Ellos! I have an aquarium filled with semi-aggressive fish. They really don't fight often, just chase eashother every now and then. No fin biting or any physical damage. So, I thought introducing some aquatic plants would be a great idea!! Not so! Apparently I should have researched online before listening to the random plant expert at the store because I'm having some serious problems. My angelfish is shreding any live plant i introduce like a crazy chainsaw guy at a haunted house.
Here are the facts.
My 75
gal. includes:
*Fish*
1 Marble Angelfish
1 Brown African Knife
1 Aulonocara Fire fish (which in my opinion looks like an OB peacock mix)
1 Yellow Electric
1 Firemouth (babysitting.. this is not a permanent fish)
*Algae/Bottom feeders* (None have attacked my plants, I feed them plenty)
1 Blue Logster
2 Albino Cory's (babysitting.. this is not a permanent fish)
1 Albino Bushynose Long-fin Pleco
1 Green Phantom Pleco
1 Sultan Pleco
2 Leopard Frog Pleco's
1 Banjo Catfish
*Plants*
1 Aponogeton Madagascariensis (leaves have a weave-like seethrough look)
2 Limnophila Aquatica (Bushy long-stemmed plant with soft frilly pineneedle-like leaves)
1 Corkscrew Vallisneria (3ft long grass-like strands)
1 Vallisneria (4ft long grass-like strands, doesn't corkscrew so I'm guessing a slightly different type)
1 Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" (A few of the broad leaves are a reddish-brown)
I was given directions to buy a smaller sized gravel, some root pellot things, liquid
CO2(this boggles my mind), and a
CO2 monitor. I'm already sporting a ''Green Killing Machin''
UV sterilizer and my lighting consists of two separate bulbs. One is a broad spectrum low-light 2800
k which i keep on 10ish hours a day. The other is a high-intensity lamp of 6800
k which is on about 6 hours.
So, after buying my plants i took the time to situate the talls in the back/edges of the tank and the bushy short ones in the front close to my driftwood decorations. All this left plenty of clear swimming room and some nice hiding places which apparently infuriates my angel. She isn't aggressive towards any of the other fish in my tank, which is why im surprised at the plant hatred. She doesn't EAT the plants.. she just wastefully de-leaves them with apparent glee. I feed the tank every day with two different kinds of flake food in the mornings and bloodworms at night in addition to smatterings of algae waffers and shrimp pellots for the bottom-feeders throughout the week. I've tried putting in clips full of natural dried seaweed to abate the plant wrecking but to no avail! I've reduced to putting slitted bags around my plants as a last-ditched effort to stop the.. planticide? Needless to say.. my tank looks rediculous. If anyone has ever gone through this before I'd love to hear any suggestions. Is there a ''hardy'' plant that she might not attack? Or, maybe one that tastes terrible? I've heard she might divert her attentions if i introduce a male angel? Is this a valid idea? Or, will they combine forces to demolish my tank? lol Any and all ideas are welcome.
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