What's eating my plants now@

[ashleynicole]

So the last couple days I've noticed bite marks our of my hygrophila corymbosa stricta. I rehomed a couple of plant destroyers caught in the act including a rubberlip Pasco and a 3 year old angel. I've recently added a school of 8 H.razors and a pearl glutamine. Can y'all please help me figure out the culprit?


Stock:

1 pearl gourami
2 turquoise rainbowfish
3 boesemani rainbows
2 turquoise rainbows
8 h.razors
8 false julli corydora catfish
6-7 ish black kuhli loaches
2 bristlenose pleco
1 albino bristlenose pleco
Malaysian trumpet snails
5 assassin snails

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[twiddlemuffin]

Probably your Plecos.

 

[Richardwm]

To prevent this add pieces of zucchini or cucumber once a day or use a suction cup clip and lettuce

 

[Brookster123]

I was told that My bn Pleco's will most definitely eat my plants, have seen some chomps out but nothing major.

 

[Rivercats]

Bristlenose Pleco's do not normally eat plants unless they are very hungry. What food items do you put in for them? Mine get blanched zucchini every other day the either algae wafers or New Era Plec Pellets daily. Rainbowfish are known to nibble on plants. What fish are you referring to as H. Razors?

 

[ashleynicole]

Its not my plecos. They get algae wafers every night and zucchini, squash or cucumber several times a week. I've had bristlenose plecos in every planted tank and never have they bitten chunks out. Its like literal bite marks on leaves that were previously full and lush.

I had to rehomed a rubber lip that was rasping holes in my plants.

The newest additions are the pearl gourami and rasboras so if it's any of those I have no problem rehoming them.

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[ashleynicole]

So I've done some googling of fish eating plants and a common denominator seems to be h.rasboras but everyone seems to try to put the blame on something else? I'm gonna take the rasboras out for a day or so and see what happens....

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[Rivercats]

I have both Purple and regular Harlequin Rasboras about 25 in total in a heavily planted tank for over 2 years without any plant nibbling. They may either be hungry or wanting some greens in their diet. Try feeding a veggie based or spirulina algae flakes and see if that helps. Also feeding cooked, deshelled, smashed up peas a couple times a week can help. All my fish enjoy peas.

 

[ashleynicole]

I already do all of those things. I feed peas a couple times a week. Spirulina tabs and flakes as well as tropical flakes, frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms, zuchini, squash, etc. I feed the most varied diet imaginable.

Weve seen the rams picking at leaves? Could it be the rams? It was only the new growth on the hygrophilla c. that was eaten and my crypts are untouched. I put the rasboras in a separate tank for now and put some hydrophilla from that tank with new growth into my main tank to see if it gets nibbled. If it does then I will know it wasnt the rasboras. The next step would be to put the rasboras back in the main tank and put the rams in the other tank. And the third would be to switch the pearl gourami. Those are my 3 newest additions so it has to be one of them. There are bristlenose plecos and kuhli loaches in both tanks and only one tank had the hygrophilla get eaten and only new growth was eaten.

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[ashleynicole]

Im using a very scientific process of elimination . If it is the rams it will be a reason for me to get them their own tank and since its only the hygrophilla the separate tank just wont have that plant in it.

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[ashleynicole]

It was not the rasboras! Its the rams!

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[Rivercats]

It was not the rasboras! Its the rams!

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Most rams don't bother plants but I know mine love pea's like candy so maybe try increasing the amount of them you feed weekly.

 

[ashleynicole]

Most rams don't bother plants but I know mine love pea's like candy so maybe try increasing the amount of them you feed weekly.

Only the fresh growth on the hygrophila corymbosa was eaten. All other plants were left alone.

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[Rivercats]

Usually when you have fish that nibble they go for nice tender new growth or very delicate leaf plants. As long as my fish aren't totally destroying plants I don't mind a bit of natural nibbling.

 

[ashleynicole]

They completely destroyed any new growth making it impossible to grow these plants... and I want these plants to grow tall in my 55 gallon to fill in the background. So the rams are in a separate tank at the moment. Maybe once I have a lot of this plant and they nibble occasionally it would be ok but I only have a few small stems so it needs time to grow without getting destroyed.

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