Fish redecorating their tank

[Boogety48]

Has anyone ever had this problem? My fish have apparently decided that they don't like the way I have the plants in their tank and have started uprooting them and stuffing them in one corner. Everyday I go in there and they've pulled one up and added it to the floating pile. I was fixing it but then I noticed my betta is enjoying it so I've been leaving it alone. I've had the plants in the same place for over a month, then all of a sudden in the past week they've been doing this. Is this normal? I'm not really concerned, I just thought it was odd and wondered if anyone else has had this happen to them.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yeah, its normal. Lots of fish fancy themselves as aquascapers. Lol. What kind of fish do you have?

 

[Boogety48]

A betta, some corys and some tetras. I think its the corys pulling them up and the betta grabs them and puts them with the rest.

 

[Boogety48]

Here's the most looking guilty party in the tank, since he's the one living in the mess lol. This is Slick.

 

[absolutangel04]

Lol, great pictures! The betta does look pretty happy. I have never actually heard of corys doing that, but they are active little buggers so it wouldn't necessarily surprise me. Some tetras will do it though. Maybe the betta is really industrious. I have heard of a few bettas doing this before.
Incidently, it looks like one your plants is a white ribbon plant? If so, just know that those plants are actually not truly aquatic and tend to only last a matter of months in a tank before dying. I have kept them for anywhere form a few weeks to 6 months (before I knew).

 

[Convict2161]

My African Cichlid tank not only do they rearrange my tank but they evict too!! I glued most my Anubias to the rocks and driftwood if I see a floating plant a few times I just pull it. They win, I give up!

 

[bjtaylor]

Though I would share these pictures but there not that good,

But my clown loaches have moved almost an inch and a half from the corner of my tank and made a pile,they burried the end of the wing on the helicopter. And I have no live plants left as the uprooted them all.

 

[iheartmyed9]

Every day is a new battle. My Africans vs Anachris. They just pull it up they don't try to pile it.

 

[Boogety48]

Nice pictures. Mine don't try to move everything around, they just pull up plants and I have these little gems that I notice get moved from the front to the back of the tank. One good thing from this though is its made my husband laugh and say "wow they really don't like what you've done to their house". He's watches to see what they've done overnight. He wasn't a fish person but I think them "rebelling" against me is slowly turning him to the fishy side, hehe.

Thanks for telling me about that white ribbon plant. I have a lot of that in there and I notice after about a month the leaves start to deteriorate and I just pull it up and cut off the bad leaves. I didn't know they weren't suppose to be underwater all the time. I have some white and some with a little green stripe. I think I'm going to go take all that out today. I just thought something with eating it and thats why it was doing that. Thanks!

 

[LyndaB]

One of my blood parrots in particular is always rearranging things, same with my husband's BPs. They just have a knack for interior design, I guess.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

I have a gourami that would pluck leaves off plants and put it in her corner where the heater is, make a little shade spot, and hang out under it. It was halarious. But I switched to silk plants and she tryed for about a week and realized she couldnt tear them up. But I got a fake floating plant for her and put it in that same spot. She LOVES it.

 

[tonyf1971]

My two dojo loaches move a piece of driftwood !, The size of the wood in relation to the loaches is me trying to move the fridge !

 

[Boogety48]

I took out the white ribbon plants and put the other plants back in the gravel so we'll see if everything gets pulled back up again. My betta has a floating log cave to hide in and a leave hammock to rest on but I guess he wanted a real plants to sit on. So I guess we'll see how they like it now.

 

[absolutangel04]

Nice pictures. Mine don't try to move everything around, they just pull up plants and I have these little gems that I notice get moved from the front to the back of the tank. One good thing from this though is its made my husband laugh and say "wow they really don't like what you've done to their house". He's watches to see what they've done overnight. He wasn't a fish person but I think them "rebelling" against me is slowly turning him to the fishy side, hehe.

Thanks for telling me about that white ribbon plant. I have a lot of that in there and I notice after about a month the leaves start to deteriorate and I just pull it up and cut off the bad leaves. I didn't know they weren't suppose to be underwater all the time. I have some white and some with a little green stripe. I think I'm going to go take all that out today. I just thought something with eating it and thats why it was doing that. Thanks!

No prob. The exact same thing happened to me. It was sold to me as aquatic and months later somebody told me otherwise. I was pretty agitated because I had bought like 5 plants over the years.
I have had some of it last for quite awhile, but once it starts to deteriorate, I just toss it out and replace it with something better.