# jungle vals eaten up



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

My BN pleco has had them all as salad!.
Very frustrating as in the past I have had so many vals that I gave them away by the handful. He started to eat my anubias,now has started to finish the vals. He gets either shrimp pellets or algae tabs each night and 3 times a week he gets cucumber. Won't eat zucchini or beans. Has chewed a big hole in his Mopani house. IS approximately 6 years old or better.
Thought vals were hardy?
I am wondering if I take out the small rooty bit of val that is left and put it in a plain jam jar would it be able to recover a bit?
Course I dunno what use that will be as he will still be in the tank and will only eat it again.

Ideas???


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

quit the cuke.feed it more algae tabs..maybe 2-3 times a day..you may not be growing enough natural algae for it..if it is well fed it won't bother your plants..


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I know there is not enough algae. I think the hornwort sucks all the nutrients out of the tank. Vals have a hard time with hornwort too I have discovered.

Problem is that those dastardly snails eat a lot of the algae tabs and proliferate madly( MT's). There is also a clown plec and upside down catfish in the same log that are possibly competing. Will try a couple more tabs although he never comes out in the daytime. 
My gold plec seemed to love to come out when she saw me but this guy hides all day.
In the meantime I have put the little nub of val into a jar with gravel and submerged in the tank being careful to use a size that no-one should get stuck in.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Feed more at night then, but it does definitely sound like something in there is underfed


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

we had a 90 gallon tank with about 100 young bushynose in it along with vast quantities of corkscrew val...kept the lights on at least 12 hours a day..never had any damaged plants..


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

also zuchinni has more nutritional (sp?) value than cucumbers.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you might also want to try some yams....


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Nobody in the tank except snails will eat zucchini but I could try the sweet potato. Carrot certainly wasn't a hit! Neither is green bean
I might try and put the lights on longer. I currently have them for 4 hours a day because otherwise I get black algae on the anubias.
Very little algae on the glass. Both plecos are plump!
maybe it is the clown that is eating it?
would it be the snails?
Even the stems of the anubias has been eaten in half and leaves are having bites taken out of them.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Depends what kind of snail


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Gonna have to rethink who is eating the plants.
This morning the vals had been ripped out of the jar I had put them in so am thinking that it is something that does not mind going into a container head first and then can get back out easily. I wonder if the pleco could do that?
Jar is 3 inches in diameter.
Anyway the jar with the eaten down plants is now in the windowsill along with my orchids to see if they will recover but really they are down to 1 inch!
I have tetras in there as well as danios and I can't see them munching.
What about the upside down cat fish?
Rainbow?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

catfish have barbels for a reason..to help find food..they will certainly dig around to get at it.
and tetras will often eat plants..some more aggressively then others.


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