*giving my fish the "stink eye"*

[rubysoho]

:? Well, it isn't my fish's fault. I can't help that my flowerhorn looooooves to rip and shred the toughest of plants. I think it is a game for the "little" guy. However, I am still struggling with the idea of not having any plants at all in the tank. I love plants, I think they just give tanks a little extra "niceness." So, am I doomed to have an unplanted tank with my wonderful (yet stubborn/aggressive) flowerhorn? Or is there any live plant that might withstand the abuse? Plastic and silk plants just aren't my thing. I can always seem to tell the difference between them and live plants and that bothers me.


Thanks!

*edit* oh yeh, some quick stats:

55 gallon tank
7.0ph
2 watts per gallon, could increase to 4 but I don't have the time for CO2, etc...

 

[FishFreaks]

I dont have any suggestions for you, but I must say i feel your pain. I have a golden apple snail and love that little guy even though he's munching on our plants (we have the bulbs from walmart)

 

[Jchillin]

What plants has he decided is a part of his salad bar?

 

[rubysoho]

well, the thickest plant I have (which was ripped out and torn up and spit out into 25 pieces) was some anubias. The longer, grassier plants weren't shredded, however it was painfully clear my fish didn't appreciate their location. He/she proceeded to rip them out of the gravel covered substrate that was also protected by being in pots. I've heard these are considered feng shui fish in the east so perhaps the plants weren't balanced and my fish was trying to get me to rearrange them.

 

[SnyperP]

Flowerhorns try to eat everything any anything. They're constantly moving things around. I hate to say it, but I don't know anyone who's sucessfully kept plants with flowerhorns or anything with flowerhorns other than a mate.

 

[Tiffi]

I would consider building him a nice cave landscape or something with rocks. Those rock based tanks can be very pretty too, you just have to have a good layout.

 

[rubysoho]

yeh, that is basically what I thought. Thanks for the idea tiffi, I might just do that There is a nice rock store (for gardening/walkways/etc... so if I can't find enough around here I can go there.

 

[travis simonson]

If he's tearing up Anubias I think you may be out of luck. Anubias are just about the toughest of aquarium plants. It sounds like he's even worse than my African cichlids (and that's saying a lot ). You might try a Marsilea (water clover) ground cover. It's also extremely resilient and, because it's so short, might not attract his attention nearly as much.

 

[Jchillin]

That was the reason I asked, so you could eliminate his favorite meal and keep the others. The cave idea is also good. If it's any consolation, my 6" sailfin pleco is very gentle around the plants and has yet to carelessly uproot them.

My angels used to make mincemeat out of hornwort, but haven't touched the new ones since I also added Vals. They've been rough on the Vals leaves, sometimes bending them so far over that they snap off, but I have a lot of them.

 

[rubysoho]

I have a nice floating plant I might try... it was free and grows like CRAZY in my other tanks so I have too much already. It has nearly taken over my poor five gallon. Also, what about a lillie pad? I'm wondering if my fish would leave the pad alone and I would figure out a way to secure it.

 

[sudz]

Yeah! Floating plants may do well! There are these tiny tiny little floating "carpet" plants that i see at fish stores regularly. I'm thinking i might snatch some from the LFS, as they don't really sell them. (wondering if they are a nusience plant.)