Ah Man!

[Lifeoffroad]

My fish are eating my plants. Is this just part of life or should I stop growing them?

 

[Lifeoffroad]

This is a brand new leaf I was so excited about and now it looks like this. Is this the fish or snails?

 

[bettaowner]

What kind of fish. That's an anubias. Real hard to destroy.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

What kind of fish. That's an anubias. Real hard to destroy.

Raindows
Clown loaches
Ram
Gourami

I believe its the clowns as i have seen them eat another plant. Also since were talking plants my light setup is growing things really well, however, im not into the color its producing. Its a t5 10,000 and a t5 6,700. Niether is HO. Can i go back to using my t5 acintic and the 10,000 or is there a better setup that will

 

[bettaowner]

What kind of gourami. Could be the rainbows. They have narrow mouths. Might also be snails.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

What kind of gourami. Could be the rainbows. They have narrow mouths. Might also be snails.

Its a gold gourami. The reason I don't believe its the snails is because they only come out at night.

 

[Rivercats]

Rainbows can be plant nibblers but they are commonly kept in planted tanks. My guess is the gold gourami, they are everything nibblers, including plants. What is odd is that anubia's are generally not considered edible by most fish (the leaves are thick and rubbery). What other types of plants do you have and are you noticing any grazing on them? Reason I'm asking is if it is only the anubia, the holes could actually be from a nutrient deficiency. Do you use fertilizers in your tank? Another thing is if you want a planted tank you need to research the fish you want to keep in it. There are alot of fish that nibble on plants. I have angelfish the love to nibble on new growth on my dwarf baby's tears. Don't give up! Clown loaches are also known plant eaters. I have a heavily planted tank but keep yo-yo loaches and haven't had any trouble BUT I feed heated, shelled, smashed peas at least 2 times a week. My loaches LOVE their peas and it satisfies their need for "green" food. Some loaches are known to just put holes in plant leaves but not actually eat them. So basically you have a tank of could be culprits. My suggestion is start offering a food that contains veggie matter, feed sinking algae wafers, and offer pea's a couple times a week. By giving them green foods they might decide to leave the plants alone. It's worth a shot IMO.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

Rainbows can be plant nibblers but they are commonly kept in planted tanks. My guess is the gold gourami, they are everything nibblers, including plants. What is odd is that anubia's are generally not considered edible by most fish (the leaves are thick and rubbery). What other types of plants do you have and are you noticing any grazing on them? Reason I'm asking is if it is only the anubia, the holes could actually be from a nutrient deficiency. Do you use fertilizers in your tank? Another thing is if you want a planted tank you need to research the fish you want to keep in it. There are alot of fish that nibble on plants. I have angelfish the love to nibble on new growth on my dwarf baby's tears. Don't give up! Clown loaches are also known plant eaters. I have a heavily planted tank but keep yo-yo loaches and haven't had any trouble BUT I feed heated, shelled, smashed peas at least 2 times a week. My loaches LOVE their peas and it satisfies their need for "green" food. Some loaches are known to just put holes in plant leaves but not actually eat them. So basically you have a tank of could be culprits. My suggestion is start offering a food that contains veggie matter, feed sinking algae wafers, and offer pea's a couple times a week. By giving them green foods they might decide to leave the plants alone. It's worth a shot IMO.

Thanks. Great advice. I do use fertilizer just the liquid kind. I do have other plants and they graze on those to but with those they just yank the leaf off all together. Im sure once I fill the tank with more plants it wont matter as much. I don't know the names of my other plants but they seem way more edible like you said. Let me post some picks. I love planted tanks so im not gonna let this stop me.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

See the one on the left is the one that they just rip the leaves off

 

[Lifeoffroad]

See the one on the left is the one that they just rip the leaves off

Sorry i meant the one on the right

 

[Rivercats]

If your talking about the one on the far right, which looks like a type of anubia... if it is an anubia and it's bothering that one too, I'd say someone has a thing for that plant... wierd! On the left side that looks like a bunch of elodia which is what I would expect them to munch on. Well try the pea's a couple times a week, and I use the blanched zucchini usually once a week too. Maybe their taste's will shift from plants to the food goodies.

 

[Wroberson]

Rainbows do eat plants as part of their diets. Mainly duckweed and that "smaller flowering plant in the world". I've never seen the fish take a bite out of the plants. I constant have flying foxes and the rainbow shark all over them, but they're just after algae. I wouldn;t cross rainbows off the this though.

Like the tank.

 

[tropicalmackdaddy]

The one one the far right is a crypt.
It is odd that they eat the tougher plants, and not the elodia......

 

[Lifeoffroad]

The one one the far right is a crypt.
It is odd that they eat the tougher plants, and not the elodia......

I know! thats what i thought. Let me ask you this.....could it be my pleaco? I saw him sitting in the plant but not eating.

Also, can you guys help with my lights? Right now they are growing great but it is too yellow. I have a 10,000 white and 6,500 daylight. Do i need them both or can i put my blue one back in, in place of the 10,000 im assuming.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

Sorry forgot to mention i have 2 corys as well.

