planted tank

[MYTY1705]

I am the proud pappa of two Pseudotropheus acei. The two I bought 4 months ago have spawned in my 55 gallon cichlid tank. I have a variety of cichlids in there including 1-red zebra,1- yelow lab, 2-acei, 1- who knows, and 1 red jewel.

I would like for the two to spawn again and maybe try to raise them.

My questions is would the Pseudotropheus acei do well in a planted tank along with a few Labidochromis caeruleus (yellow labs). I am setting up the tank at the end of the month, and thought about moving them in there if this was feasable.

 

[Zagz]

What size tank do you want to house them together in? Cichlids can be quite destructive to planted tanks. It most certainly can be done, several members on here have done it. As for whether the fish will be compatible, a large part depends on tank size and hiding places.

 

[travis simonson]

I keep a 125G heavily-planted ARLC tank with both Ps. acei and L. caeruleus and can say that they will do just fine with plants, as long as the plants are not tasty to them. I've found that my Africans will eat most Vallisneria to the ground almost overnight. They simply love the stuff. They also love shredding just about any type of moss I try to put in the tank. They don't eat it, they just gleefully scatter it to the four winds. The main thing to avoid is having any sort of algae growing on your plants. This will attract the Africans. Regardless of whether or not they're interested in eating the plants, they will seriously damage them in an attempt to graze the algae. There are a few other plants like Downoi that they will also chow, but overall they're surprisingly good as long as you can keep them from digging everywhere

 

[JustOneMore20]

I've found that my Africans will eat most Vallisneria to the ground almost overnight

Thats very interesting. Mine leave my Corkscrew Vals alone. They did shred Hygro polysperma to pieces though...had a good salad bar with that. But, it was just extra clippings, so I didn't mind.

Mine have also left Bacopa caroliniana alone...maybe it doesn't taste very good.

It can definitely be done...Travis is proof of that. But, you have to pick the right plants.

 

[MYTY1705]

or maybe I need to set up two tanks. One planted to raise plants for food. And the other to put the cichlids in. That way if the eat the plants I can replace them with clipping from the other tank, and it will be a more natural habitat for them.