# plants getting destroyed



## chronoboy

I need help trying to stop my fish from destroying all the plants, this last month all of a sudden the fish have started tearing up all my plants and eating them they have already ate about 30 bucks worth of plants, I've tried to counter it by buying wisteria since they have always munched on that stuff but now they eat a whole wisteria plant in a day and go back to tearing apart my other plants, I'm about to take all the plants out of there to stop them but at the same time its my main show tank and the tank I made to be a planted tank, and till a month ago my plants flourished in the tank.

Soo anybody that has any ideas would be great.


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## Misterbob

i had the same problem till i bought my last bunch of plants. the reason why they are eating them is cause they can and do in nature and its part of their diet. also what i have found to help is to have enough plants in the tank that if one gets nibbled on or get eaten completely then it goes un noticed.


i take a bunch of leaves outta my tank every week cause my fish keep pulling them apart but honestly i cant tell which plants they are attacking


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## Chaos553

I'm going to assume your Angels, Tiger Barbs and Gouramis are your biggest suspects right? When I had Silver Dollars last summer, I used to hang a leaf of romaine lettuce from a suction clip once every day/every other day or so, while maintaining the Amazon Swords I had in the tank. They BARELY touched the Swords unless I forgot to put a leaf in from time to time. You could give that idea a shot, but if worse comes to worse, you might be better off buying plastic plants or really hearty plants like Anubias or possibly even Red Melon Swords.


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## emc7

Which tank? Sometimes fish will eat plants because they are hungry and they taste good. I think expensive plants taste best. Some fish will only eat plants at certain ages (fry and grown fish eat something else), so they can grow into being plant eaters. Goldfish like plants. Plecoes go for plants when they are hungry.

Angels and gouramis will 'aquascape' the tank. Destroying plants that are in the way of the sight lines they want.


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## chronoboy

well i have alot of plants in there, and they dont seem to touch any anubias strains but they tear up all the other ones like my swords, Wendtii "Red", wisteria, and i cant remember the name of the other plant they eat but that it grows so fast it dont bother me same with the wisteria but as for the wendtii's and the swords are the ones that they are just ravishing and the ones i dont want them to eat, ill try the lettuce idea see if that stops them, otherwise i think im going to have to take them out (dont want to do that).


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## chronoboy

and yes its mostly the angels and goldfish doing most the damage.


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## Chaos553

chronoboy said:


> well i have alot of plants in there, and they dont seem to touch any anubias strains but they tear up all the other ones like my swords, Wendtii "Red", wisteria, and i cant remember the name of the other plant they eat but that it grows so fast it dont bother me same with the wisteria but as for the wendtii's and the swords are the ones that they are just ravishing and the ones i dont want them to eat, ill try the lettuce idea see if that stops them, otherwise i think im going to have to take them out (dont want to do that).


They won't touch the Anubias because they probably can't due to it's thickness. Swords will be your number one nipped on plant since the texture is decently thin and thick enough for fish to enjoy chowing down on. I wonder if draping the top of the tank with Water Sprite would get their mind off of the other plants. Water Sprite also grows insanely fast regardless of it being planted or left afloat, I guess you can give that a try if you're willing to buy a few. Let us know how it's going, I'm curious if that idea will work.


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## cybercat

I would take the goldfish out of the tank. It is a cold water fish and is probably doing the most damge to your plants.


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## chronoboy

Well the goldfish is there till I finish my pond and well even though they say there a cold water fish, there still a hardy fish and can adapt to almost anything. They are very hardy and healthy in there and its the angels doing the damage. But yes the goldfish do need to go.


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## girth vader

However unsightly, lettuce does work...... I keep a few livebearers in the tank to keep the angels off my plants (black mollies) They reproduce quick and the fry are nice and bitesize. This will keep your fish off your plants as well as eat any hair algae that may start... serves a duo purpose in my southie tank.


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