 

[bettaowner]

I had snails eat my anubis. If you haven't seen fish eat the plants odds are snails are nibbling at night.

 

[Rivercats]

The Pleco could be doing it but if they want to plant graze it is usually on large soft leaves like Amazon sword leaves. Mine will occassionally get on a Sword leaf and rasp, they don't put holes in it, they rasp it down to where an area almost looks transparent. Do you know what kind of snails you have? If they are MTS's then it's not them. If you have some common pond snails they could be but honestly not on an anubia. And the loaches would have a field day eating pond snails as they have thinner shells that are easy for loaches to break into and suck them out.

As for lighting you dont want to use atinic or anything over a 10K. Plants can't utilize that high blue light but I'm pretty sure algae can. If you have a 10K and a 6700K then you light shouldn't be that yellow. I have 3 10K Metal halides, 2 T5 Rosette bulbs, and 2 T5 6700K bulbs. The light isn't yellow due to the 10K's. Do you have any tannins in your water that might be giving you that yellow look?

 

[Lifeoffroad]

The Pleco could be doing it but if they want to plant graze it is usually on large soft leaves like Amazon sword leaves. Mine will occassionally get on a Sword leaf and rasp, they don't put holes in it, they rasp it down to where an area almost looks transparent. Do you know what kind of snails you have? If they are MTS's then it's not them. If you have some common pond snails they could be but honestly not on an anubia. And the loaches would have a field day eating pond snails as they have thinner shells that are easy for loaches to break into and suck them out.

As for lighting you dont want to use atinic or anything over a 10K. Plants can't utilize that high blue light but I'm pretty sure algae can. If you have a 10K and a 6700K then you light shouldn't be that yellow. I have 3 10K Metal halides, 2 T5 Rosette bulbs, and 2 T5 6700K bulbs. The light isn't yellow due to the 10K's. Do you have any tannins in your water that might be giving you that yellow look?

They are just those snails thatcome in on a plant. im pretty sure pond snails. My loaches keep them in check but cant keep them down.

As for the bulbs it was relly yellow or greenish looking. Oh and no tannins. I took out the 10,000 and put the blue back in and it looks great again. Maybe i should get a colormax red bulb. If the 6500 will grow plants than i like the blue look. I have bule neon rainbows and bosemanis and it really brings out the color. If the blue is just as good as the 10,000 im just gonna go blue. It creates algae but not a lot. Takes a while to reproduce.

 

[Rivercats]

10K bulbs are the highest blue color level you should go in a planted tank. And let me tell you when those 3 10K metal halides kick on the tank doesn't have any yellow cast. But when just the T5's are on the tank looks more yellow/green "but" I think that has alot to do with all the green plants. Last week I took out 3 sections of "green" plants and got in plants that are all in the pink-red-orange-yellow color range. Once they fill in I think that will change the color appearance of the tank when only the T5's are on. I already had some red-pink plants but very little compared to green ones. I think now I will be half green and half in the colors above. Out of my 10 angels I have one Platinum Blue and when he gets under that rosette bulb it really makes him look cool, almost a violet blue hue. The rosette bulb is a very dull light but it brings out the red tones in my crypts (which are all in the front of the tank). Mine lights from front to back go: T5 rosettes, then 10K metal halides, then 6700K T5's. If you have a blue atinic or a 50/50 your plants aren't going to grow as well, they can't utlize the blue light above 10K. I'd stick with your 10K bulb/s and try to balance it out with one of the more red bulbs.

It's taken some time but my three yo-yo loaches have just about wiped out the pond snails. I rarely see any now days. Just give them time.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

10K bulbs are the highest blue color level you should go in a planted tank. And let me tell you when those 3 10K metal halides kick on the tank doesn't have any yellow cast. But when just the T5's are on the tank looks more yellow/green "but" I think that has alot to do with all the green plants. Last week I took out 3 sections of "green" plants and got in plants that are all in the pink-red-orange-yellow color range. Once they fill in I think that will change the color appearance of the tank when only the T5's are on. I already had some red-pink plants but very little compared to green ones. I think now I will be half green and half in the colors above. Out of my 10 angels I have one Platinum Blue and when he gets under that rosette bulb it really makes him look cool, almost a violet blue hue. The rosette bulb is a very dull light but it brings out the red tones in my crypts (which are all in the front of the tank). Mine lights from front to back go: T5 rosettes, then 10K metal halides, then 6700K T5's. If you have a blue atinic or a 50/50 your plants aren't going to grow as well, they can't utlize the blue light above 10K. I'd stick with your 10K bulb/s and try to balance it out with one of the more red bulbs.

It's taken some time but my three yo-yo loaches have just about wiped out the pond snails. I rarely see any now days. Just give them time.

I just have one ballast that takes 2 bulbs. I just do not like the look of the 65,000 and 10,000 together. It is a big difference. I had to put the blue bulb back. If I only have one ballast for lights, what should I do? Do I need to buy another one?