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

David J. Braunegg wrote:

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?

I have platys in a 55 heavy planted tank and they have not touched them. I
have 8 amazon swords, assorted bulbs on one end for shade. Bunches of
Moneywart, java moss, 5 java ferns, willow moss, bunches of Red lugwiga,
and bunches of bacopa.

Maybe its the type of plant you have cause I noticed the platys eating algae
but not the plant.

Kay

I too have platys and they never touch the plants. They are in a 10
gallon tank. My problem with platys is too many fry and too many fry
that survive.

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 04:34:39 GMT, Kay wrote:

David J. Braunegg wrote:

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?

I have platys in a 55 heavy planted tank and they have not touched them. I
have 8 amazon swords, assorted bulbs on one end for shade. Bunches of
Moneywart, java moss, 5 java ferns, willow moss, bunches of Red lugwiga,
and bunches of bacopa.

Maybe its the type of plant you have cause I noticed the platys eating algae
but not the plant.

Kay

Kay wrote:
I have platys in a 55 heavy planted tank and they have not touched them.

Maybe its the type of plant you have cause I noticed the platys eating algae
but not the plant.

I'm not sure of the name of the plants I used--they were bunch plants
with lead strips to hold the stems down. The store didn't have the
plants labelled by name and I didn't ask. Looking at pictures in an
aquarium book, they are probably one of the following: Egeria densa
(Elodea densa), Elodea canadensis, or Hydrilla verticillata.

I clipped off the now-bare stems, then planted two of the remaining tips
and let the other three float. I haven't noticed these tips getting
eaten much, so I still wonder if it might have been related to the
female Platy being hungry because she was going to give birth.

The fact that you haven't had your platys eat your plants gives me some
hope.

Dave

P.S. The young man at the store said that I didn't need to wash the
plants off before planting them in my tank. I've killed the four baby
snails that appeared and I haven't seen more, so maybe I got off lucky.
If I try live plants again, what should I do to get rid of snails/snail
eggs before I plant them?

Thanks again--Dave

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

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

In article , David J. Braunegg wrote:
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.

Our platies pretty mercilessly attacked one type of our plants, and left the
other entirely untouched. After a while they now leave it alone too, so you
might find that the problem goes away.

-Paul