even plant mine. I sit it on the bottom and use a rock to hold it down.

Onion plant once it takes root its not going anywhere. The leafs are tough and said to be bitter.

Java fern does not need to be rooted but its leafs are not as tough as the others I mentioned.

thanks, i have a gravel bottom rather then sand, would it be a problem for the prior mentioned plants?

and are there any plants that may be good for my omniverous fish to munch on without being easily killed?

 

[Davo86]

TBh i wouldn't say Convicts are that bad when it comes to destroying plants? Although they can sometimes dig them up when making pits to breed in,

The plants mentioned above though are extremely hardy and java fern and anubias especially will survive with even the most plant hating species.

Also Frogbit and duckweed are two very good floating plants that although will get eaten, are such quick growers that they should outgrow the amount that gets eaten.

 

[snowflake311]

The plants I listed don't even need to be planted they can grow on wood or rocks so the fact that you have gravle does not matter.

They plants I listed should not get eaten. Well maybe the Anacharis but it will grow back fast.

 

[blue acara]

Check this tank I had a while ago. No co2 and no E.I, just standard 2x 30 watts light and root tabs.
Plants are vallisneria, java fern, amazon sword, pennywort? anyway these plants are really hardy and will do ok in a basic cichlid tank as long as you have reasonable light and enough nitrate and a little phosphate, and the fish will provide it for you!
In that tank I had a group of firemouths and a pair of blue acara, they dig around and can dislodge a plant occasionaly but its not a big problem.

 

[Attilauk]

if Convicts are as beligerent as Severums then vallisneria will not last 2 minutes with them, i know this from painful experience

Java Fern works well so does Anubias

Amazon Swords put up with a lot of battering and keep coming back, Crypts grow quickly and will put up with leaves being munched too

 

[b0668099]

Check this tank I had a while ago. No co2 and no E.I, just standard 2x 30 watts light and root tabs.
Plants are vallisneria, java fern, amazon sword, pennywort? anyway these plants are really hardy and will do ok in a basic cichlid tank as long as you have reasonable light and enough nitrate and a little phosphate, and the fish will provide it for you!
In that tank I had a group of firemouths and a pair of blue acara, they dig around and can dislodge a plant occasionaly but its not a big problem.

Wow,

What substrate did you use?

 

[blue acara]

I just used gravel bought from lfs with some decent root tabs dotted around. Im not sure about convicts + plants, I had sajica(similar to convict) in this tank as well and they never ate the plants. Vallis is definitely worth a try imo...great plant.