South American Cichlids with which plants...

[deancoo]

Hello all,

I'm really frustrated. I have a 90 gallon tank with about 20 Convicts (some
large, some small) and one large Texan. The problem is that they seem to
take pleasure in uprooting and destroying anything I plant. I really would
like to add some greenery, but these damn guys won't quit. I can generally
keep plants down by putting them in their own individual pots, but in that
case they just tear the stalks out at ground level. Can anyone give me some
advice on what might be attractive plants that are more resilient to my
terrible fish?

Thanks in advance,
d

[Nick Wise]

deancoo wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I'm really frustrated. I have a 90 gallon tank with about 20
Convicts (some
> large, some small) and one large Texan. The problem is that they
seem to
> take pleasure in uprooting and destroying anything I plant. I really
would
> like to add some greenery, but these damn guys won't quit. I can
generally
> keep plants down by putting them in their own individual pots, but in
that
> case they just tear the stalks out at ground level. Can anyone give
me some
> advice on what might be attractive plants that are more resilient to
my
> terrible fish?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> d

You can try some anubias or java fern attached to driftwood. Or
plastic plants.....

[dfrea001@odu.edu]

Anubias isn't likely to work. My cichlids (five green severums and a
jack dempsey) loved to tear up the leaves of anubias and chew on the
roots any time they uprooted it. Java fern might work - if anything
with roots will work that will probably be it. The only plant I was
ever successful with in my cichlid tank was hornwort - there's nothing
to uproot and even when they tear it up it keeps right on growing. Of
course I don't think it looks quite as nice as rooted plants but it
does take care of the nitrate problem.

-Daniel