I am constantly amazed how we all find solutions that are so
different. I feed five tanks:75,29,10,10,10, flake food and the only
muncher I have had was a large "Magic" snail I received in a shipment
of plants. They sent me 3 of these snails, but only one munched. I
swear I could hear the chrunch when I finally caught him at it. For a
while I isolated him over patches of black hair algae and he mowed the
stuff down, but the minute I lifted the plastic cover, he headed for
my plants. I finally put him down.

I have put pieces of squash, don't remember the type, in my tanks for
my Plecos. They and several other fish did clean up the squash, but
in another tank, the squash was barely touched.

I guess the challenges are part of why I like keeping fish. I am not
very good with humans, but I have much more patients with my fish and
dogs.

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 11:16:24 +0800, "Jim Morcombe"
wrote:

I had problems with all kinds of fish munching my expensive plants.

I used to just feed them on store-bought food. It turned out to be a diet
problem.

Now I regularly boil up a few pieces of vegetables and drop them in the
tank.

All of my fish eat the vegetables, even those that folks say will never eat
vegetables.

Their favourite is brocoli. But if I stick to a pure brocoli diet, the
Angels will eventually start munching on my Japanese Reed. So I
occasionally throw in some boiled and mashed peas or beans.

Jim


David J. Braunegg wrote in message
...
We got our first aquarium four weeks ago--10 gallons, 2 Corys, and 2
Platys (male and female). We put two clumps of cutting plants in at the
two-week mark. The Platys decimated them.

Is it hopeless to try to grow plants with Platys, or is it related to
the fact that the female was voracious because she was gravid and gave
birth a week later?

Any tips on growing plants with these fish would be appreciated. Also,
are there any fish we should avoid when getting a few more if we want to
keep live plants?

Thanks,
Dave